Persona Development for Your People-Centered Business
You run your business to help people, right? Your customers are the lifeblood of your business and mission, so it makes sense to keep them at the center of all your communications. That’s where persona development comes in.
Before you can get clear on your message, you need to know exactly who you’re aiming to reach and serve. The clearer you are on your ideal audience and the stories you want to tell them, the easier everything else will come together in your digital marketing. You’ll save time, avoid confusion, and increase sales.
Why You Need A Customer Persona
Ever feel like you don’t know how to appeal to your audience because you serve “everyone”? Start with a core audience and talk to a single person, even though it seems counterintuitive. Personas give you that defined person to picture when you’re deciding on what to write, what platform to use, how to spend your ad dollars, etc.
Whether your persona is “fake” (made from educated guesses or an amalgamation of real customers) or “real” (an actual person you’ve worked with who checked all your boxes of an ideal customer), he or she will be a valuable point of reference as you grow your business.
The goal of creating and leveraging a persona is to know who you’re talking to and how you can best serve THEM. If your persona—who represents your ideal customer—is happy, your business will flourish.
(Note: your persona can continue to evolve as your business does. You don’t have to get it right on the first try.)
How To Build A Customer Persona
Building a persona can take a little guesswork and a bit of soul searching. Who have you been selling to? Who do you want to buy your offer? What do you know about them? How can you find out more?
It’s totally ok to not know the annual income and exact job title of your ideal customer like many persona templates suggest. What context clues have they given you along the way? Do they talk about their rental apartment or their landscaping plans? Do they mention using your product when their shift ends or how it works great in their office? Piece together information through in-person or social media interactions. And the next step if you’re able: targeted surveys.
Personas are a jumping off point and can be adjusted as you hone in on your target audience, or simply outgrow them. The root of the exercise is to determine who they are and what they care about. THAT is the marketing gold that will allow you to be strategic and effective.
Demographics vs Psychographics
As you develop your persona, you’ll be considering two factors that impact every customer: their demographics and their psychographics. A balanced persona will dive into both types of indicators.
Demographics are quantifiable statistics of a particular population—essentially the signs that tell you who your buyer is. Think:
- Age
- Region
- Income
- Education level
- Ethnicity
- Gender
- Disabilities
- Employment status
On the other hand, psychographics include the qualitative study of the lifestyle, opinions, and interests of people of a certain community—or why your customer buys. Think:
- Personality
- Values
- Interests
- Attitudes
- Tastes
Focusing too much on either demographics or psychographics will not give you a complete picture. For example, if you sell a $500 product, income (demographics) might be more important than the fact that you target Type A personalities (psychographics) because not all Type A’s will be able to afford your offer. Similarly, if you coach zero waste (psychographics) entrepreneurs, it won’t matter their age (demographics) because the personal value of waste reduction outweighs other factors.
The examples below show how personas can be more or less detailed. They draw projects with some of my past clients and show that no matter your industry, you need a persona (in this case, an ethical fashion supporter, a voter, and a library donor).
How To Use Your Customer Personas
Now that you know who you’re talking to, it’s time to determine how to talk to them.
The personas your develop serve as a gut-check whenever you produce any content or make any internal decisions. Once you have a persona to direct your efforts toward, you can speak to that one person in your website copy, buy ads or in-person booths where you know your persona spends time, and base your content marketing around their unique interests.
Leveraging your persona can influence your brand in the form of customer feedback—you’ll want to adjust your practices to suit your ideal client and make them as happy as possible. Likewise, your brand influences who you attract—if all your leads are less than ideal, try to identify where the disconnect is occurring and how you can meet your persona where they are.
Developing Multiple Personas
Just like humans are, your business is likely multi-faceted. While I recommend you start with a single persona as you get your feet wet, you are able to create multiple personas. These nuanced personas might be especially useful if you have different services or product lines, or groups of customers that spend time in entirely different spaces (like the Tik Tok vs snail mail generations, or farmer’s market vs box store shoppers).
Multiple personas allow you to tailor campaigns to appeal to different segments. Whenever possible, these personas should be data-driven based on customer feedback or market research. Tools may include surveys, customer interactions, email/website click habits, etc.
While your business might feel like it’s for or about you, it’s not. It’s all about your ideal customer. Regularly thinking as your persona avoids the pitfall of designing or marketing for your own personal biases. Ask questions such as:
- “What would Mike think of this design choice?”
- “Can Jane afford this price?”
- “What would it take to get Spencer to switch over to our company?”
- “Are these hours convenient for Robin?”
Create Your Own Customer Persona
Download this Power To The Persona Guided Template to develop your ideal customer persona. Then, refer back to this tool in order to keep this defined customer at the center of all your future marketing content and campaigns. Happy persona developing!