LibGuides: I-CORE Research Guide: Persona Development

How do I research to persona?

An Overview of the Research Process

The persona represents the person you are going to be selling to. When selling to businesses you are still needing to sell to an individual and it's important to understand what they care about in their position at their company as well as appealing to who they are as a person. This means also researching their likely habits, values, psychographic profile, media usage and trends.

Research the demographics and psychographics of buyers using MRI/Simmons. Using the data found in MRI/Simmons to create a demographic profile for your persona. MRI/Simmons data will point you toward a good direction but you still have choice. You may want to factor in information you've learned about your target company (Is there a person specifically you've identified as a buyer? -- This information may not be available.)
Conduct consumer research and find the psychographic, values, habits, media usage and trends to further develop your understanding of this persona and how it could affect your strategy for reaching this buyer. if you are selling a business product, you still need to appeal to the human side of the buyer as well. Use resources listed under B2C Market Research.
If selling B2B, don't forget to consider what issues will be top of mind for this persona when they are at work. How you can help solve a problem or improve their business? You need to determine how you can help them fulfill their needs. (Refer to your industry research, b2b market research, and trade journals found in ABI/Inform or Business Source Complete. To find trade journal articles go to Find Articles & News.)
Incorporate your research into your persona narrative. Use endnotes to indicate where you found the information.

Example: John Smith has an annual income of $100,000.¹

Endnote:

1. "Demographic Profile: Business Purchasers making decisions over $5000 a year,” 2023, Spring 2021 NHCS Adult Study 12-Month, MRI Simmons

Using MRI/Simmons for B2B & B2C Research

MRI SImmons This link opens in a new window
Survey data on U.S. consumers including adults, kids, and teens providing demographics, attitudes, behavior, media use, use of digital and mobile technologies, and buying habits. Includes consumer segmentation analysis. Limit to 10 concurrent users. Tutorial videos are available at their Youtube channel.

MRI Simmons (Formerly Simmons Insights) allows you to find information that can help you develop a demographic profile of your customer. It can be used for both B2B and B2C buyers. Below the database link is a detailed tutorial on how to interact with the Simmons Insights database while creating a B2B demographic profile, followed by links to shorter videos on other topics.

How to create a demographic profile

(Example shows how to make one for someone who makes business purchase decisions at work but can be used for also consumer and brand related queries)

How to Use Cross-Tabs in MRI Simmons (~6 minute video)

How to understand Index. (2:34 minute video)

Databases for B2B Market Research

Statista This link opens in a new window
Provides data on a variety of disciplines. Data points presented in multiple formats including reports, graphs, infographics, and PowerPoint slides.
MarketResearch.com Academic This link opens in a new window
Market trends and qualitative insights in consumer and business markets. Features market research publishers Kalorama Information (Healthcare / Life Sciences), Mind Commerce (Technology), Freedonia Focus Reports (industry research, and Packaged Facts (Consumer).
IBISWorld This link opens in a new window
Industry research, industry risk rating reports, and business environment reports.
Bizminer This link opens in a new window
Find financial and market analysis for different industries for any US radius, zip code, county, metro or state. 9000 industries; market data refreshed monthly.
D&B Hoovers (formerly Global Business Browser) This link opens in a new window
Search for company profiles, executives, news, and industry information. Company profiles include business focus, history, competition, SWOT analysis, executive, news coverage, and financial reports. Industry information includes access to market research, industry norms, industry ratios. Access issues? click on "more..." below
There has been an issue at times with accessing D&B Hoovers, especially off campus, due to DUO authentication. Specifically, if people had set their DUO authentication to remember them for seven days, and try to access one of these systems, they may find they cannot gain access to the database in question.

If and when this occurs, we recommend as a best solution to OPEN AN INCOGNITO WINDOW and access the database in that way. This will force the person to reauthenticate in DUO at the time of access and solve the problem.

Economic Census
Detailed information on all industries except agriculture. The economic census is conducted every five years by the U.S. Census Bureau and is available via the American FactFinder platform, which also hosts U.S. Census and American Community Survey data. The last economic census was conducted in 2007.
STATS Indiana
Collection of statistics on Indiana, including demographic, business and labor information.

Database for B2C Market Research

Section 4: Sources for B2C Market Research

Mintel Academic This link opens in a new window
Consumer U.S. market research including market sizes and trends, market segmentation, consumer attitudes and purchasing habits, and assessing the future of the market.
Statista This link opens in a new window
Provides data on a variety of disciplines. Data points presented in multiple formats including reports, graphs, infographics, and PowerPoint slides.
MarketResearch.com Academic This link opens in a new window
Market trends and qualitative insights in consumer and business markets. Features market research publishers Kalorama Information (Healthcare / Life Sciences), Mind Commerce (Technology), Freedonia Focus Reports (industry research, and Packaged Facts (Consumer).
MarketLine Advantage This link opens in a new window
Company, industry, financial, product and country information, research and data across all major marketplaces and industries.
DemographicsNow (Gale) This link opens in a new window
U.S. Demographic data and reports from the national to local level. Useful for market analysis and segmentation. Create interactive maps, and radius based maps and reports. Current year estimates and five-year projections of key demographics. Includes access to Mosaic Segmentation.
Bizminer This link opens in a new window
Find financial and market analysis for different industries for any US radius, zip code, county, metro or state. 9000 industries; market data refreshed monthly.

US Census Data New platform by US Census! It is replacing American Factfinder and designed to make it easier to access Census Data.
STATS Indiana
Collection of statistics on Indiana, including demographic, business and labor information.