Personas: How-to articles covering the latest marketing tactics, tips, and strategies.

• Build a Customer-Centric Marketing Automation StrategyMeghan Keaney Anderson
  The if-then logic of the marketing automation process can lead to a snarl of over-communication, with only a loose relevance to the recipient's true interests and needs. It doesn't have ...
  Content, Content Marketing, Customer Acquisition, Customer-Centric, Customer Insight, Customer Relationships, Email, Email Campaigns, Inbound Marketing, Lead Generation
• Turbocharge Your Content Marketing MachineAlastair Kane
  Content marketing is not rocket science, but it can appear so in the absence of a clear-cut strategy—and planning, without which your content marketing machine will be firing on three ...
  B2B Marketing, Content, Content Marketing, Customer Acquisition, Customer Insight, Inbound Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Personas, Web Content, Writing
• Four Tips for Building Fail-Proof Buyer PersonasJustin Gray
  Whether you think it, believe it, or discard it... the truth is that buyer personas are the start of every successful campaign. Every marketer knows that understanding your buyer is ...
  B2B Marketing, Customer Acquisition, Customer Behavior, Customer Insight, Demographics, Lead Generation, Personas, Positioning, Sales, Value Propositions
• Why Lead Nurturing Is Like Hosting a Dinner Party (and Nine Ways to Do It Right)Charlotte Varela
  Lead nurturing and dinner parties require the host (marketer) to build and maintain relationships through conversation, rapport, and trust. And both involve careful planning...
  Content Marketing, Customer Acquisition, Customer Relationships, Lead Generation, Lead Nurturing, Personas, Sales, Web Content, Website Design, Websites
• Five Complainer-Customer Personas and the Role of Social Media [Plus an Infographic]Susan Marshall
  Consumers are using social media to interact with brands, but most customer complaints and comments there remain unanswered. Big mistake! You must deal with these five types of complainers on ...
  Customer Behavior, Customer Communications, Customer Engagement, Customer Relationships, Customer Retention, Customer Satisfaction, Customer Service, Personas, Social Business, Social Media
• Go From Good to Great by Listening to Your CustomersBolivar J. Bueno
  What causes customers to flock to one brand rather than another, even when their offerings aren't substantially different? The ability to listen to customers. But effective listening is not intuitive: ...
  Customer Behavior, Customer Relationships, Personas
• Who Is Your Ideal Customer? Three Simple Ways to Find Your Target MarketPeter Gracey
  The old adage that "a product sells itself" is nothing more than a sales and marketing myth. Products sell in large part because of the due diligence that is completed ...
  Customer Acquisition, Customer Behavior, Lead Generation, Personas, Sales
• How Personas Can Lead Your Messaging Astray (and Four Tips for Keeping It on Track)Tim Riesterer
  Do you think a prospect responds better to your marketing message because you've based it on a customer persona? Unfortunately, that is not the case. To craft effective messaging, you ...
  Content Marketing, Customer Behavior, Personas, Writing
• Four Rules for Creating Insightful Personas [Slide Show]Christian Gulliksen
  Though buyer personas loaded with biographical details might help salespeople manage relationships, they don't really help marketers segment and target B2B leads. To get the most marketing bang from your ...
  Customer Behavior, Personas, Sales
• Sales and Marketing Alignment: Seven Steps to Collaborative, Right-Time Revenue OptimizationJoe Cordo
  Sales and Marketing alignment is not a new issue, but marketing and sales organizations should not ignore some of the newest best-practices for creating a strong, collaborative revenue engine. The ...
  Collaboration, Content, Marketing Smarter, Measurement, Personas, Sales

Personas: Podcasts containing in-depth interviews with smart marketers from all walks of life.

• Keys to Creating Effective Buyer Personas: Ardath Albee on Marketing Smarts [Podcast]by Matthew Grant
  Has your organization ever created buyer personas? If so, did you ever use them? Many don't—because they don't create truly useful personas in the first place. Ardath Abee lays out key elements of personas you can really use.
  B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, Customer Behavior, Marketing Smarts, Personas, Scenarios, Writing

Personas: Online seminar broadcasts from the best minds in marketing

• MarketingProfs University: Understanding and Engaging Today’s Connected BuyerBroadcast on 6/7/2012 with Tony Zambito
  This PRO seminar and first class of MarketingProfs University's Digital Advertising Academy will get you inside the minds of your buyers and cover why understanding them is the first step to successful branding, marketing, and demand generation.
  Advertising, Brand Awareness, Brand Management, Customer Behavior, Customer Engagement, Customer Relationships, Customer Satisfaction, Demographics, Market Research, Marketing Tips
• How to Build Personas that Persuade Buyers and Increase SalesBroadcast on 2/23/2012 with Adele Revella
  Join us February 23rd for a PRO seminar with B2B marketing expert Adelle Revella, and discover a simple step-by-step process for building buyer personas to help you deliver messages that persuade buyers at each stage in the buying process.
  B2B Marketing, Content, Marketing Strategy, Personas, Sales, Value Propositions
• Cure for the Common Website: Using Personas to Boost Site PerformanceBroadcast on 2/10/2011 with Mark O'Brien
  Persona development is one of the most important and overlooked aspects of website planning. During this 90-minute PRO seminar, learn everything you need to know to create personas and use them to develop a highly effective website.
  Customer Acquisition, Lead Generation, Marketing Tips, Personas, Website Design, Websites
• Buyer Personas: A Smart Way to Align B2B Sales and MarketingBroadcast on 1/17/2008 with Adele Revella
  Smart companies are using buyer personas to prepare for success at every step in the sales process. When sales and marketing can anticipate their buyers' questions, concerns and objections, they can confidently develop training and tools that establish the perfect answer to their buyers' needs.
  B2B Marketing, Collaboration, Lead Generation, Marketing Tips, Personas, Sales, Targeting, Web Content
• Personas 2: Using Mental Images of Customers for Better Product Planning, Branding and MessagingBroadcast on 3/8/2007 with Tamara Adlin
  This seminar will introduce the basic phases of the Persona Lifecycle, which will help you understand the specific steps and level of effort required for success. We'll also discuss a few short-cuts you can use to create ad-hoc personas.
  Branding, Creativity, Customer Engagement, Personas, Targeting
• Personas 1: Breakthrough Customer Insight for Product, Website Design and MoreBroadcast on 3/7/2007 with Tamara Adlin
  Presenter Tamara Adlin will provide a variety of examples, illustrating the different benefits of implementing a personas program. She shows which marketing objectives personas support, and will help you identify whether a personas program would be a good fit for you.
  Collaboration, Customer Experience, Personas, Segmentation, Website Design
• Boosting E-Commerce Conversion Rates with Persuasion ScenariosBroadcast on 11/9/2006 with Bryan Eisenberg
  By modeling customer behavior with Persuasion Scenarios, you can fix holes in your sales process by understanding your customers’ buying process.
  Customer Engagement, E-Commerce, Marketing Tips, Personas, ROI, Web Content, Websites
• Uncommon Strategies to Beat Your CompetitionBroadcast on 2/22/2006 with Anne Graham
  If you’re ready to be the driving force in leading your company to lead your market, but just don’t know how to get started, this session will be filled with practical yet uncommon thinking to inspire you.
  Collaboration, Creativity, Customer Behavior, Customer Engagement, Marketing Strategy, Measurement, Personas