Negative Buyer Persona: A Complete Guide

Do you know what a negative buyer persona is?

Most business owners don’t, and that’s a problem.

In this blog post, we’ll define what a negative buyer persona is and how to create one.

We’ll also provide tips on how to use your negative buyer persona to improve your marketing efforts.

Stay tuned!

What is a negative buyer persona?

Every business has a target audience, and every target audience has different needs, wants, and desires.

Buyer personas are used to simplify this complex picture and help businesses understand their target audience on a deep level.

While most businesses create positive buyer personas that highlight the qualities of an ideal customer, it can also be helpful to create negative buyer personas.

Negative buyer personas identify the qualities of a customer that would be difficult or impossible to work with.

By understanding these qualities, businesses can avoid wasting time and resources trying to attract customers that are not a good fit.

Additionally, identifying negative buyer personas can help businesses to better understand their ideal customers and what they are looking for in a product or service.

Benefits of creating a negative buyer persona

Creating a negative buyer persona doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll treat customers that fit this description worse than others.

It just means that you won’t actively seek to engage them through your marketing efforts.

There lie the biggest benefits of creating a negative buyer persona:

Identify your less than ideal customers – you will be aware of key characteristics of this type of customer
Stop wasting marketing budget on less than ideal customers – instead, you will focus on customers you stand a much better chance of closing
Decreasing cost of acquisition – marketing efforts taking into account your negative buyer persona will see a decreased cost of acquisition and other positive KPI metrics
Remove friction and increase customer satisfaction – not ‘forcing’ business upon less than ideal customers will remove a lot of stress from your day-to-day operations like complaints and returned items

Example reasons for not marketing to negative buyer personas based on common factors

There’s no one-size-fits-all list of factors that can help you identify a negative buyer persona. This process will much too specific for any particular business to reasonably cover. However, here are some examples to take into account when deciding how you want to tailor your marketing strategy:

Location – high-risk areas, inaccessible terrain, inadequate shipping options, local regulations, etc.
Income – affordability issues, higher friction, lower KPI’s, etc.
Demographics – generational differences, cultural differences, incompatible buyer habits, etc.
Decision making – non-decision-makers lack authority, influence and are not as receptive to marketing messages,
Buying habits – payment issues, increased returns, more customer support needs

You will never get rid of less than ideal customers but not actively marketing to them and seeking them out will remove a lot of headache for your business.

How to create a negative buyer persona

Start by identifying the characteristics that are most likely to indicate that someone is not a good fit for your product or service.

Some common indicators include age, location, income level, and interests.

Once you’ve identified the key characteristics of your negative buyer persona, you can start creating a more detailed profile.

Give them a name and a face, and start filling in the details of their life story.

The more specific you can be, the more realistic your persona will be.

When you’re finished, you should have a clear picture of who your negative buyer persona is and what their motivations are.

Keep this profile handy so you can refer to it when crafting your marketing messages.

And remember, just because someone is a negative buyer persona doesn’t mean they’re a bad person – they just might not be a good fit for your business.

How to implement a negative buyer persona into your marketing strategy

Two people discussing marketing strategy

Once you’ve identifies your negative buyer persona, it’s time to take a hard look at your marketing spend.

You need to understand where your ads are being placed, what type of messaging you’re using, and how you can change your strategy to avoid reaching these buyers.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Review your media mix and make sure you’re not over-indexing on channels that reach your negative persona. For example, if you know that your ads are being seen by people who are unlikely to convert, reduce your spend on that channel and invest more in channels that reach your ideal buyer.
Take a close look at your creative. Make sure your messaging is targeted to your ideal buyer and not speaking to the pain points of your negative persona.
Evaluate your offer. Is there something you can change about your product or service that would make it more appealing to your ideal buyer and less appealing to your negative persona?

By taking these steps, you can make sure you’re not wasting valuable resources on buyers who are unlikely to convert.

Implementing a negative buyer persona into your marketing strategy will help you focus your efforts on the buyers who are most likely to do business with you.

Continuously updating your negative buyer persona

If you’re trying to improve your marketing strategy, it’s important to keep your negative buyer persona up-to-date.

This way, you can make sure that you’re taking the right steps to avoid attracting the wrong kinds of customers.

There are a few different ways to keep your negative buyer persona up-to-date.

First, you can regularly review your marketing campaigns and analyze which ones are attracting the wrong kinds of customers.

If you see a pattern emerging, you can adjust your strategy accordingly.

You can also keep an eye on industry news and trends.

If there’s something new that’s attracting the wrong kinds of customers, you can adjust your strategy to avoid it.

Finally, you can also ask your current customers for feedback.

If they’re seeing anything that’s attracting the wrong kinds of customers, they can let you know so you can make changes.

Conclusion

A negative buyer persona can be a helpful tool in your marketing arsenal.

By taking the time to identify and understand the characteristics of your ideal buyer, you can make sure you’re not wasting valuable resources on buyers who are unlikely to convert.