A Target Person is a role in a similar company, who has a VERY SIMILAR problem and whose motivation to solve it is high/urgent.
The important thing is that the problem to be solved is common in order to include the same TP in a classification.
That way, you can focus your communication efforts on a common strategy.
A niche, unlike a target person, is a similar characteristic that unites these TPs.
Normally we understand by niche the sector or vertical, but it can also be companies of a similar size or with a certain common characteristic.
Example 1:
A Target Persona can be CEOs, within the NICHE: Startups that have just received funding.
The problem they have will be to offer a return to their investors and their motivation to solve it will be very high.
Example 2:
A Target Person can be CFOs, within the Niche: companies with headquarters in several countries.
One of your problems is dealing with exchange rates, bank commissions, paying taxes...etc...and your motivation to solve it will be high.
Income levels, competitive environments, values, beliefs, and other factors vary by physical location and target market.
It is not the same to sell in LATAM than in the USA and you must adjust your message and pricing accordingly.
This will also help organize your strategy locally, have better distributed databases and even make more personalized messages highlighting something from the city of your Target Persona (an event, a client, something you like about the city...).
Hi {Name},
I am expanding my network of contacts with Marketing Directors in {city} to keep in touch and help each other.
Hi {Name}, I see you're in {city}. Did you go to the xxx event? I'm sure we've run into each other on occasion :). Do we connect?
In this way you can automate a message with a high degree of personalization and opening rate.
That is, you can have a TP that is at a European level, but then, in the acquisition strategy, it is good to carry out specific actions for the homogeneous niches (similar personalization characteristics).
The vertical is the variable that defines what the company really does and it is more than interesting to adapt the promise to each one of them (although our product solves the same problem for all of them).
Your Target Persona may be HR Directors, but a message aimed at a specific vertical will resonate much more than a broad message in the minds of your prospects.
For example:
Hello {Name},
I have seen that in your company you do XXX and we help HR Directors to improve YYY in less than three months. Would you like to know how we do it?
Hello {Name},
I have seen that in your company you do XXX, We work with several Retail companies like yours and we helped HR Directors improve YYY in less than three months. Would you like to know how we do it?
More specific = Better attention and resonance
Normally, companies of different sizes have different problems.
They have different decision-making processes.
They have different emergencies.
For this reason, it is usually very different to sell in SMEs or Corporate, as it is usually called, and the strategies applied for each case must be different.
Who is better to sell to? Who do you solve the biggest problem for and where can you differentiate yourself the most (your message will resonate). Don't think about it too much now, we'll help you find out later.
The segmentation of the Target Persona by role will help increase the resonance of the message since the message will be specific to that profile.
For example:
a message to "HR Manager of Construction Companies" is likely to be different than a general message addressed to "HR Manager".
It is interesting that you include the main role (CEO) and the aliases (Director, entrepreneur, businessman,...) to be able to search for it by other Keywords in Sales Navigator.
Segmenting the Target Persona by age and experience level will help when targeting the Target Persona on social platforms.
For example, LinkedIn ads allow you to target a specific experience level so you can select people with more or less expertise within an industry.
In B2B it can be important if we target senior or junior profiles but normally with experience we have enough information to filter (regardless of their age).
The current state is necessary to determine the problem to be solved.
Understanding the current state requires you to understand what your prospect is doing on a day-to-day basis, the tools they are using, and the results they are experiencing.
We analyze this when performing the Validation under the Jobs To Be Done method that is detailed in the activity @Required Task: Fundamentals Validation
Sometimes the prospect doesn't even understand their current state, so observing and questioning your prospect is extremely important.
The desired state is required to define the problem; again, the problem is the gap between the current state and the desired state.
The more you understand the desired state of your Target Persona, the easier it will be to identify and validate a problem that the prospect is willing to solve.
The quickest way to determine your prospect's desired state is to ask them questions and observe their behavior (if possible).
(This is what we will do in the validation activity)
Once the current state and the desired state are defined, the problem, the reason why the prospect cannot make the transition from the current state to the desired state, can be defined. wanted.
The problem you have discovered is what the prospect will be willing to pay for.
If the potential customer is aware of the problem and the pain is INTENSE, then they will be motivated to pay money to resolve it.
When you do this exercise on the fundamentals sheet try to be as specific as possible when detailing your problems.
"I have no sales" is too generic.
"I have no sales because I can't close meetings" is more specific.
"I have no sales because I can't close meetings with ecommerce Marketing Directors" is ultra specific.
The time, energy, and money required to validate a Target Persona is extensive.
Even if you have multiple Target Personas to validate, choosing the one with the highest future return value is in your best interest.
And which one is the most profitable?
Go for one Target Persona at a time and you will be much more effective, faster and with a higher ROI.
When you exhaust that Target person, "pass" to the one next to you.
Example:
If you have a service for financial entities (banks), first offer your product to large entities, then to medium-sized entities, then to small ones, then to insurance companies, then to... and so on.
In this way, you will be able to create much more effective messages around your Target Persona:
"We have a specific service for financial entities that manage less than 100 million assets, do you want me to tell you what it is about?"
In the next step you will fill in the fundamentals template where you can pour all the information necessary to build your funnel.