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Buyer Persona: Your Most Interesting Customer

By Erin Meyer

Though you probably don’t recognize his name, Jonathan Goldsmith has become one of the most recognizable men, if not actually the most interesting man in the world. Since first appearing in the popular Dos Equis beer campaign in 2006, this fictional gentleman soon became a part of popular culture, often quoted and appearing in Facebook memes.

According to Ad Age, those who created the Dos Equis campaign never dreamed it would be such a hit, or that it would produce such phenomenal results. Between 2006 and 2011, Dos Equis sales doubled, reaching more than 15 million cases.

One of the big reasons for the success of the Most Interesting Man campaign is that it was a major departure from the typical beer commercial. Why did Dos Equis take the risk? They developed a targeted campaign based on a researched buyer persona.

In creating this original character, Dos Equis took the time to consider their customers. Many beer commercials featured expensive luxuries, sexy people and exotic locations. While highly appealing, were these really things that average people could relate to? After doing research, they discovered that basically what their target customers really wanted was just to be seen as interesting by their peers. With that, Dos Equis developed a buyer persona, and an advertising icon was born.

But is the buyer persona strategy one you can use for local business? Absolutely! In fact, as the owner of a local business, you have the distinct advantage of knowing and being a part of the community in which you do business. Because they are your neighbors, you have a keen understanding of your buyers – what they value and what motivates them. This is an insight national businesses must work very hard to figure out and often never understand.

Want to learn more about developing buyer personas? Upright can help you learn how to use this and other inbound marketing strategies to dominate in your local market. Contact us today!