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Persona

A persona is a model representation of a person, often a customer.

What does “persona” mean?

A persona is a representative, vivid profile of a typical person from the target audience.

Instead of referring to abstract production managers at a manufacturing plant, a persona distills this target group into a tangible figure, complete with a name, role, goals, and concerns. For example, Martin, a 48-year-old production manager responsible for a manufacturing operation with 60 employees, who is under pressure and skeptical of comprehensive solutions.

The persona is a fictional character, but not simply made up. Ideally, it is based on real insights, conversations, data, and experiences with customers. It brings together recurring patterns into a vivid picture.

Where do personas come from?

In the digital realm, the concept was primarily shaped by software developer and designer Alan Cooper, who used personas in the 1990s as a method to develop programs more consistently from the perspective of their future users.

From there, the idea also made its way into marketing and design, since in those fields, development was often aimed at everyone rather than at a specific person who represents the actual target audience.

Why are personas important?

Communicating to a broad and faceless mass results in generic messages that ultimately fail to reach anyone.

The persona makes the target audience tangible and provides a specific recipient that the entire team keeps in mind. This allows the team to ask, for every image, every piece of text, and every message, whether it fits the persona and convinces them. This step sharpens the message and ensures that marketing is conceived from the customers’ perspective.

Advantages

  • Personas make the target audience tangible.
  • They give the entire team a shared, clear picture of who they’re working for.
  • They sharpen the message because it can be tested against a specific person.
  • They help avoid self-centered communication.
  • Personas help develop content and offers consistently from the customer’s perspective—which can increase relevance and impact.

Challenges

A functional persona should be based on real insights, since even fictional characters can be misleading and may simply confirm one’s own assumptions. Consequently, developing robust personas requires significant effort. On the other hand, one should not create too many personas, so as not to lose the desired clarity.

Target audiences change, and so do personas—therefore, regular updates are advisable.

Example

A provider of continuing education programs refers to “specialists and executives” in its marketing materials. The response to this rather abstract term is lukewarm.

Now the provider develops two personas based on actual conversations with participants. The tone becomes more direct. For the first persona—a department head who is short on time—flexibility and practical relevance are emphasized. For the second persona—a career-driven rising star—the focus is on career benefits.

The messaging resonates noticeably better with the target audiences because readers recognize that the content was written for people with their specific needs.

Related terms

Target Audience The target audience is a group of people or organizations that a company wants to reach. Jobs-to-be-Done Jobs-to-be-Done is a way of thinking that shifts the focus away from the product and toward its value to the customer. Customer Journey From the first contact to the decision and beyond—that’s the customer journey. Targeting Targeting refers to the practice of delivering ads specifically to a particular target audience, rather than randomly displaying them to a broad audience.