What is a persona?
Aside from the single most useful part of your marketing research? Let’s start with what it’s not:
- A job title
- A propensity to buy rank
- Any specific demographic bracket
All too often the word ‘persona’ gets used when actually, the people using them are actually talking about a job title or a combination of age/gender brackets (i.e. females between 25 and 25). Whilst this is a great start and is included within the information you should be collecting, a persona is more than any of the above, or to be honest combination of the above items. A persona is an entire profile of your desired target audience and should help inform your entire marketing strategy. A persona helps you understand the type of content they’ll respond to, the channels they’re spending time on and how best to reach them.
You should be building a profile with the below 7 points:
- Demographic information
- Profession & income level
- Likes & dislikes, personally & in relation to your products
- Hobbies & interests
- Lifestyle & family information
- Important values
- Consumption habits
Once you have all this information you can apply this to your marketing efforts in relation to your overarching objectives. You will be able to plot out key moments in the year to amplify your efforts around, areas of passion to lean into and distribution mechanisms to help engage with your customers. It’s this vital research (and the application of it) that levels-up a brand, its customer acquisition and retention. It removes that cold business feel and allows your customers to feel connected to your brand at a personal level. And when you have connection at a personal level, you get loyalty.
If you’re looking for more information on how to apply this to your marketing plan you can book in for a 2-hour Persona & Strategy Workshop (price: £200) – just fill in the form below!
Or, if you’re a small business with not enough budget, you can purchase our Brand & Digital Marketing Guide Book here.