A long time ago (but still in this galaxy) I used to spend most of my day writing and customizing business software. I probably entered the software development world differently than most at the time – I learned how to write software to help me be a better auditor. I think because of this, I’ve always had a strong belief that computers (and other tools) should help us accomplish our tasks without getting in the way.
As I worked on developing my skills, I became very interested in interactive design. Interactive design (in my mind) is a set of tools and processes for creating software that helps users accomplish their goals. The folks at Cooper were teaching their Interactive Design Practicum and I was fortunate to attend several of their courses and I learned a great deal from them.
One of the tools we used in the program were personas. At the risk of oversimplifying, personas represent archetypes, or models, of people. They are based on observed behavior, represent the needs of many, and generally include the goals the people being modeled want to achieve.
One of the benefits of using personas in software development is they allow you to design for the defined needs of a particular audience. Rather than trying to create something that will please everyone (an impossible task) you focus on helping a person achieve their goals.
Does this sound familiar? In marketing, we talk about narrowing our focus when defining our ideal customer. When we write content (articles, blog entries, etc.) it is helpful to write as if we are talking to one specific person.
Personas can help us in our marketing by clarifying who the people are that we want to be talking to. When we have a clear picture about who we are trying to help. We can begin to put ourselves in their shoes and figure out what they need and how we can help them. This is how we can break the mold of creating marketing materials that try to sell and move towards creating marketing materials that educate.
In software, the goal of the persona was often something like “collect accounts receivable faster”, “fill orders more quickly”, or “make better decisions faster”.
While those things may represent pain points that our products and services address, I believe their is a more fundamental goal to consider when we create our marketing materials. That goal is “how do I get the information that I need to help me confidently move to the next step in the buying process?”
In order to help them meet that goal, we have to answer several questions about our persona:
- Who are they?
- Who helps them with the decision process?
- What is their buying process?
- Based on where they are in the buying process, what do they need to know next in order to move forward?
Now, you may be thinking that each case is different, everyone needs different information. However, I think you will find that as you begin to map the answers to these questions out and you continue to refine your buyer personas, you will begin to see patterns and areas of overlap.
I’ll be posting more about personas soon. In the meantime, I’d love to hear your experience (or questions) about using personas to improve your marketing.
