Listen to the podcast or read the edited, short transcript below:
Introduction to LinkedIn’s New B2B Targeting Options
LinkedIn has recently introduced a range of new B2B targeting options on its advertising platforms which serves as a strong reminder of the importance of understanding and marketing to your direct customer persona.
So what are these new LinkedIn targeting features, why have they been introduced, and how should you review your customer personas to build a better marketing strategy?
LinkedIn’s interest-based targeting is becoming increasingly complex, and as marketers and business owners, we need to take it seriously.
The first significant change is the broadening of LinkedIn’s interest targeting offering, which now includes over 20 new service interest attributes and 120 new product interest attributes.
So, what does this mean for marketers? It means that we have more room to reach target buyers.
Exploring the Three New Subsections of LinkedIn’s Interest-Based Targeting
The three new subsections of LinkedIn’s interest-based targeting allow for greater precision in targeting specific interests within broader categories.
The first new subsection is General Interest, which includes a range of categories like science, environment, technology, health, and more.
This offers greater precision in targeting specific interests within broader categories.
The second subsection is Product Interest, which allows LinkedIn members to be targeted by the product they are searching for or asking questions about on LinkedIn.
This is particularly useful for SaaS businesses and can help to identify pain points and problems that clients and customers are experiencing.
The third subsection is Service Interest, and is particularly useful for service-based businesses. It allows tailored campaigns to be created and targets members interested in real estate, business consulting, marketing, career development, coaching services, and more.
The Importance of Buyer Personas in Targeted Marketing
.These three core updates to LinkedIn’s targeting options remind us of the importance of buyer personas and the need to create a clear persona for our business.
If LinkedIn is investing resources in building these new targeting options for marketers, we need to take them seriously and consider how to use them to our advantage.
As a marketer, reviewing your current LinkedIn campaigns and assessing whether these new targeting attributes could improve your existing campaigns is essential. By taking the time to understand your customer persona and utilising the tools provided by LinkedIn and other platforms, you can build a more effective marketing strategy and reach your target audience more precisely.
Targeted marketing is essential to any business’s marketing strategy, and understanding your buyers and customers is crucial to successful targeting. Knowing their needs, preferences, interests, behaviours, and pain points enables you to create marketing campaigns that resonate with them, speak to their motivations, and increase engagement and conversions.
A buyer persona provides marketers with the information they need to create personalised journeys for their customers from the moment they encounter the brand until they become customers.
Developing a buyer persona also helps with product and service development within your business. It gives you an understanding of your customer personas. As a marketer, you can develop products and services that meet their needs and preferences, resulting in higher customer satisfaction, repeat purchases, and positive word-of-mouth.
Ultimately, having a buyer persona helps you achieve a better ROI by enabling you to get a better return on your investment, leading to high conversion rates and better returns on your marketing campaigns.
How to Create an Accurate Buyer Persona
Creating a buyer persona may seem daunting, but it’s a critical first step in targeted marketing.
Begin by examining your target audience’s demographics, such as age, marital status, income, and education levels.
These factors are crucial because platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google will ask for this information when you’re building ad campaigns.
Next, consider your audience’s values. What do they care about? Do they have strong feelings about current issues or politics? Understanding their values and daily life helps with interest-based targeting and guides the copy and content you provide.
Think about their daily routine.
What does a day in their life look like? What are the most rewarding and frustrating moments of their day? What changes would they like to make?
This information helps with content creation and timing, such as when to send emails or display ads on their feeds.
Identify the problems your audience faces in their personal and work lives.
How are they trying to deal with these problems?
This will help you craft content that addresses their issues and shows the potential benefits of using your product or service.
Also, consider their aspirations.
What are their hopes and dreams for their job, career, or family? What are their goals for the company they work for? Are they aiming to climb the career ladder or become a business owner?
Use this information to tailor your content to fit their aspirations.
Gathering Data for Your Buyer Persona
To gather this information, you can analyse your existing customer data, use analytics tools like Google Analytics, and examine your social media analytics on platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. This will provide valuable insights into your audience’s demographics, behaviours, and interactions with your content.
Conducting a competitor analysis can also provide valuable insights into your target audience. Look at your competitors’ customers, the types of companies they work with, and the clients leaving testimonials on their websites. Tools like SEM Rush can help you identify gaps between your website’s content and competitors.
Lastly, consider conducting customer interviews and surveys to gather information directly from your audience. Talk to your customers face-to-face, collect information about their lives, and build your customer persona based on this knowledge. If you’re in the early stages of your business, create customer surveys and share them on social media to gather information about your potential audience.
When building buyer personas, focus on your top clients or customers and consider how to attract more people like them.
These individuals enjoy your products and services and value what you offer. By understanding your top clients, you can tailor your marketing efforts to attract more customers who will love your business and help it grow.
