Purpose
Customer personas are researched and crafted to fit the client's demographic, enabling tailored marketing efforts to specific segments within their customer base.
Application
Customer personas are used for larger clients with multiple marketing services or clients who have purchased a branding package. The personas should be created before any marketing strategies are developed or actioned.
1. Onboarding/Client Interview
The first part of creating a customer persona is identifying the client's marketing objectives and getting their input into who typically responds most favourably to their business. We use this form to acquire the most relevant information from the onboarding process.
2. Create Initial 3 Personas
Develop rough drafts for the primary, secondary, and tertiary personas. The primary persona should be who will provide the most business to the client. The secondary persona should be the second most, and the tertiary persona could be another prospective client. The tertiary person could also be potential referral partners, investors, or anyone the client may want to market toward.
The initial drafts should include details such as:
- Age
- Gender
- Income
- Brands they love
Each draft should also include a story that touches on the following:
- The individual's current life circumstances that make them an ideal fit for the client.
- Their work situation.
- Their qualifications as a prospective customer.
- The challenges they are facing that the client might be able to resolve.
3. Validate the Personas
Client feedback and sign-off are required before developing these further and creating a presentation.[ Add a link to SOP on external comms]
4. Create Needs & Solutions
Write answers to the following questions for each persona (as it applies to the client's business):
- What do they need to solve their challenges?
- What can we provide them to overcome these challenges?
- How can we go beyond meeting their needs?
- Is there something we can do uniquely just for them?
5. Craft Customer Journeys
Answer the following questions that encapsulate the entire buying process from first finding out about the business to referring it to their network:
- How are they likely to find out about us?
- What makes them engaged/ What do they resonate with?
- Why would they recommend us?
Then, fill in the following table:
| | During 'Awareness' Stage (When they are first learning about us) | During 'Consideration' Stage (When they are comparing options) | During ' Conversion' Stage (When they are engaging/purchasing) |
| What Are They Doing? | | | |
| What Are They Thinking? | | | |
| What Are They Seeing? | | | |
| What Are They Feeling? | | | |
Certain businesses/industries may require more/less information in their customer journeys. At your discretion, consider adding information like ' What makes them return' and an Advocacy stage in the table ( returning and referring you).
6. Turn these Ideas into People
Give each persona a name and find a stock photo that could potentially be them.
7. Fill Out the Template
Fill out this template with the information you have created.