Same profile, very different people. Yes, understanding demographics is an important way to start building your marketing plan, but if that’s all you’re doing, then you’re not spending your resources properly, and you could end up saying the wrong thing to a large part of your audience.

In marketing, you don’t reach anyone if you’re trying to reach everyone. Different groups with similar interests need different content on different platforms. That’s what buyer personas are all about. They help you create marketing that says the right thing to the right people, on a platform where they are actually engaged.

Is a buyer persona the same as a target market? Yes and no. One is general, and the other is very specific. A target market is the particular group of buyers you are aiming your project at. A buyer persona is a fictional image of your ideal customer for specific product. It’s a powerful way of understanding the needs of, and creating content for, a precise part of your market.

For every community, there are likely different personas, simply because of range of product. Even within each product type, there will be different types of buyers, and they need their own message.

A good buyer persona dives into what makes them tick, what problems they are solving, and what is driving their decision to buy. In most cases, the decision to buy is prompted by life changes. Think marriage, children, divorce, job changes, children leaving home, retirement and, of course, running through it all, investment.

Five steps to building better buyer personas

Step one: Do your research. Use Statistics Canada, Environics, focus groups, online questionnaires, and even talk to people in the local coffee shop. You need insights before you can develop your strategy. Get to know your neighbourhood and the people who live there if you want to understand who would be interested in joining them. If you’re selling castles, both Charles and Ozzy would be your demographic.

Step two: Decide which life changes will be the ones driving people to this product. Not all neighbourhoods have a starter market. Not all condos are the answer for a growing family. Your project will have its own unique appeal, so use insights from your research to get a clear understanding of why buyers would choose you. Determine what your differences are and how you meet their needs.

Step three: If it looks like a dating profile, you’re not going deep enough – though if you have a waterfront project, liking “long walks on the beach” would be a plus. The goal is to understand the hopes, dreams and fears of your buyer’s persona. This is where Charles and Ozzy start to diverge. We have to assume that The Prince of Darkness and the Prince of Wales have different aspirations.

Step four: Use your emotional intelligence. It’s not just a logical decision. If your project is in their wheelhouse, then imagine what will make them fall in love with your offering.

Step five: Choose the right channel to speak to each buyer persona. Move-down buyers won’t likely be on TikTok. Gen Z stays far away from Facebook. You need to speak to them where they are, in a way that’s appropriate for the medium. And remember that certain types of messages have more impact in different media or on different sites, so use the right tone for the channel.

To put it all in perspective, if you were meeting either Prince Charles or Ozzy, you would likely dress differently for the occasion, and the conversation would have a different tone. They’re both into metal, it’s just that for one, heavy metal means a crown.