Make marketing more human: How to use personas [ Template ]

As a marketer, you’ve heard this phrase before: If you’re marketing to everyone, you’re marketing to no one!

Having an ideal customer or market segments is way more powerful than talking to anyone and everybody. A narrower view gives you direction as to what your customer’s problem is and how you help solve it.

When it comes to documenting their target audience, many marketers don’t have anything written down. One step better, they might a bulleted list with details such as demographics and behaviors. (Yours truly has been guilty as charged with this in the past.) Trust me—you can do so much better! 

Your customers are real living, breathing people. Why not add a human touch to understand and describe them? That’s where personas come in.

What is a persona?

A persona is an archetype that embodies the characteristics of each of your market segment. Usually, they have backstories and various characteristics. Having several personas is common. For example, you may have different personas for different products or personas to represent buyers vs daily users.

Why do personas matter? 

Personas give marketers a better understanding of their prospective and current customers, including their goals and frustrations. Referencing back to these fictional characters provides guidance for positioning and messaging. It’s much easier to have empathy for a person with a name, goals, and challenges than it is a faceless segment.

When and how do I create personas?

Personas should come early on in your marketing strategy. The good news is that personas can be used again and again, but they should be refreshed regularly.

The first stage of persona development is research. Primary research, a method of collecting data directly, gives you the opportunity to get fresh perspectives and ask questions that will help you better understand a problem. Methods include surveys, focus groups, interviews, competitive analysis, and ethnographic studies. 

Consider conducting secondary research before primary research. Secondary research helps you discover existing findings and use them to build out your first-hand studies.

After you complete your research, synthesize your findings to identify patterns that can help you humanize and describe each of your market segments.

What should a persona include?

Though each persona represents a group of people, they’re documented as fictional characters. The details you add to each persona can make them seem more realistic and help you and your organization become more empathetic toward them.

A persona typically includes a name, photo or image, and demographic information. It also details the goals the persona wants to achieve and the frustrations and challenges they might experience along the way. 

Often personas include additional information like quotes, backstories, and technological knowledge. 

After you’ve created your personas, revisit them to ensure they’re still relevant as your product roadmap evolves. Consider refreshing your personas at least once a year and, if you can, do a quick gut check once a quarter.

Ready to get started creating your own personas?

View and download a persona example and template.

Discover more ways to build empathy for your audience.