WHAT IS A BRAND PERSONA?
A brand persona is a profile that is a compilation of your prime customer’s background, motivations, challenges, brand usage, wants and needs. It should have a strong visual component with a photo of what they look like, an engaging quote, key points and simple graphic icons to highlight personality traits.
IS A BRAND PERSONA A REAL CUSTOMER?
In essence, a brand persona is a representation of your prime customer in that the insights that fill the persona are based on interviews with your real customers. Then, the key findings are consolidated into a fictitious persona with a name and photo.
CAN YOU HAVE MORE THAN ONE BRAND PERSONA?
Yes, because in all likelihood you have a range of customers. For a non-profit you might have an older donor persona and a younger corporate partner persona (among others). A retirement community might have personas for both potential residents and their adult children who might share in decision-making. We recently crafted a wide range of personas for a healthcare organization that was targeting professionals in different medical specialties with different job titles.
WHAT IS THE FIRST STEP IN DEVELOPING A PERSONA?
Develop a data input sheet that you will use when interviewing (by phone or in person) your current brand users or brand advocates. Key insights to uncover include:
- Background (gender, age, location, occupation, title)
- Bio (short and snappy)
- Personality (how the person describes themselves including their “pet peeves”)
- Motivations (for using your product/service; why they use it; how they make buying decisions, social media usage)
- Challenges and Frustrations (within your category and with product/service you offer)
- Positives (of your organization)
HOW DO YOU PUT IT ALL TOGETHER?
After you complete your interviews, consolidate the comments into one core brand persona. Give your document a nice design with a representative stock photo, a key quote or two, short narratives that sound like a real person talking and some graphic elements. The personas should help your team to communicate more effectively with your prospects to increase engagement with your brand and grow business.
THE BIG TAKEAWAY
As you embark on executing your marketing strategies, being able to pull out a series of brand personas will give you a “human” perspective of who you are talking to and above all how to talk to them and what message will resonate most effectively.
