What is a Persona?

"A Persona is an artificial person, invented for the purpose of helping a designer understand the people who will be using their product."

(Don Norman: http://www.jnd.org Nielsen Norman Group)

Creating a "Persona" is more than segmenting your market by age group, income or location. It's about creating a full character with a detailed description of their lifestyle and loyalties and imagining the way they interact with your brand electronically.

In this way, each time they come into contact with your brand you can speak to them directly and set out a trail to lure them into buying your products or exchanging with your site.

Paying attention to online marketing behaviour and tailoring your website, e-newsletter or online advertising to match will make sure you are in tune with your customers.

A useful list for building a "Persona" might be:

Who (Name and possible nickname)

age

gender

occupation

Context

when

where

type of computer

What

purpose

expectations

Motivation

urgency

desires

Trails of information and content can be created to leave breadcrumbs for your audience and intrigue them into finding out more.

From the selection of keyphrases for ad campaigns or SEO through to usability, design and content! You should be thinking about your character and relating it to your wider marketing strategy.

Find out how we can help you target your customers more effectively online