Reading: Customer-Relationship Strategies

A situation analysis can reveal whether a company’s relationship with customers is a strength to be exploited or a weakness that needs to be addressed. In many cases, it’s a bit of both. For instance, a company might have loyal customers in one demographic but fail to hold the attention of customers in another demographic.

The question, then, is how do companies evaluate the quality of their customer relationships, and what approaches do they use to develop and maintain strong customer relationships? We will explore the answers to these questions in greater depth throughout this course. For now, we’ll touch on an approach that companies use to incorporate their customers in strategic planning and some of the tools they use to connect with them.

Buyer Personas

Building strong customer relationships begins with understanding the people you want to reach. Just as meaningful personal relationships require genuine knowledge and connection, marketing relationships depend on understanding your audience in a detailed and human way.

However, most companies never get the chance to meet each of their customers personally—let alone connect with every member of their target audience. This is where buyer personas come in.

Buyer personas are fictional, research-based profiles that represent a company’s ideal or typical customers. They help marketers view customers as real people with distinct needs, preferences, goals, and challenges. By developing these personas, businesses can tailor their messaging, products, services, and experiences more effectively to different customer groups.

Rather than delivering a one-size-fits-all message, marketers can create targeted content for each persona—messages that align with their values, interests, and stage in the buying journey. For example, a lifestyle apparel brand might have different personas for urban professionals, outdoor adventurers, and eco-conscious students—each requiring distinct messaging and engagement strategies.

Sample Buyer Persona: Drake Motors Ltd

Typically, a buyer persona includes a name and a backstory to make the profile feel relatable. It describes how this fictional person spends their time, their goals, challenges, lifestyle habits, and what they expect from a company’s product or service. These elements guide the creation of more personalized marketing plans and customer experiences.

The most effective buyer personas are grounded in research. This includes analyzing available market data as well as gathering insights through surveys, interviews, focus groups, and customer behavior tracking. Together, these insights help marketers craft strategies that truly reflect their audience’s needs.

“The strongest buyer personas are based on a combination of market research and real customer feedback. They give marketers the clarity to create strategies that feel personal—even at scale.”¹

 

Creation note: This content was updated with the assistance of ChatGPT, a language model developed by OpenAI, and was subsequently reviewed and edited by the author for clarity and accuracy.