Successful businesses all have one thing in common: a deep understanding of their customers.

But knowing who your customers are and knowing why they buy from you are two different things. It's not enough to know general demographic data for your consumers — you need to understand what drives consumer behavior and what might make them choose your brand over your competitors.

One of the best ways to gain a deeper understanding of your customers is through buyer personas. These personas help you create profiles that are representative of the various subsets of your audience, and they can provide important context around demographic data.

Buyer personas provide a picture of a real customer, revealing their real challenges and motivations. Knowing this information will guide both your sales and marketing.

But how do you build these valuable personas?

Well, it's simple. Building a buyer persona for your brand can be as easy as following your favorite recipe. The infographic below explains this process, including:

• Prepare an ingredient list: As you create new forms on your website, make sure you include fields that will inform future persona creation.
• Check your pantry: Analyze existing data from sources like your contact database and website analytics.
• Go to the grocery store: Conduct interviews and focus groups to gather new information.

Creating personas is straightforward, yet many companies still do not use them.

If your business isn’t taking advantage of personas, follow the process outlined in the visual below to craft detailed buyer personas that will help boost sales and marketing for your brand.