Customer Personas
Branding is about understanding the customer and what motivates them to engage with or purchase our brand. As a result, it is only natural to ask: Who are our customers and where do they spend their time? How do they communicate and what content interests them? Are there other brands that have their attention and what are they doing that we may draw from?
It’s about understanding what unites and divides a customer. And then understanding the differences that exist between those customers. Customer segmentation is one path to better understanding.
Customer segmentation is critical in providing laser-like focus to identify and engage with the proper target customer and deliver on the brand promise. Segmentation can be demographic or behavioral. Like the Brand Archetype, a Customer Persona identifies traits. Unlike an archetype, the profile created from a customer persona can go deeper in defining the representative buyer: from her name, occupation and where she’s from, to her motivations, frustrations and influences.
Personas may even go as far as identifying negative personas (the customers that a brand wishes to avoid) or charting levels of empathy. A brand may identify and define two or three unique Customer Personas or it may require many more, if the brand offering is particularly diverse.
Customer Personas defined: Representing the brand’s ideal customers, personas are created by using market research and real data to more fully consider customer demographics, behavioral patterns, emotional triggers and motivations for purchase. Personas are particularly effective in informing Brand Positioning and guiding segmented or targeted communications.
Customer Personas process and deliverables
- Conduct qualitative and quantitative research, if necessary
- Clearly identify traits, interests and emotional characteristics of customers to define and segment specific customer types or personas
- Describe and document personas for use across departments