Tony Zambito

JANUARY 12, 2022

Saying yes based on my work in the past five years, including the past year of interviewing buyers globally as part of several interesting engagements. In conducting buyer insights research and buyer persona development around global trade, the variety of buyer mindsets towards trade regulations varied significantly within a region.

Buyer Personas 228

Buyer Personas Display Trends Marketing & Strategy 228

Tony Zambito

JANUARY 14, 2022

Businesses and buyers will face disruptions in operations, talent development, and their abilities to retain customers. A good portion of accelerated change in how work and purchasing get done will become permanent. . Talent and Work Suffers Endemic Issues. I, for one, prefer to call this the great awakening.

Buyer Personas 234

Buyer Personas Startups Planning Positioning 234

Tony Zambito

MAY 10, 2021

But if you and I are being honest, the most significant development is the funnel was flipped from its vertical view to a horizontal view. Developing sales processes with the intent of speeding up a buyer’s journey through each of the stages. . Supplying buyers with needed support in their efforts working with stakeholders.

Top of Funnel 215

Top of Funnel B2B Sales Buyer Personas Process 215

Tony Zambito

DECEMBER 12, 2020

Amidst all of this, many businesses are singing the praises of working from home. With several large high-tech companies to keep a Work From Home policy in place until at least 2022. Remote work, virtual selling, digital meetings, video meetings, and many more have worked their way into social media conversations.

Business 252

Business Thought Leadership Statistics Budget Programs 252

Tony Zambito

MAY 29, 2021

What we do know is that buyers are living and working in a new reality. When I have been asked to examine previous buyer persona work, there are several issues I typically see. This development means generic-based or flip-the-funnel type buyer journey mapping just will not cut it. . Especially on an enterprise level.

Top of Funnel 162

Top of Funnel Buyer Personas B2B Buyer's Journey 162

Tony Zambito

JANUARY 13, 2022

In many interviews with buyers who have worked with companies utilizing buyer personas as intended, they report better relationships and better returns. . Just as it suffered back then, it still suffers from mislabeling, misinformation, confusion, and people just plain old making stuff up. What do we wish to know?

Buyer Personas 195

Buyer Personas Customer Surveys Advertising Agencies Paid Search Agency 195

Tony Zambito

OCTOBER 26, 2020

We are witnessing the greatest digital shift of work and commerce since the invention of the Internet. . Goals related to areas such as new product development, new market entries, growth strategies, and etc. We are undergoing the deepest transformation of how and where people work. Buyer Goals Have Changed.

Marketing & Strategy 245

Marketing & Strategy Buyer Personas B2B Sales Interactive Marketing 245

Tony Zambito

APRIL 20, 2021

Working with many leading organizations and hundreds of marketing and sales leaders to succeed. Now, I am eager to reveal how to develop buyer personas and conduct buyer insights research the authentic right way.

Buyer Personas 130

Buyer Personas Communities Organic Leads Research 130

Tony Zambito

JANUARY 21, 2022

Instead, develop the wherewithal and skill to put human-centered insights at the heart of their strategies. . To make products and services work for the common good of people. I use the word heart purposely. The concept of human-centered design was derived from a desire to help people achieve their needs and goals.

Marketing AI 204

Marketing AI Buyer Personas Marketing & Strategy Act-On 204

Tony Zambito

MAY 21, 2021

Working from home, anxiety, and stress proving to be major factors. We adapted by finding new ways to work, wearing protective masks, and developing new routine social behaviors. The work from home phenomenon proving to be a major contributing factor to these increases. Even reading a book became a lot harder. .

Buyer Personas 197

Buyer Personas Intent Signal B2B Sales Interactive Marketing 197

Tony Zambito

NOVEMBER 21, 2020

Yet, it is a time to hang onto the hope of promising news on the development of high efficacy vaccines. Family life, social life, business life, and work-life have all been affected. For instance, one manufacturer we worked with had a stated goal of expanding two logistic facilities. More widespread than at any time. Challenges.

Buyer Personas 255

Buyer Personas B2B Sales Research eCommerce 255

Tony Zambito

JUNE 8, 2020

How have buyers adapted to working from home? In 2001, Tony established the first-ever buyer persona development methodology designed specifically for B2B Marketing and Sales. When will buyers be willing to make plans to implement high-stake projects? What level of demand should we expect? How do we go about creating demand?

Studies 162

Studies Buyer Personas Paid Search Agency Sample 162

Tony Zambito

MARCH 6, 2017

A new era of business will develop in the next 10 years that will fundamentally change how organizations work, conduct business transactions, and establish relationships. Developing Ecosystems. Ecosystems related to everything from how products are developed to how they are integrated into eventual end products are evolving.

Digital Transformation 253

Digital Transformation Buyer Personas Lead Ranking B2B 253

Tony Zambito

MAY 4, 2020

The Way Work and Commerce Gets Done. The way work and commerce get done will need to be reinvented and reimagined. Thousands of workers are working from home. New behaviors and protocols will emerge as the digitization of work and commerce materialize over time. Competence, Performance, Expertise.

Marketing AI 173

Marketing AI Buyer Personas Advertising Agencies Conference 173

Tony Zambito

JANUARY 29, 2017

Strikingly, in these same few years, you will also find developing customer understanding also on the list of CEO priorities. In my article Rethinking Buyer Personas In An Era Of Digital Transformation , I presented four trends impacting the state of buyer persona development. This applies to buyer persona development today.

Digital Transformation 100

Digital Transformation Buyer Personas Ideal Customer Profiles B2B Thought Leadership 100

Tony Zambito

MARCH 12, 2017

The realization is setting in for senior executives that the time to develop their buyer insights assets and competencies is becoming mission-critical. Just as well, the realization also has materialized that what has worked in the past, is not working today when it comes to understanding buyers. A Time For A Reboot.

Buyer Personas 251

Buyer Personas B2B Digital Transformation B2B Sales 251

Tony Zambito

APRIL 27, 2020

How we work, travel, communicate, relate, and aspire towards goals will all look and feel different. A development that frankly saddens me to see. We cannot return to something that will no longer exist. A cataclysmic global pandemic will alter many facets of life as we know it. So, let me say this.

Buy 182

Buy Buyer Personas Ideal Customer Profiles Amazon 182

Tony Zambito

JUNE 26, 2016

The term, audience development , has become more ubiquitous in the world of marketing. For B2C CMOs, the concept of developing audiences and communities has been an essential core principle for some time. For B2B CMOs, the idea of audience development and engagement can be perplexing.

Buyer Personas 104

Buyer Personas Research B2B Fulfillment 104

Tony Zambito

JANUARY 22, 2017

One means for the last sixteen years to understand customers and buyers have been the use of buyer persona development. It is time to rethink buyer persona development in this new era of digital disruption. Developing a deeper understanding of customers has been and is becoming a stronger strategic aspect of growth.

Buyer Personas 100

Buyer Personas Digital Transformation Enterprise Management Account Based Marketing 100

Tony Zambito

DECEMBER 8, 2015

I am looking for marketing and sales leaders in business organizations who have thought about or implemented buyer persona development. On a positive note, I have worked with some amazing organizations this year. As in last year, I wish to incorporate the use of a survey to offer a comprehensive view of the state of buyer personas.

Buyer Personas 100

Buyer Personas Customer Surveys Ideal Customer Profiles Organic Leads 100

Tony Zambito

OCTOBER 23, 2018

Here are just a few observations gathered from conducting buyer interviews while engaged in buyer insights research and buyer persona development for organizations over the past two years: Supply Chain : After a slow start, supply chain technology is rapidly transforming. Workforce : How people work and communicate are changing drastically.

Digital Transformation 184

Digital Transformation Buyer Personas Work Management Marketing Management 184

Tony Zambito

NOVEMBER 22, 2015

For CEOs and their C-Suite teams, developing deep customer understanding is becoming strategically important to staying competitive and relevant to customers. CEOs, with a new focus on the customer, are asking how to develop a robust picture of the customer and how to engage with customers.

Buyer Personas 100

Buyer Personas Lead Ranking Buy Research 100

Tony Zambito

JULY 17, 2016

People and professionals in organizations can have different intentions while working towards the accomplishment of organizational, as well as, individual goals. This is also an important principle behind buyer insights research and buyer persona development. Transformation by Yu Luck. Tasks Versus Goals. Frankly, I was disappointed.

Intent 100

Intent Buyer Personas CMO Work Management 100

Tony Zambito

MAY 23, 2010

  Buyer persona development, as I have made the case often recently, is not an exercise in profile building.    Developing a consistent flow of qualitative and experiential analysis that allows for deeply understanding goals requires a game plan.    John Wooden never said “just play ball”. 

Buyer Personas 100

Buyer Personas Wikipedia Ideal Customer Profiles Social Media 100

Tony Zambito

OCTOBER 23, 2016

These four behavioral areas are being impacted, as well as, converging: (Market) Organizational Behaviors : How people work and interact in work environments today is significantly changing. Affecting the development of market strategy is a multitude of market forces. Primarily driven by digital transformation.

Enterprise Management 100

Enterprise Management Marketing Strategy Marketing & Strategy Work Management 100

Tony Zambito

MARCH 16, 2010

.   I have made reference to these playbooks in recent posts as well as our work with Hewlett-Packard. HP incorporates use of buyer persona playbooks to develop winning strategies and gain marketshare in the mid-market space.   The press release can be found at: [link]. About Goal Centric.

Buyer Personas 100

Buyer Personas Marketing & Strategy Enterprise Management Buying Cycle 100

Tony Zambito

APRIL 28, 2010

The buyer persona development process has an important rule related to the compass: Rule 9: The Purpose of the Buyer Persona Development Process is to Inform on Goal Centered Customer Strategies.   The buyer persona development process is meant to be informing and exploratory. 

Buyer Personas 100

Buyer Personas Rules Wikipedia Social Media 100

Tony Zambito

APRIL 21, 2010

The sixth rule related to buyer persona development is about distinguishing information from insight: Rule 6: Buyer Persona Development is not a Quantitative Process.   However, it is important to note that the qualitative aspects of buyer persona development complement the quantitative aspects of market research in two ways. 

Buyer Personas 100

Buyer Personas Rules Sample Validation 100

Tony Zambito

AUGUST 2, 2011

.  In part 1 through part 3 I focused primarily on misconceptions, what needed to change, and why changes must take place in buyer persona development in the social age.    In part 4, I would like to center on the role needed in organizations for buyer persona development to adapt to social business.

Buyer Personas 100

Buyer Personas Viral Marketing Ideal Customer Profiles B2B Sales 100

Tony Zambito

APRIL 16, 2010

  You suddenly hit an infomercial promising you earnings twice to three times what you are making now and you only have to work as little as 10 hours per week.    I’ve seen several buyer persona development initiatives fail because they were simply put in the wrong hands.    Infomercials are good at this.

Buyer Personas 100

Buyer Personas Rules High Quality Lead Social Media 100

Tony Zambito

MAY 11, 2011

  Here is where buyer persona development can be of help.    In a previous article, Buyer Personas Require Qualitative Research and Contextual Inquiry , I mentioned that buyer persona development is at its’ core a research methodology grounded in the practices of qualitative research and contextual inquiry. 

Buyer Personas 100

Buyer Personas Segmentation Buy Work Management 100

Tony Zambito

APRIL 12, 2010

  The most impactful I believe has been the work of David Armano who is currently with Edelman Digital and also author of the popular blog Logic + Emotions.    The need to develop (and design) Social Business Strategies as opposed to thinking only at the social media level is more paramount than ever. 

Buyer Personas 100

Buyer Personas Business Social Media Lead Ranking 100

Tony Zambito

JANUARY 5, 2011

  It also redefines marketing’s role in terms of just lead generation to that of working in tandem with sales through the entire end-to-end process of revenue generation and management.    There seems to be an interesting relationship developing between advances in digital technologies. 

Buyer Personas 100

Buyer Personas Lead Ranking Work Management Buying Cycle 100

Tony Zambito

APRIL 14, 2010

  My partner Angela Quail and I worked with courageous companies who were early adopters of buyer personas after Goal Centric launched the buyer persona methodology in 2002.    It doesn’t work that way.    Here is the first: Rule 1: You can't just make up a buyer persona.

Buyer Personas 100

Buyer Personas Rules Ideal Customer Profiles Social Media 100

Tony Zambito

APRIL 24, 2010

I have been evolving the buyer persona development process as well as have been writing about buyer personas for the last eight years now.  In light of these evolving and emerging trends, I along with Angela Quail and those associated with Goal Centric will be examining the Digital Buyer Persona in our work going forward. 

Buyer Personas 100

Buyer Personas Eloqua Social Media Lead Ranking 100

Tony Zambito

FEBRUARY 10, 2012

The single buyer model had worked well right up to the advent of the Internet and email. They are problematic in today’s world as they are fraught with many built-in assumptions that were developed over the years. Develop a renewed focus on descriptive buyer segmentation based on purchase behaviors. How Did We Get Here?

Lead Ranking 100

Lead Ranking B2B Marketing Buyer Personas B2B 100

Tony Zambito

JULY 24, 2011

  A new social buyer ecosystem is developing with implications on our conventional thinking about how B2B buyers in particular may actually go about researching and buying.   The qualitative interviews are not as rigorous as I would normally do in a buyer persona research and development effort but nevertheless revealing. 

Peer-to-peer 100

Peer-to-peer Buyer Personas Allocation Social Networks 100