Every B2B marketer I talk to is on board with the concept of user personas to guide their web content strategy. Now our team is working with several clients to really drive this concept home, and apply personas more aggressively to the content they are creating. The results are paying off in content that truly speaks to the buyer.

What are personas, exactly? Personas are detailed profiles of your target buyers as human beings. Personas go much, much deeper than the usual B2B rundown of the target market--beyond industry, company size, and job title, to a personal profile like this:

"Richard is in his early forties and married.  He arrives at the office at 8:25 every morning after dropping the kids off at middle school. He drives a silver 2008 BMW 535d. He has been with the bank for thirteen years, starting in branch technology support. Richard is a stickler about details and accuracy. He counts his change from Starbucks. He frequently corrects other people's facts. His desk is clear every night before he goes home. He's the guy you want working on network security." That's just a start.

Web copy that generates leads starts with understanding the psychographics of the buyer: lifestyle, interests, and personality. With a psychographic persona like this one, we can set a tone for Richard by leading with statistics, citing sources, demonstrating attention to detail, and appealing to his risk-averse nature. The copy we write to reach Richard will be very different from the copy for Amanda, in her late twenties, in a relationship, bikes to work, and blogs about local theater--even though Richard and Amanda are part of the same biuying cycle.

Specificity like this is the key to a useful persona, because it allows us to write with emotion. Ardath Albee recently blogged, "Is Your B2B Marketing Content a Filter or a Vortex?" making a great case for specificity, stating: "If we get better at designing content to attract leads who are both a cultural and a buyer fit, then we save time sifting through the shale to find the gold." By selling that cultural fit, our content helps a tentative buyer to relate comfortably to the message, and an engaged buyer validate their decision. Then buyers can interact, self-select, and feel comfortable doing business with a company that understands their perspective.

Companies don't buy, people do, even in B2B. B2B buying decisions are based just as much on emotion as B2C. So while your competitors are reticent to waver from a business-like tone, gain an edge by digging a level deeper, getting specific, and aiming for that cultural fit.

Whether your copy grabs your buyer by the heart, by the throat, or by the wallet, they will feel connected--and one step closer to being your customer.