What are Audience Personas and Why do I Need Them?

Have you ever heard the age-old saying, “You can’t be everything to everyone?” Well, audience personas whittle down that “everyone” portion of that sage advice. Because, as bumper-sticker-worthy as that saying is, it’s right when it comes to branding. If your brand tries to appeal to absolutely everyone, you’ll miss the mark with absolutely everyone.

Audience personas help you focus your efforts and marketing dollars on the demographics your brand should be engaging with, and outline when, where, and how to best reach them.

What is an audience persona?

Audience personas are fictional, generalized representations of your ideal customers. Sometimes called buyer personas, they’re created based on market research, internal and external data, and real insights about your existing or potential audience, whether your brand is well-established or brand new.

More than just a target audience, audience personas include specific behavior patterns, motivations, goals, and the challenges your brand can solve based on what makes you different and the real value you bring to your customers.

Think of an audience persona as a profile of your ideal customer who isn’t shy about oversharing. You walk away knowing not only what your customer looks like, but their name, occupation, income, likes, dislikes, background, challenges, and media consumption habits down to what show they’re binging and on which streaming service. All of it grounded in behavioral data, market research, and real experience.

Why do I need audience personas?

When done well, audience personas should be as well-rounded as a real customer. That depth influences everything: your marketing strategy, the content and campaigns you create, product development, customer service, and beyond. Audience personas get everyone on your team on the same page about how to attract and interact with the ideal customer in the right way, with the right messages, at the right time, and ultimately bring them closer to your brand.

How will audience personas save my brand money?

Do you like throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks? Now imagine that spaghetti is your marketing dollars. Not so fun, right? Creating audience personas is one of the most impactful ways to ensure your marketing dollars are spent wisely and is foundational to your brand’s success.

Here’s a real-world example. Say you’re about to launch a digital ad campaign. If you know exactly who you’re talking to, you can dial in those parameters to reach your ideal customer. You could spend money to reach a lot of random people with no interest in what you offer, or you can invest that same amount to hit exactly the right people who already share your brand’s values. The latter wins every time in terms of ROI.

Why Audience Personas Matter: A Few Examples

To bring this to life, here are a few well-known brands. Think about how differently each one presents itself visually, verbally, and experientially.

• Skittles
• Burton Snowboards
• Hello Kitty
• Forbes

Now think about what would happen if these brands targeted each other’s audiences. How would the Hello Kitty audience feel about Forbes? Burton with Skittles? Would it resonate? Would it drive sales? Or would it be a very expensive miss?

Knowing who you should be talking to means you spend your marketing dollars where those people actually are. And you can’t do that without a well-defined audience persona.

How many audience personas should I have?

Short answer: not too many. Otherwise, you fall right back into that “everyone” trap. The number of personas you have should align with your brand strategy, your brand’s objectives, mission, and goals.

There’s no magic number, but three is common practice. Depending on the complexity of your organization, it may warrant more or less.

The key thing to remember? Audience personas aren’t a one-and-done exercise. Whether you’re launching a new campaign or weighing a television spot, come back to your personas often. Ask yourself: “What would make this person interested in this product?” or “Does this person even watch TV, or am I better off with social advertising?” Think of them as your north star, always there to guide smarter decisions.