Promote Your Book Better: Reader Persona vs Buyer Persona
It is time, especially in this digital landscape, that authors put an equal amount of time and effort into marketing as they do for their writing. With the help of the internet and social media platforms, it has become easier than ever to reach potential readers in all corners of the world. However, at the same time, it has made it extremely hard for authors to cut through the crowd and stand out. This is why the importance and relevance of book marketing have increased drastically.
If you are someone who is new to the industry or someone who is trying to find a better and consistent reader base for your writing, then you need to promote your book well. This starts with knowing the details of reader and buyer personas, and more specifically, the difference between these two. Understanding your audience base in depth is a cornerstone of any impactful marketing strategy. So, let’s understand.
What is a reader persona?
A reader persona is referred to as a detailed persona or profile of the ideal reader aka, your target audience. Marketing teams, and publishers use this to understand the reader base better and serve these specific needs, preferences, and audience behaviors. You might think this is just a character, but, in reality, it is much more than that. It is a blend of everything, likes, habits, and traits of your target audience. Well, no one knows exactly, this blend just mirrors those of your real-life reader base. This helps you visualize who your target audience is when you are writing something.
A reader persona contains -
● Who the readers are, what they do for work, where they live, etc.
● What kind of writing intrigues these readers the most, what topics do they like the most, etc.?
● What their reading style is, do they like reading paperbacks, or e-books, are they binge-readers or do they like to read a little every night, etc.?
● What do they think they will get by reading your content, is it love, inspiration, a good laugh, or advice?
● Why do they read what they usually read?
When you have a reader persona, you will have a roadmap for your marketing strategies. When you know who your target audience is, you will be able to -
1. Create marketing content that directly involves the audience. This will make them feel more engaged.
2. Tailor your marketing messages so that they can make your target audience feel understood and valued.
What is a buyer persona?
On the other hand, a buyer persona is a semi-fictional, and more detailed profile of your actual target audience. To create this persona, you need to do thorough market research and study the actual data regarding your existing readers. With this persona in hand, you can understand the requirements, preferences, and behaviors of your target audience better, from a marketing perspective. This will also help you to create more relatable marketing strategies.
A buyer persona contains -
● The demographic information such as age, location, education, income, etc.
● The target audience's behavior patterns like what sources they go to gain information, how they shop, and what their purchasing habits are.
● What is the psychographics such as what drives the target audience to buy a book?
● What are the pain points and challenges in the lives of the target audience that make them purchase the book?
When you create a buyer persona, it helps you hit the market with digital and content marketing campaigns. This is how you get a clear outline of who your target audience really is, and once you do that, you also get insights into what they want and need. This will help you to create content for the marketing campaign which feels like you are directly interacting with them. Additionally, it also teaches you how to and where to focus your promotional efforts. This includes which social media platform you should focus on or which features to use. When you have a strong strategy like this, it will significantly increase your chances of getting an upper hand in sales.
As a writer, you might think that this is not something you should focus on. However, as stated before, as the competition increases, you need to put equal effort into marketing as you do in your craft. So, the ultimate goal is to create a buyer persona, helping you secure more sales and recognition in the competitive industry.
