How to create marketing personas that actually work

Personas are one of the most important tools in your business’s tool kit. They outline who your customers are, their challenges, desires and goals, this is incredibly important because after all, without your customers, you wouldn’t have a business. Yet even as a crucial business instrument, it’s common for small businesses to have only created them during their draft business planning stage but haven’t looked at them since.

A survey conducted by Keap found that only 29% of small businesses use buyer personas to guide their marketing efforts. The survey also found that the majority of small business owners struggle to identify their target audience and understand their needs and preferences.

My marketing ears bleed when I hear this! Let’s work through this together.

What is a marketing persona?

Marketing personas, also known as buyer personas or customer avatars, are fictional representations of your ideal customers. They help give you a deeper understanding of your target audience by identifying their needs, interests, preferences, and behaviours.

There are many different formulas to create personas, however they all follow a fairly similar structure. Creating a persona and locking it in a drawer will not help your business, you’ll need to actually use the information within it to help guide your business.

A good persona can outline a positioning strategy for how your business can solve more of your target market’s problems. You can do this through testing and improving your marketing messaging, by developing better solutions or by building different product offerings that can better serve your customers and offer new revenue streams for your business.

Here’s a guide for creating effective marketing personas

Define your target audience:

Start by defining the demographics of your target audience, such as age, gender, location, education level, income, etc. You can use customer data, market research, or social media analytics to gather this information.

Conduct research:

Conduct qualitative and quantitative research to gather more information about your target audience. This can include surveys, focus groups, interviews, social media listening, and website analytics. Use this data to identify patterns and trends that can help you create more accurate personas.

Identify pain points and goals:

Identify the pain points, challenges, and goals of your target audience. This will help you understand their motivations and what drives them to make a purchase. You can gather this information through surveys or interviews.

Create personas:

Based on the data you’ve collected, create a list of fictional personas that represent your target audience. Each persona should have a name, age, job title, and a brief summary of their background, goals, challenges, and interests. Use visuals, such as photographs or illustrations, to bring your personas to life.

Create at least three personas who are most important to your business, these can be the purchase decision makers or the influencers of those decisions. Pick your top three and explore their challenges, desires and goals.

Note in each one what they are influenced by, are they likely to be convinced by their friends or children to make a purchase, or are they making the purchase on behalf of their business?

Download this free marketing persona template.

Marketing persona template

Download this free template and start defining your target audience today. Includes instructions and an example persona.

Download marketing persona template

Use personas for marketing:

Once you have created your personas, use them to inform your marketing strategy. Create content, ads, and messaging that speak directly to the needs and interests of each persona. Use their pain points and goals to create targeted campaigns that resonate with them.

Draw on the language and words they use to describe their challenges, speaking in a language they understand. They will recognise that you understand their challenges and therefore likely have a good solution for them.

Note where they ‘hang out’ and where they learn new information. Are there certain websites or social media platforms where they spend a large portion of their time? This could be news sites, Tiktok, Medium or LinkedIn. They could also be part of Facebook groups or community groups where you can target your advertising strategy to these audiences.

Update personas regularly:

Your target audience will likely change over time, so it’s important to update your personas regularly. Keep an eye on market trends and customer feedback to ensure your personas remain accurate and relevant. It is recommended you update your personas at least once a year, or more often if there are significant shifts in your industry. Keeping your personas up to date will help you keep a competitive advantage in your market.

In conclusion, marketing personas can help you create more effective marketing campaigns by identifying the needs and interests of your target audience. By following these steps, you can create personas that accurately represent your target audience and help you achieve your business growth goals.