Strategic planning is the process by which an organization envisions its future and develops strategies, goals, objectives and action plans to achieve that future.

This planning process includes four key steps:
1. Identify your audience
2. Develop an effective message
3. Choose relevant channels for promotion
4. Plan for future lead conversion

Creating an effective and actionable audience segmentation strategy can be a daunting task for many BtoB organizations; however, if they approach this strategy with the right organizational expectations and a systematic process, they will be well on their way to creating a blueprint for internal planning of lead optimization and nurturing programs.

Much has been written about the use of personas to guide the creative design process. In recent years, BtoB marketers have begun adopting the practice of using personas to identify key customer segments and to drive marketing communication strategies to better engage those segments. Despite these early successes, creating buyer personas has not been the panacea BtoB marketers had hoped for.

While buyer personas can be a unique and valuable tool for defining audience, adoption has not been as rapid as anticipated. One key reason for this is beginning to emerge—buyer personas need to be crafted, evolved and deployed at the core of a holistic marketing strategy. They need to be firmly entrenched in the business from the start. Attempts at building and deploying these tools in isolation can lead to lackluster results.

Request Your Free White Paper: "Defining Your Audience: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Buyer Personas"

By Ahmed Taleb, Director of Strategic Planning, Bulldog Solutions

Ahmed Taleb is Director of Strategic Planning at Bulldog Solutions, the lead-generation optimization and management company. Visit http://www.bulldogsolutions.com to learn more.

Table of Contents
Executive Overview...........................................2
Defining Your Audience: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Buyer Personas......3
What Buyer Personas Are Not: A Definition..................................4
First Step: Build Acceptance by Choosing the Right Team................................4
Words to the Wise Before You Begin.....................................5
Getting Started............................................................5
Who Are Your Future Customers?.........................................5
What Makes Your Prospects Tick?.................................................6
Follow Your Prospects’ Eyes and Ears.................................................9
Building an ‘Always-On’ Engine: Lead Scores..............................9

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