Personas are an integral part of marketing and communications strategies, but they often get written off as being too soft. Well, perhaps that’s because all too often we take personas as a fun opportunity to be creative, when what we actually need to do to be impactful is study real people and real data. The answers to your burning marketing questions are out there, living in the hearts and minds of your current and potential clients and customers — you just need to ask the right questions. Let’s stop guessing about who we’re marketing to and start understanding who we need to engage with. Presented at Learn Inbound (Dublin, IE) on January 25 2017.

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DANA DITOMASO
WHO ARE WE WRITING FOR?
CHOOSE FACT OVER FICTION

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What is a persona?

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This is not a time
for creativity.

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You are not the
target market.

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Good personas make sense
to non-marketers.

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Personas are findable
and measurable.

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Findable:
You have a way of targeting
this persona.

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Measurable:
You have a plan on how to
segment and track this
persona.

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Personas are built
from data.

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Video from “This is 40ish”
http://www.chatelaine.com/this-is-40ish-2017/

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Good personas
build empathy.

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What is your
conversion rate?

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People are not users.

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How to build personas.

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Who are your best
customers now?

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Step 1
Build a profile.

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Step 2
Ask questions.

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Talk to your sales
and support teams.

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Step 3
Build structure.

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I am a (blank)
Who wants to do (blank)
So I can (blank)

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Remember:
People don’t just
live online.

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Check your bias.

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Are you social listening?

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Prove your theories
with data.

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Don’t silo customer
experience from lead
experience.

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Limit yourself to 3 to 5
personas to start.

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Every persona must have a
story and a journey.

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You have your personas,
now what?

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Segmentation!

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UTM Parameters

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Google Tag Manager

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What else can you do?

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Remarketing

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Social Sign On

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Call tracking and
whisper messages.

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Persona data leads to
smarter marketing
decisions.

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Stop wasting time on the
wrong opportunities.

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THANK YOU!