Dos and Don’ts for Crafting a Marketing Persona

Caid Christiansen• June, 11 2015

What we need are personas based on facts
To inform the experiences we render.
For when data drives our personas
Others have no choice but to surrender
To the persona as our guiding light.
Finally vindicated, beleaguered no more
The persona finds the respect it is due.
Its reputation forever restored.

–Jake Sorofman, “Ode to the Marketing Persona”

Marketing personas get a bad rap—but it’s not their fault. It’s the fault of marketers who think that putting together a bogus profile of “Heidi from HR” will help improve their marketing.

Just like most other tools at marketers’ disposal, marketing (or buyer) personas can be helpful when formed and used correctly, and distracting when executed lazily.

If you’re thinking about putting together personas to give you a North Star when writing content or otherwise executing your marketing plan, here are a few things to keep in mind. 

Do:

• Use data: Clear your head of what you think your audience might look like. Start with data from Google analytics, social media, and elsewhere that shows you who is visiting your site and buying your products. Use this data to set the foundation for what your persona(s) will look like.
• Use facts: Only state what you know. If all you know is that your most common site or store visitor is 45 and male, that’s okay—it’s better than nothing. Add in specifics if you have them, but resist the urge to fill in what you think you know.
• Be specific: Building off of the above, the more specific your persona or personas can be, the better. If you can factually say that one of your personas is a 50-60 year old VP of sales who’s married with children and who works at a construction company, more power to you—this will only help. But again, resist the urge to fill in specifics unless you can back them up with data.
• Diversify: Don’t rely on personas alone if you can avoid it. Demographic data, surveys, customer feedback, and more can all strengthen your marketing portfolio in addition to the persona you’ve so delicately crafted.

Don’t:

• Guess: Do. Not. Guess. If you don’t know how old your customers are, don’t guess when crafting a persona. Unless you’ve personally witnessed many of your customers eating apples, don’t add in that they enjoy fruit. This is where personas get a bad rap.
• Craft too many (or too few) personas: Your target audience is probably not fully homogenous, so it’s only so useful for you to have only one persona. At the same time, trying to craft 10 or 15 personas of what customers look like will likely only distract you from your goal. Find a happy medium with a few personas that represent the majority of your customer base.
• Add meaningless details: In the same way that you shouldn’t choose tactics that won’t help you meet your goals, you shouldn’t add details that won’t help you in practice. Yes, it’s great to know everything about your customer. But if you’re selling heavy construction equipment, it probably doesn’t matter what role family plays in your persona’s life, or what his hobbies are. Meaningless details are just that.
• Rely on personas alone: Personas are useful, but aren’t a be-all-end-all. Do not rely on personas alone to help you write targeted content. Instead, use them as part of a larger toolbox of options that strengthen your overall marketing efforts.

Facts are good. Extrapolated, nonsense details are bad. Understanding your customer(s) and audience is a great thing, and marketing personas can help narrow your focus rather than trying to cast a wide net.

Ground your personas with facts and combine them with other insights about your audience, and you’ll likely find they add value to your portfolio. Pull them out of thin air in hopes that they make you feel better, though, and you’re setting yourself up to be sorely disappointed.