Enhance Your Content Strategy with the Four Buyer Types
Why Understanding the Four Buyer Types is Essential for Your Content Strategy
We’ve all heard how critically important it is to have an ideal customer in mind when developing your content strategy. You can’t realistically sell one thing to everyone — people’s needs and preferences are too different to successfully sell one product or service to everyone.
Which is why it’s so important to identify your ideal customer and speak directly to them. People want to feel seen and heard by the brands they support, and that means differentiating the ways we communicate with them.
How Buyer Types Can Help Your Content Strategy
While it’s easy to say in theory that you need to speak differently to different audiences, putting that into practice can be overwhelming.
How can you be sure you’re effectively communicating with people you’ve never met?
One way to organize and streamline this process is to use a framework like the four buyer types. Though not everyone is exactly the same, many people do think similarly, so grouping like-minded buyers together can help you successfully speak to a group.
The Four Buyer Types
By and large, buyers fall into one or maybe two of four categories: Assertive buyers, amiable buyers, expressive buyers, and analytical buyers. Each group has certain characteristics that can help you communicate with them more effectively. Let’s dive into each:
#1 -Assertive buyers
As the name suggests, assertive buyers generally know what they’re looking for. They tend to be goal-oriented and decisive about what they want, and they’re more interested in completing their purchase efficiently than forming personal relationships.
If you’re selling or marketing to an assertive buyer, you need to be similarly decisive. Clearly and succinctly lay out the benefits of your product over competitors, and be prepared to answer questions directly if they have any.
Creating Content for Assertive Buyers
In a digital landscape, the content you create for assertive buyers should be similarly direct. These buyers are less interested in roundabout ways; instead of a CTA at the end of a blog, think infographics, whitepapers, and other types of content that clearly show your product and its value.
#2 -Amiable buyers
Amiable buyers tend to be soft-spoken and polite, and may ask more questions and engage in more conversation outside of just their purchase. Because they’re soft spoken and tend not to interrupt, it can be easy to overwhelm an amiable buyer, so make sure you’re watching body language and give them ample time to speak and respond.
An amiable buyer may need more help or ask more questions before completing their purchase, so be ready with supporting resources to help them make their final decision. Amiable buyers don’t make decisions as quickly, and may seek out approval from more team members or management before finalizing anything.
Creating Content for Amiable Buyers
If your ideal buyer is Amiable, you’ll likely have success with thought leadership content that shows off your expertise and how you can be a partner to them throughout the buying cycle and beyond. They also may respond well to case studies and other content that focuses on a human story of your customers. Any content that helps them build a relationship with your brand can help move them through to the bottom of the funnel.
#3 - Expressive buyers
Expressive buyers can almost be considered a blend of assertive and amiable buyers. Like amiables, they are very in tune with their emotions and the emotions of others, and want to have a personal relationship with you before making their purchase decision. However, like Assertives, they have a clear idea of what they want and aren’t afraid to walk away if your product isn’t it.
When working with an expressive buyer, be ready to offer support and build up that personal relationship, but don’t drag out the process if you already know what they’re looking for. Expressives often value data, but they also value understanding the human impact of your brand and your product.
Creating Content for Expressive Buyers
Case studies that are able to blend a good story and some compelling numbers are a good option for expressive buyers, as is any content that can prove you’re able to have an on-going relationship with them.
#4 -Analytical buyers
Analytical buyers want data, statistics, and figures to back up their decisions. They’re extremely direct and to the point, and likely won’t spend too much time building up the personal relationship with you or your brand.
When working with an analytical buyer, have your facts straight ahead of time. Make sure you have data on hand about your product and how other customers have used it successfully.
Creating Content for Analytical Buyers
Don’t think top-of-funnel blog posts here; think year-over-year performance reports, revenue numbers, and other hard statistics that you can use to show off. Case studies can work if they lean heavily into the numbers; but if they focus too much on the human element and leave out the data, they won’t land with Analytics. Something quick and to the point, like an infographic, is likely your best bet.
Take Action
Of course, people are nuanced, and someone may have traits that fall into more than one of these categories. That’s why you don’t need to worry about creating content for every buyer type. Think about your ideal customer and which of these types they most closely align with, and focus your efforts on those buyers.
It’s also important to be holistic and keep the entire funnel in mind as you create content. If you decide that your ideal buyer type is assertive and grab their attention with an assertive piece of content and then suddenly start sending them amiable content, they’ll lose interest quickly.
Digging into buyer types—and in particular your buyer types—is one of the first steps in creating a content marketing strategy designed to consistently generate perfect-fit clients. If you’re ready to ditch the guesswork and get started with a content strategy that will take you from guessing to confidently knowing what to create, who it’s for, when to publish, and how to get it all done, Trail Mix Marketing has your back!
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