Barnes & Noble, Jr. giving more attention to your buyer personas means

getting better business

The Digital Strategy for

Creator: Morgan Elizabeth Torre

the problemBarnes & Noble (B&N) is a well known company, but it is struggling against its competitor: Amazon.

  What can give B&N the advantage.

!

…the answer is in the Buyer Persona Profiles…

Target AudienceJesse: age 30, parent of Kyle, married to Mark

Mark: age 31, parent of Kyle, married to Jesse

Kyle: age 2, adopted child of Jesse and Mark

Buyer Personas For A Family of Three! !

!

Value: the process of

sharing information

with their child. !

Why they’ll buy: Because our strategy will make it easy to understand the value of specific books, via social media and other digital marketing channels. Why they may not buy: Due to finding a lower price elsewhere, or a desire to support independent bookstores vs. a bookstore chain. Problems B&N, Jr. can solve: Two working parents in a family means it’s difficult to find time to browse for suitable books—this digital strategy makes sure the parents are able to find books that interest their child-nurturing-interests, within the places they already spend time: Online Social Media Websites

Big IdeaB&N, Jr.:

Share Love through LearningThe Theme: Plays on the concept that parents love their children, and therefore, they want them to be successful. The more children learn the more successful they are. So a connection between early childhood learning, through books, and future success can be made. !The Learning: Parents that love their children desire success for their children, so they provide them with ways to effectively engage in the learning process—they provide them with books! !The Love: Giving a child a book, or reading a book with a child creates a bonding opportunity. Bonding opportunities = opportunities for parents to express love for their children.

Objectives and TimelineSETUP (0-3 months)

1. Brand Development of Barnes & Noble, Jr. 2. Creation of a separate social media presence associated with the new brand title 3. Creation of a separate “Book Blog” for B&N, Jr.

TRACTION (4-9 months) 4. Connection and Engagement with the target audience through newly established

social media channels (Twitter: @BNBuzzJr, Instagram: @BARNESANDNOBLEjr, Facebook, and Pinterest)

POSITIONING (10-15 months) 5. Encouragement for target audience to proceed from select digital channels to the

B&N, Jr. Blog content, and eventually the B&N, Jr. online marketplace EXPANSION (16-27+ months)

6. Emphasis of B&N, Jr.’s in-store experience via digital channels VIRAL GROWTH (future of Digital Strategy)

7. Long-term: Build an online community around the brand that will further develop and support various “off-line” B&N, Jr. communities

STAGES OF DIGITAL STRATEGY

and

!

!

Budget

Metrics !

It is crucial to supervise the systems associated with the strategy's KPIs—

supervision means maintaining a successful and sustainable Digital Strategy

CONTENT Frequency and volume of engagement and interaction, with the content.

!(e.g., likes/favorites, shares/reTweets/rePins, comments, replies, post clicks, follows,

lead generation card, traffic, etc.)

COMMUNITY Distribution(audience reach), Density(mentions of brand by

audience), Demographics(social media

followers of brand). !

(e.g., users reached, mentions of brand in comments and

posts, net number of followers, followers interests’s

and characteristics, etc.)

Pinterest Analytics

Facebook Insights

Tweet activity dashboard

Iconosquare

Children Who Shine From Within

This is the type of rich content our audience wants to engage with. So, we need to make it available in places

where our audience can easily find it, engage with it, and share it: social media sites.

An Example of Blog Content “Fireflies, like children, shine from within—though, not everyone can see their light. The one’s closest to them, the one’s who love them, will always be able to see it shine.”

!“Help your child learn the value of ‘being yourself,’ by visiting our online store’s

‘individuality’ section.”

The content our audience values is published across a variety of digital platforms, which will help parents find our online store; thus, increasing the likelihood they will consider buying our products related to the content.

Your TurnThink about your Buyer Personas—ALL OF THEM!

!Now, think about how those buyer personas can give your business

an advantage over its competition.

By exploring all your buyer personas, and dedicating the time needed to understand them, you create a foundation on which to build a digital

strategy that will lead to better business on your end.

You Need the Who, Before the When and Where.

1. Develop your buyer personas — the who !

2. Then you can figure out your Big Idea — the what !

3. Finally, you can prepare your objectives and create a timeline — the how

REMEMBER: A SOLID DIGITAL STRATEGY STARTS WITH THE “WHO.”

The Buyer Persona = The Proverbial Unicorn

. . . take the pledge . . .

believe in your customers and their buyer persona profiles