Creating Buyer Personas with Kids as Your Target Market

There was a time when preteens and kids we not as active as consumers as they are today. Before, their parents make all the decisions for them. This is how we grew up. When we want something from a toy store, we ask our parents about it. A combination of factors points to this phenomenon: kids have higher allowances, parents want to teach their kids how to manage their money, and the internet.

Marketing to kids hinges on your ability to create buyer personas. Who are these kids who want to visit a pediatric dentist? How are you going to convince them that going to your clinic will benefit them? How different is it to create buyer personas for adults and kids?

What Are Buyer Personas?

Buyer personas help you understand your customers better. They even allow you to get a perspective on how prospective customers may react. This makes it easier for you to customize your products, services, and campaigns, messages, and product development to fit their specific needs. Understanding your audience also lets you attend to the concerns of your customers.

Say, for example, your target audience is preteens (kids aged 12 years and younger). Do you know what their interests and needs are? What are their backgrounds? Did they come from affluent families? What are the specific factors that will trigger their need and want to buy?

These buyer personas are critical if you are to craft your message according to what your audience wants to hear. The strongest buyer personas are hinged on market research and insights from your actual customers. You can get the information you want by conducting surveys, focus group discussions, and interviews.

How many buyer personas does your business need? It depends on how big or small your business is. You can have as little as one or two personas or you can have as many as 10 to 12 buyer personas. You can always develop more personas as you grow your business.

Creating Kids’ Buyer Personas

However, it may not be as easy to create buyer personas of kids as it is when creating personas of adults. Parents are more sensitive when it comes to information about their kids. They are less likely to give you useful data on how their kids choose the toys, books, and services they want. It’ll be harder for you to get a glimpse of what they like. You have to be extra careful and considerate when explaining to parents the point of your survey and interview.

Basic Demographic Information

Create a template for each of your customers. The template should include basic demographic information such as the kids’ parents’ career and income, the kids’ age, location, gender, demeanor, and communication preferences. You will use these templates to find the similarities among your customers.

Motivation

Once you know their basic information, it’s time to ask yourself what motivates them to buy or support a business. There are three things you need to understand in this phase: goals, challenges, and what you can do as a business to help the buyer achieve those things. First, do the kids want to have the best toys or the same toys as their peers? Second, do they find it hard to support your business because their parents don’t have the means? And finally, what can you do to help them achieve their goals and surpass the challenges they face.

Objections

Now that you know what drives your audience to support a business, you need to understand what their apprehensions are about yours. If they understand the importance of dental hygiene, for example, why aren’t they choosing your dental practice? Is it too far from where they live? Are you not covered by their parents’ health insurance? Is your clinic not child-friendly? You should probably have a mini playground in your reception area to keep the kids preoccupied while they wait for their turn on the dentist’s chair.

Messaging

With all this information on your hand, you should discuss with your staff how to create a message that will resonate with your target audience. Don’t forget to use the words that they want to hear in the vernacular that they understand. Even with kids, they need to understand how buying from you will help solve their dilemma. You need to sell them not your products or services, but the solutions to their problems. This will make it easier for them to buy into your organization.

If you managed to create buyer personas, make sure to refer to them every time you create a marketing strategy. There is nothing worse for a business than create buyer personas only to go about their marketing efforts while ignoring the said personas. The best way for your messages to reach their intended audience is to write them according to what your target market wants to hear.

Meta Title: How to Create Buyer Personas If You Are Targeting Kids

Meta Description: Preteens and those younger than them are now considered viable markets. You can create marketing strategies specifically for them. Know more about it here.

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