Using target audience personas to predict success

Audience personas can provide the blueprint for your marketing campaigns. By taking the time to research and immerse yourself in understanding who you are trying to reach, can provide an invaluable framework for attaining great results.

Everyone has different needs and interests when it comes to what appeals to them.

Audiences and their reactions to campaigns can be incredibly difficult to predict and a marketing campaign can fall on its head if it doesn’t appeal to your customer base.

Producing content that is meant to appeal to everyone will end up bringing interest from no-one.

Marketing campaigns backed by audience research is key to connecting with your audience and ensuring you provide them with exactly what they’re looking for. Embracing the power of audience data can reach a broader yet more engaged fanbase.

By building a variety of target audience personas, you can improve your marketing campaigns. They will help to provide guidance on the direction of your campaigns, in terms of tone, language and imagery.

Firstly, what is a target audience persona?

An audience persona is the visualisation and profile of a “person” representing your ideal target audience.

Everyone is unique, yet when it comes to marketing trends and techniques, similarities can be found amongst those who are similar in demographics. Understanding these connections allows us to effectively capture attention and make an impact upon our target audience.

The character profile is an imaginary person who has the characteristics of various target audiences you wish to appeal to.

Their persona can get down to the nitty-gritty specifics of who you want to be appealing to, fitting them in boxes such as:

• age range
• where they live
• their hobbies
• their income
• any problems they are looking to resolve (known as ‘pain points’)

Once the persona is complete, you can use it to target the audience, as it is representative of an entire demographic you want to reach.

What can customer personas tell us?

People buy things that improve their lifestyle. Whether that means making things more luxurious or making things easier. Target audience personas can give us a hypothetical view on their lifestyle. This means that you can then see where your product and service can fit into the situation to benefit them.

For example…

Let’s say you are a part of a company that offers cleaning services, this is what an audience persona may look like for you.

Name: Anna
Age: 34
Location: Greater Manchester
Job: High school teacher
Pain Points: Works at least 45 hours a week, has young children and not enough time to do things around the house. The house covered in toys and generally untidy.
Solution: In need of a cost-effective cleaning and tidying solution to come on a weekly basis. A tidy home means more time spent with kids, being able to invite friends over, and a better environment for spending her free time.
Social Media channels: Instagram, Facebook, TikTok

What advert could be created from your persona?

Deliverable: A video advert on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok

Target: 30-44 full-time working female in Greater Manchester.

Creative: A solution for busy women who can’t keep up with the housework. Picture a hard-working mid-thirties woman, drained from her day job but too embarrassed to invite friends over because of the clutter. That’s where the game-changing app comes in. She’s able to book in a cleaning service right from her phone – and several hours later, her house is sparkling clean! With this easy solution, she can still enjoy your social life by showing her beaming Cheshire cat grin.

What’s the result?

While only a first draft of the idea, this shows a key understanding of the persona created and ability to appeal to it.

With this creative ad, audiences will be able to get a glimpse of their own reflection – making it more than just another advert to swipe past. Relatability is at the heart, focusing on universal issues that many can relate to and empathise with.

While this campaign was optimised for “Anna,” it may not resonate with those who may need a similar service but for other reasons.

Continuing with the cleaning app scenario, those with limited mobility could be a demographic where you would approach your marketing in a different way and therefore need a different output. As you start to target new audiences, you can create more personas to fit the evolving goals of your business.

Target audience personas are an essential tool for your future campaigns and are worth the research that goes into them. Continuing to create common ground between yourself and the customer will meet the needs of those in your target market and ensure success.