Buyer Personas Book Summary - Buyer Personas Book explained in key points
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Buyer Personas summary

Adele Revella

How to Gain Insight into Your Customer’s Expectations, Align Your Marketing Strategies, and Win More Business

3.9 (47 ratings)
17 mins

Brief summary

Buyer Personas by Adele Revella teaches marketers how to identify their ideal customer. With step-by-step guidance and real-world examples, it shows how to conduct customer interviews to create detailed personas for more effective marketing.

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    Buyer Personas
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    Knowing your customer helps you provide them with what they’ll buy.

    Imagine you’re selling sofas – big, expensive, cumbersome sofas. Now imagine you’ve taken your product around to tiny, high-rise rental apartments in the inner city. How many do you think you’ll sell? Probably none.

    Not knowing your customers’ wants and needs is a recipe for disaster. So when you enter a new market, it’s important to conduct in-depth research to understand your customers.

    If you don’t do your homework, your prized products may end up gathering dust instead of bringing in revenue. Surprisingly, this is exactly what happened to Apple when they launched the 3G iPhone in the Japanese market.

    In 2007, Japanese consumers bought 5 million mobile phones. The following year, when Apple introduced their 3G phones, they sold only 200,000 units – a mere four percent of the Japanese market share – and sold mostly to established Apple users. So what caused this massive failure?

    Japanese consumers were used to shooting videos and watching TV programs on their phones, and iPhone 3G didn’t even have a video camera! Apple failed to realize that buyers in the Japanese market had different needs than those in the US and Europe, and suffered for it.

    To learn about your customers’ needs, you have to ask them directly. Unlike Apple, the Turkish-appliance company Beko conducted interviews with prospective customers before launching their dryer in the Chinese market.

    As a result of these interviews, Beko’s marketing team learned that a large portion of Chinese consumers believe that “there is a spiritual component when garments are exposed to the sun.”

    So Beko designed their dryers for the Chinese market by making it possible to stop the drying cycle halfway through, allowing customers to dry their garments in the sun. Their diligence was rewarded; Beko dryers are selling very well!

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    What is Buyer Personas about?

    It’s hard to sell to people that you don’t know. Buyer Personas (2015) gives you the tools you need to truly understand your customers – their motivations, their quirks, their reservations – so that you can fine-tune your messaging to become a maximally effective seller.

    Buyer Personas Review

    Buyer Personas (2015) by Adele Revella is a must-read for anyone in marketing and sales. Here's why this book stands out:

    • It provides a thorough framework for creating accurate buyer personas, ensuring businesses truly understand their target audience.
    • By using real-world examples and actionable advice, the book helps marketers successfully tailor their messaging and offerings to meet customer needs.
    • The book's practical approach makes it an engaging read that avoids the typical dryness of marketing textbooks, making it definitely not boring.

    Best quote from Buyer Personas

    As much as we may like to think of ourselves as open-minded, most peoples initial response to a new idea in resistance.

    —Adele Revella
    example alt text

    Who should read Buyer Personas?

    • Marketing executives
    • Company leaders who are looking for a product market
    • Anyone who wants to be a better communicator

    About the Author

    Adele Revella is the CEO and founder of Buyer Persona Institute, and a leading authority on buyer personas. In addition to running the Institute, she is also a marketing and business leadership speaker, consultant, blogger and workshop facilitator.

     

    [Adele Revella: Buyer Personas] copyright [2015], John Wiley & Sons [Inc. or Ltd. as applicable] Used by permission of John Wiley & Sons [Inc. or Ltd. as applicable] and shall not be made available to any unauthorized third parties.

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    Buyer Personas FAQs 

    What is the main message of Buyer Personas?

    The main message of Buyer Personas is to understand your customers deeply in order to create effective marketing strategies.

    How long does it take to read Buyer Personas?

    The reading time for Buyer Personas varies depending on the reader's speed. However, the Blinkist summary can be read in just 15 minutes.

    Is Buyer Personas a good book? Is it worth reading?

    Buyer Personas is worth reading as it provides valuable insights into understanding and connecting with your customers for effective marketing.

    Who is the author of Buyer Personas?

    The author of Buyer Personas is Adele Revella.

    What to read after Buyer Personas?

    If you're wondering what to read next after Buyer Personas, here are some recommendations we suggest:
    • The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel
    • Obviously Awesome by April Dunford
    • 12 Rules For Life by Jordan B. Peterson
    • Agile Selling by Jill Konrath
    • Marketing 5.0 by Philip Kotler & Hermawan Kartajaya & Iwan Setiawan
    • Gap Selling by Keenan
    • Hidden Potential by Adam Grant
    • The Power of Visual Storytelling by Ekaterina Walter and Jessica Gioglio
    • Super Human by Dave Asprey
    • Million Dollar Consulting by Alan Weiss