Table of Contents
Understanding your target audience is critical. A marketing persona defines customer segments and decision makers and is used to shape marketing strategies and tactics including messaging, content, and offers.
For example, a coffee shop might develop a marketing persona for the coffee lover who is not a customer with the goal of encouraging them to visit. Over time, beginning persona information can be validated and refined so the relevance of content and offers is continually improving. Strategy recommends ongoing validation and refinement of personas through data analysis, research, marketing results, and interviews.
Below are two examples of marketing personas. Once you build a simple outline you can begin to fill it in and determine the details that are most important to your current marketing strategies. Creating mood boards for your personas can be a fun way to visualize the information.
Download Strategy’s brand guide for more tips on marketing personas as well as other ways to accelerate your brand and build a strong brand experience for your customers.
Marketing Persona Examples
President/CEO/Owner
- Bio: The president is the senior leader responsible for providing strategic leadership for the company by working with partners, board, and other management to establish long-range goals, strategies, plans and policies. In small companies the President may also serve as COO directing operations.
- Reports to: partner, board, n/a
- Thought Process: may be strategic & operational
- Challenges
- Innovation/competition
- Financial
- Resources: staff, technology
- Responsibilities
- Strategy Development
- Financial Management
- Operations Management
- Sales/Customer Service
- Personal motivation
- Financial success
- Pride in creating something enduring
- Fulfillment of vision
- Evaluated on: KPI’s, e.g. growth, profit, etc.
- Information preferences (learning/networking)
- Sales & Service
- Digital: web, social
- Print Materials: catalog, brochure
- Trade Shows
- Peers
Purchasing Manager
- Bio: purchasing managers buy products for organizations to use or resell. They evaluate suppliers, negotiate contracts, and review product quality.
- Reports to: Operations Manager, C Level
- Thought Process: operational
- Challenges:
- Project requirements
- Pace of change including volume of projects, technology, diverse systems
- Responsibilities:
- Evaluate suppliers based on price, quality, and delivery speed
- Connect with vendors to learn about products, services, and prices
- Attend meetings, trade shows, and conferences to learn about industry trends and connect with suppliers
- Analyze proposals, financial reports, and other information to determine reasonable prices
- Negotiate contracts on behalf of their organization
- Resolve issues regarding defective or unacceptable goods or services and determine corrective action
- Personal motivation:
- Quality/accuracy
- Internal customer service
- Project timeline
- Evaluated on: availability, timeframe, quality, price/expenses, inventory
- Information preferences (learning/networking)
- Sales & Service
- Digital: web, social
- Print Materials: catalog, brochure
- Trade Shows
- Peers
