Getting Persona(l)

When is the last time you looked at the personas of your members?

Has it been one year? Two years? Or before the pandemic changed the world forever?

Or is your answer “What’s a persona?”

If you’re not familiar, a persona is a fake person who embodies a specific type of member or customer. It goes beyond the demographics of “18-35-year-old white male making $40-$60K per year” that we all know and love. Instead, it makes that demographic come alive and help you figure out who that person really is.

For example, here’s a fake persona from a fake association:

Instead of dry demographics, we have Sherri, a “real” person with a picture and human information to go along with her name. This is exactly the kind of person that WKR, if it was a real association, would love to get to know as a prospect, so they could gear content, advertising, and marketing emails toward her pain points, her concerns, and where she gets her information.

Are demographics still important? Absolutely. But demographics are the "10,000 feet view" of your audience segments. Personas are the "on the ground, meet them at their workplace" view.

Demographics will get you narrower target groups. Personas will give you real content to get their attention – and their membership.

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