What are personas and why do you need them?
Personas are imaginary characters within your market demographic created to give you, the marketer, a visual understanding of who you could be trying to reach and what the most effective ways to reach them are. The more depth and detail you give to your persona, the more tailored your marketing campaign could be.
With your product/service in mind, try using the persona worksheet below to create your own persona.
Persona Worksheet
Name and Title
Create a full name for your persona and his/her job title.
Basics
Includes demographics and psychographics—age, gender, location, family life, likes and dislikes, location in adoption curve (i.e., innovator, early adopter, early majority, late majority).
Professional and Personal Background
Includes job title, job history, role, leisure activities, and hobbies.
Quote
Should encapsulate the persona’s attitude towards your product or service. In this case, sum up in one or two sentences how he or she feels about magazines (print and digital).
Technical Background
Where on the Social Technographics Ladder does the persona sit? How comfortable is he/she online and what activities does he/she perform on the web? This is important for determining how the audience will interact with the brand online.
Favourite Websites
As they relate to what you are marketing.
Goals
What are this persona’s goals when looking for magazine? Does he/she want to find a magazine that’s informative or entertaining? Does the persona want to buy the book at a drugstore, request it from the library or go a buy it from a bookstore?
Needs and Wants
What does this persona need and or want in order to reach the above goals. Remember to keep in mind all of the characteristics you have described.
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Sample Persona, Marketing for an Independently-Published Novel
Mia Daye, Indie Glam Girl
Basics
Includes demographics and psychographics—age, gender, location, family life, likes and dislikes, location in adoption curve (i.e., innovator, early adopter, early majority, late majority).
Young 26-year-old woman, lives on the Drive with her one younger sister. Their parents are in their fifties, both writers with some small success (self-help and gardening books) and continue to work from home in Kitsilano. Mia has a big sweet tooth, she loves old-school music, reading, and is a dog person NOT a cat person. Mia would be easily placed in the early majority category of the adoption curve because she tends to try things out after there has been enough positive feedback and it seems to be catching on.
Professional and Personal Background
Includes job title, job history, role, leisure activities, and hobbies.
Mia manages an antique store in Gastown but gave it her own character and style by displaying more modern, playful wares in the back of the shop but she still wants to invite people in by leave the front with an old, vintage feel. She really cares about the way things look and she is always changing things around. Because of her experience with antiques, she considers herself a good thrift-shopper who is able to get great deals but she will spend big money on things if she feels that they align with her interests and values.
She graduated a few years back as an IAT major and English minor and uses her background to run a YouTube vlog and her own blog on the side where she gives tips on beauty and natural, organic skin care.
Quote
Should encapsulate the persona’s attitude towards your product or service. In this case, sum up in one or two sentences how he or she feels about magazines (print and digital).
“I’m one of those people who just can’t comfortably shift to digital magazines yet…I just love being able to physically feel the paper and high-gloss finish in my hands, and leisurely flip through the pages that you know so much work has gone into. Especially if you can get your hands on one of the older editions of a magazine, like a vintage one, wow it’s awe-inspiring to see what they were able to do back then with the simpler technology they had.”
Technical Background
Where on the Social Technographics Ladder does the persona sit? How comfortable is he/she online and what activities does he/she perform on the web? This is important for determining how the audience will interact with the brand online.
On the technographics ladder, Mia is definitely a creator because she runs her own vlog and blog and is not afraid to publish her opinions and interests because she believes she has a good-sized following that values what she shares.
Favourite Websites
As they relate to what you are marketing.
- WordPress
- eBay – looking for old things and bargains
Goals
What are this persona’s goals when looking for magazine? Does he/she want to find a magazine that’s informative or entertaining? Does the persona want to buy the book at a drugstore, request it from the library or go a buy it from a bookstore?
Her favourite type of magazines are the ones that are strewn with beautiful photographs, especially featuring different seasonal styles and beauty tips. She draws style and beauty inspirations from them and shares her ideas and critiques with her online following. The magazines she likes are usually entertainment service magazines like Vogue or Harper’s Bazaar. She loves to admire the beauty within the pages, the way she admires the beauty of most things around her.
Needs and Wants
What does this persona need and or want in order to reach the above goals. Remember to keep in mind all of the characteristics you have described.
Mia finds craft a bit difficult but is great at styling things together to look good and this is what her followers like to see—her interpretation and arrangement of things. Mia needs magazines to share her vision of beauty whether it is simplistic and elegant or extravagant and detailed. She is a champion of beauty. She wants magazines that understand her taste of styling in unique ways. She wants magazines to showcase all sorts of different items and pieces so she can be inspired to mix them together into something more beautiful.
Meesh 