GoPro focus on buyer personas sells millions of cameras

Back in 2007, I enthusiastically gushed about the GoPro digital camera, which I had purchased to take photos and videos while surfing. I was a very early adopter (the product had only been out a month or so). Here is a link to that post: Marketing 1-2-3: 1) Find a problem to solve 2) Build a product that solves it 3) Encourage your customers to tell your story.

In my post, I said: "[GoPro] should focus on user-contributed photos [and videos], but the product was only introduced a few weeks ago, so I’m sure that with a product like this, more will come very soon."

Let your customers tell your story in social media.

Wow, have they ever tapped the crowd! The GoPro Facebook page has nearly 1.7 million "likes" and many people post photos and videos to the page. For a taste of the sorts of things people post, check out this awesome video (direct link on YouTube here.)

Buyer personas

GoPro excels because they are focused on the problems people are willing to spend money to solve (in my case, someone who wants to shoot photos and videos while surfing).

Not long after my original post, I interviewed Nicholas Woodman, founder & CEO of GoPro for a story in the book Tuned In I co-authored.

"The larger camera companies are building product on such a massive scale that it is not interesting to sell to a small niche market," Woodman told me then. "GoPro’s cameras are more specialized and compliment your regular camera. You still take your Canon to a wedding, but out in the surf or on the mountain you need something else."

What's so fascinating about this example is how different buyer personas articulate problems. Photographers said, "How can I protect my camera in the water?" But surfers asked, "How can I take photos while surfing?"

Buyer persona research yields surprising information and when you are tuned in to a problem people are willing to spend money to solve (in this example, the desire to shoot photos while performing an already difficult task). When you build a product that solves it, you are on the road to success.

Since my original post, the company has expanded way beyond surfing.

Soon, Woodman tuned in to buyer personas representing other extreme sports.

"Because surfing is so demanding from a usability and environmental standpoint, our product also worked very well for other adventure sports," he said. For other sports, the core camera is the same, but the associated accessories and mount is different. For example, GoPro adapts to mount onto bicycle handlebars and onto helmets and other body parts for sports like rock climbing and kayaking.

When adapting the camera to a new sport, Woodman told me that he has several prototypes built and then goes into the field to ask people to use the product, beat it up, and give feedback. "One of the great things about the markets we sell to is that they are made of passionate people," he said. "The things that we think of could never be thought of in a boardroom. Ideas come when we are out playing. We go straight to the source. We don't ask our grandmother what she thinks about our motorsport mounts apparatus; we ask race car drivers."

So how is GoPro doing now, five years after I first spoke about them?

In an article on the front page of today's Boston Globe Helmet cameras grab the slope action is this: "Sales tripled from 2010 to 2011, to 1.3 million units, according to Chris Chute, a research manager with the Framingham office of International Data Corp., a global market research firm. The devices, known as hands-free or wearable video cameras, generally retail for $200 to $400, depending on the model and accessories."

Holy cow. That's hundreds of millions of dollars. From zero five years ago. All based on buyer personas!

Are you focused on your buyers?

By breaking down buyers into distinct groups (such as surfers, race car drivers, sky divers, and others in the case of GoPro) and understanding what problems each one has and how to solve them, you make it far easier to create breakthrough products like the GoPro camera and its associated mounts.

Buyer Personas also make it much easier to market your products. Rather than web content that is simply an egotistical spewing of gobbledygook-laden corporate drivel, you actually create content that people want to consume and are eager to share.

However, this approach is utterly different from what most organizations do: either not segmenting the market at all (creating nonspecific marketing for everyone) or segmenting based on their own product-centric view of the world.

It is so exciting to see GoPro's extreme success.

What, say you?

Comments

[ZevSchonberg]

Great post! So exciting to have a marketing topic blend with my hobby!
I bought a GoPro cam last year for mountain biking and totally love it. They sold to me simply because their awesome, high-quality biker videos represented a persona I loved and knew. (here is 2 min youtube clip filmed with gopro cam where I bust open my chin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLy0ClZfuqs )

The only thing is that I'm skeptical is if regular b2b or even b2c companies can replicate a GoPro-like marketing effort. Maybe if you have an enormous budget you can make exciting videos about voice of customer and enterprise feedback software, etc. but otherwise you are often stuck with "web content that is simply an egotistical spewing of gobbledygook-laden corporate drivel".

[Adele Revella]

Thanks for the great post Dave. The best part of buyer personas is that everyone benefits . . . GoPro is growing their business, the marketers in that company are absolute heros, but the real beneficiaries are all of those buyers.

Just think about all of incredible experiences those surfers, bikers and race car drivers have been able to capture and share because this company was thinking about their buyer personas.

It's great to be a part of a solution that benefits everyone involved!

[David Meerman Scott]

Zev - I know right? Always cool for me to talk about surfing, photography AND marketing! Great "bloody chin" video. Thanks for sharing.

I do think that any company, if they focus on buyers, can achieve success. I know Adele agrees. Thanks Adele for showing the way with buyer personas.

[Dan Phelan]

Another great marketing initiative they do is the Daily Giveaway. http://gopro.com/daily-giveaway/
They simply label it as "One Person Wins Everything We Make Daily". Can't think of a better promotion to drive traffic to a site and get people to sign up for their email list. Every time I've entered the contest, I end up poking around on the site, watching videos, and debating (yet again) whether to pull the trigger on product.

Great post David.

[A Facebook User]

David, thanks for the article! It's really cool guys and above all their videos convey the emotions and experiences! I confess, I am very afraid of heights, but after their latest video (World's Largest Rope Swing = http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B36Lr0Unp4&list=UUwgURKfUA7e0Z7_qE3TvBFQ&feature=plcp) - wants to conquer fear and fill is optional to capture it on video! Smile! Amosov Den, Siberia.

[David Meerman Scott]

Facebook - Wow. Cool rope swing.

[LindsayCasalePR]

Great post! My marketing and sales team just completed our user and buyer persona profiles this week and it's good to see the value of these efforts as you outline in your post. I will be sure to pass this along to my team.

[iPad Developers]

CBSThisMorning shot a segment on what it's like to work at GoPro. Tune in this morning and check it out!.

[A Facebook User]

Extra!!!
http://www.vesti.ru/videos?vid=399011&cid=160 - here!!!

Video of track at the end of February fell on central TV in Russia (as Channel "Russia 24"). in the "Vesti.net" - a program about IT technologies, in the end there is always heading "Chip Week", and video with your track was there! This is a success, congratulations!

If they showed on TV, it means that they are doing right!
Amosov Den, Siberia.

[Jill Ming]

I love buyer personas now I've discovered them through your book The New Rules of Marketing and PR. Mine is a micro-business in a niche market but the concept works brilliantly. Have implemented landing pages on my website for each group and will be tracking results with interest. Many thanks!

[costa rica surf camp]

Excellent post! My promotion and revenue reps just accomplished our individual and customer personality information this weeks time and it's excellent to see the value of these initiatives as you summarize in your publish. I will be sure to complete this along to my group.