Defining a target audience as “everyone” can put you at risk of not appealing to anyone effectively. However, even a narrowly defined audience can consist of diverse individuals. For example, “female millennial college students in urban areas” may include liberal arts majors, engineers, introverts, extroverts, part-time students, and more.
Reaching your target audience without resorting to ineffective generalisations can be challenging. This is where audience personas can be invaluable.
Personas are fictional profiles representing groups of similar individuals within your target audience. They assist in understanding your audience on a more personal level and enable you to deliver the right messages, offers, and products at the right time.
Ways to effectively use personas in your marketing strategy
Here are four steps you can take to use personas in your marketing strategy effectively:
Conduct thorough research by asking a wide range of questions
Start by defining the general makeup of your target audience, such as “soccer moms” or “motorcycle enthusiasts under 35.” Then, engage in audience research through interviews, surveys, and focus groups. Gain insights into their favourite activities, personal and professional ambitions, sources of anxiety, personalities, attitudes towards life, and essential items they cannot live without.
Ask about their daily routines, commuting methods, meals, leisure activities, etc. Additionally, inquire how they currently solve the problem your product or service aims to address. Gain marketing insights by understanding what motivates them to try new products or services.
Identify patterns and create audience personas
Group individuals who respond similarly during interviews, surveys, and focus groups. Develop a fictional persona to represent each group. For instance, a restaurant targeting college students might create personas such as the academically focused student prioritising good grades, the outgoing party enthusiast disliking early morning classes, and the socially conscious activist striving for positive societal change.
Remember that most people possess a combination of characteristics, but focus on the most dominant traits identified during audience research for this exercise. Use the gathered information to create detailed profiles for each persona, including their ambitions, anxieties, daily routines, etc.
Adding a representative photo, a fictional first name and a quote encapsulating each persona’s essence can make them more relatable and realistic. For example, the restaurant might use personas Jessie, James, and Ash, corresponding quotes that reflect their personalities.
Develop a journey map
A journey map visualises your personas’ path as they discover, purchase, and use your product or service. Identify all the touchpoints or moments where your personas would interact with your brand.
Let’s consider the persona of Jessie, the serious student, in the context of the restaurant. Her journey map might include the following touchpoints:
- Jessie studies in her dorm room and decides to order food.
- She searches online for food delivery options.
- She discovers the restaurant’s website.
- She explores the menu.
- She places an order.
- She waits for the food to be delivered.
- She pays the delivery person.
- She enjoys the meal. At each touchpoint, map out how your business and marketing efforts can engage with Jessie effectively.
- Consider elements such as search ads, landing pages, menu presentation, ease of ordering, delivery time, delivery person’s experience, and overall dining experience.
Create an empathy map
Empathy maps provide a deeper understanding of your personas’ challenges when interacting with your products or services. This understanding enables you to develop better solutions. Imagine a hypothetical situation for your personas.
For instance, the restaurant can envision Jessie having a study group in her dorm room, needing to order a substantial amount of food while ensuring affordability and minimal disruption to the group’s concentration. Write down how Jessie might feel, what she would say, think, and do in that situation. Identify her needs and the reasons behind them.
For example, “Jessie needs to quickly and easily order 20 burgers and several side dishes such as fries, onion rings and nuggets because she and her classmates are studying for an incredibly important test.”
Brainstorm ways in which your product or service can address these challenges. These initial ideas can be partially developed; they serve as starting points.
In the case of the restaurant, one idea could be to offer an “All Night Cram Special” – a bundled package of sandwiches and sides designed explicitly for busy study groups, allowing them to order with a single click.
You can better define your target audience and understand your customers by using marketing personas. This understanding ensures your brand appeals to each individual with the right messages and offerings.
Our Takeaway
In today’s competitive marketplace, understanding your target audience is more important than ever. By creating marketing personas, you can better understand your customers’ needs, motivations, and pain points. This understanding will allow you to create more relevant and effective marketing messages and products.
The four steps outlined in this article will help you create marketing personas that will benefit your business. You can make accurate, relatable, and actionable personas by conducting thorough research, identifying patterns, developing a journey map, and creating an empathy map.
Using marketing personas is an essential step in developing a successful marketing strategy. By creating personas, you can ensure that your marketing messages are reaching the right people with the right messages. This will increase brand awareness, engagement, and, ultimately, sales.
Here are some additional benefits of using marketing personas:
- They can help you create more effective marketing campaigns.
- They can help you improve your customer service.
- They can help you develop better products and services.
- They can help you save time and money.
If you are not already using marketing personas, please start today. They are a valuable tool that can help you improve your marketing results. Send me a message of inquiry to get you started with your marketing plan. Check out some of the brands I have worked with! If you want to grow your business, consider hiring a marketing agency to increase your visibility.
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