Marketing should be about getting into the reader’s mind’s eyes. Helping them to visualize a problem or an object, event, situation, or person without actually seeing it.

Great literature is about creating a compelling, emotional, or fantastical image in your reader’s mind. This is what will transform your marketing content into something truly great.

Please enter the persona.

The framework to target your marketing materials is called “Marketing personas” (also known as “buyer persona” or “audience persona”.

Here’s how HubSpot defines buyer persona:

A buyer persona, which is a semi-fictional representation that your ideal customer, is based on market research data and real data about your customers.

Personas are a way to find out more about your customer and help you create content that appeals to them.

Personas can be used for blogs, ebooks, web copy, social media posts, emails, or blog content. They provide all the information that you need to tailor your content to your customers.

Your business industry, size and products/services will all affect what you include in your personas. There are some general guidelines that marketers can use to ensure your personas have the greatest impact on their business, customers, and clients. These practices are broken down in this blog.

Identifying Your Personas

You should create realistic customer perceptions when creating a marketing persona. This includes their past, pressures, goals, and pain points. To build a mental picture of your customer, you should include as much information as possible.

To ensure that your marketing meets the needs of diverse audiences, we recommend that you have between three to five personas. Ask yourself and all employees who deal with customers who are your most valuable customers.

Building Your Personas

Personas are more than just words or bullet points. You should include the reasons that a potential customer might be interested in your business and why they would choose you over other businesses.

Include the following in your persona:

* Bio: name, age.

* Background: Job role, employer, key tasks, responsibilities.

* Situational Information: information about customers and companies. Considerations that could impact their buying decision: For example, their IT setup, how long they’ve been with the company, and their seniority.

* Pain points/pressures: any struggles that the individual may face that cause them to look for an alternative product/solution/service.

* Reasons for resistance: why an individual might be reluctant to invest their time or money in your business.

The ideal solution (technological-based or otherwise): This is the solution they are looking for and will contact you.

Ambitions: Where they see their company going in the future. 

Effective messages: What style, tone, phrases, words, and language will draw them into your content?

A detailed persona with the above points will give you the best representation of your customer. This will help you to create marketing materials that convince your ideal customer that your solution can solve their problems.

Once you have created a detailed persona, you can present them to the board, marketing department, or your peers to discuss the audience you are targeting and how you market to them.

Using Your Personas

Personas too often are created in a rush of marketing enthusiasm and then left on the shelf digitally or physically, never to be used again. When you write marketing personas, you want to ensure that this is not the case.

They can make a huge impact on your marketing strategy if used correctly. These are some tips to ensure you get the best out of your personas after you have created them.

* Design campaigns – from SEO to landing pages, blogs, long-form content, and events – that are specifically tailored to one of your target audience personas

* Before creating a content marketing plan, add a step that addresses who the material is aimed at.

* Include them in value propositions that are sent to customers and clients to show you understand their audience

* Update personas regularly after events and campaigns. So they reflect your current target audience accurately.

Personas are the foundation for all future and current marketing activities, as well as help you to develop a long-term content strategy.