The Power of Personas Part 1: How Fictionalized Characters Improve Business Outcomes

To help you grow your business, we’re bringing you a four-part series on personas — fictionalized representations of your real-life customers. Learn how using personas generates more leads, sells more products and increases your bottom line. Links to the rest of the series are below this blog.

If we’re honest, most of us guess at what products and services our customers want or the words they need to hear us say. But those who are serious about growing their businesses while saving time and money will turn to a powerful tool called personas. 

What Is a Persona?

Personas. Merriam-Webster defines them as:
1. a. An individual’s social façade or front … reflects the role in life the individual is playing.

2. A character in a fictional presentation

In marketing, the term has a more practical meaning. As the definitions above imply, personas are not actual people, but they represent real-life customers. Sometimes called user personas, buyer personas or customer personas, marketers create these representations of their target audience to help them communicate in ways that resonate with their real customers. 

Based on research, data, customer insight and staff feedback, personas are one of the most helpful tools in your marketing arsenal. Some would say they are the foundation of any successful marketing plan.

Where Did the Idea Come From?

In the 1980s, Alan Cooper, a software developer, wanted to know how specific users would interface with a user-friendly project management tool. He interviewed several potential users, considered their comments when creating the actual end-product and later wrote a book about it. The concept of understanding customer segments caught on, and today every industry that works with customers employs personas to varying degrees. Those who don’t are working in the dark.

Of course, you already have an idea of who the people you interface with are, and you no doubt keep that idea in mind when you communicate with them or develop business plans to serve and sell to them. But having a general idea of who your audience is and knowing them intimately are two different things. The difference can be the light of day when it comes to meeting your business goals.  

Why Do Personas Matter?

It can seem like personas require a lot of work, and you may just want to get your product out the door and your plans up and running. Consider the scenarios below and the potential that exists with and without using personas. Then decide which direction you want to take.

How Personas Change the Outcome

Below are three potential scenarios you may encounter as you plan your moving business in the new year. Notice how having concrete information about your target customer can affect the outcome of your efforts.

Scenario 1:
A working mother who is overwhelmed with the logistics of moving. She values reliability, clear pricing and time savings over the lowest cost.

Scenario 2:
A homeowner who has valuables to move and wants to trust they'll be cared for.

Scenario 3:
A professional whose reputation matters and who values trusted partnerships over price.

Overall assumption, regardless of the scenario
Using personas to create your marketing and business plans is like the difference between 2D and 3D. They turn guesswork into clarity, remove staff frustrations, and save time and money. 

When you want your campaigns to resonate with your intended customers, produce overwhelmingly positive results, and present your business as organized, polished and professional, take the time to create personas. We’ll continue the series next week by reviewing the types of data needed for personas. Then later this month, we’ll explore how to develop your persona profiles and suggest ways to use them to grow your business.

The Power of Personas

Part 2: Who Is Your Customer — Really?
And how do you know you’re marketing to the right ones or giving them what they want?

Part 3: Making Customer Data Easy To Share and Use
Turn your customer data into a shareable tool that helps everyone make better business decisions.

Part 4: Putting Your Personas To Work To Build Your Business
12 ways to increase your bottom line with personas