What Is a Persona?

A persona, as we’ve described before, is a conglomeration of your target audience, a personification of your ideal client or customer. Creating a persona is an exercise in examining and defining your audience so you better understand what they want and need, so you can tailor your message to them.

You can actually create multiple personas for your business or agency if you have several different target markets. For example, Ray Access serves both individual businesses and online agencies with many clients. The number of personas you may need depend on who your customers are.

How Can I Use a Persona?

To really use a persona that you’ve developed, you need to spend time trying to understand what your audience wants and needs. It’s not enough to know that your target market may want to buy your products or services; you have to understand why. Does your work make their lives easier? Does it help them achieve a goal? Does it offer something they don’t have or can’t do on their own? You have to know.

You also need to be able to speak and write in a way that your audience can easily grasp. For example, writing for an aging population is very different than writing for mostly twenty-somethings. Besides the language you employ in your messaging, which helps attract your audience, you must make your message engaging. To use a persona, you must write to that individual.

How Does a Persona Help Me Focus My Message?

You can use a persona to refine the messaging to your customers in a number of ways. The best way to start is to add as much detail to your persona(s) as possible. Give your persona a gender, an occupation, a salary, hobbies, a family size and even a name. Find a stock photo that captures this fictional person.

To craft your message, write directly to that person. The more detail, the better. Don’t write to a 30-something housewife who needs a pocket organizer. Instead, write to Molly, who’s 33, lives in a three-bedroom home with her husband Bobby and her two kids Scott and Jennifer. She struggles to keep up with the kids’ activities while working as a manager of a craft store.

Now you’re writing with a specific person in mind. You can even use Molly’s name in your message, as if you’re speaking to her. (You can always remove her name later.) Do whatever it takes to address Molly’s specific needs and wants, while staying true to your brand.

Can I Test My Message?

If you want to get creative, take your message outside the office. Try something radical, such as:

• The elevator pitch test. In a skyscraper, ride up and down on the elevator until you meet someone who resembles your persona. Strike up a conversation and give the opening of your message. Does it attract their attention for the 15 to 30 seconds you have between floors? If it’s not strong enough to gain at least a raised eyebrow, go back to the drawing board and make the opening lines captivating.
• The lunch stool test. Wait at a popular diner or restaurant until you see someone resembling your persona sit at the counter. Sit down on the next stool and engage politely. Can your message maintain the person’s interest? Craft your message to be sharp, concise and engaging throughout.
• The street interview test. Get out onto the street with a fake microphone. Stop people resembling your persona and ask several questions and then share your message. Does the person stay? For how long? This is a way to gauge the length of your message. Too long and it becomes boring. Too short, and it’s not engaging enough.

Use a persona to fine-tune your messaging so that it’s targeted, concise and compelling from start to finish. Make sure you play the same message to all your personas, or create different messaging for each of the personas you’ve created.

If you’re having trouble creating your message to appeal to your persona, Ray Access can help. Contact us to write messaging that’s targeted to your audience. Count on Ray Access for the most effective content — for your website, blog or newsletter.

Ray Access is a content marketing firm that delivers targeted words to empower your business. Contact us about your specific project to receive a quote or discuss your needs. We write website copy, blog posts, e-newsletters and more. Everything we do is thoroughly researched, professionally edited and guaranteed original.