Personas are fictional characters that represent a group of users of similar key characteristics. Personas are useful at any stage of a company’s digital transformation, from inception to re-branding, and are indispensable for both small and large businesses.

• Do you have the same engagement strategy for all leads?
• Do you use a single customer journey for all customer profiles?
• Do you have one Brand Value Proposition that you communicate to all customers?

The modern day customer expects customised experiences. If the answer to any of the above questions is yes, then you are not realizing your full marketing potential. Defining customer personas is a crucial first step in order to ensure that you are not doing business blindly.

Creating a digital marketing plan without knowing your personas is like packing a suitcase without knowing where you are going.

How can personas personalize customer engagement?

When done correctly, personas are an effective tool that can produce powerful results across your entire digital campaign.

You should be able to plot a typical customer journey from beginning to end. Have you identified and prepared for possible deviances throughout the various stages of the customer lifecycle? A detailed understanding of your customer will enable you to execute an engagement strategy that responds to each persona’s evolving needs. There are many great techniques you can use for persona creation, the suitability of which varies depending on whether your business is B2B or B2C. The most comprehensive mapping techniques consider the different channels your persona is most likely to use or be influenced by.

• Touchpoint mapping, for example, can assist your review of the digital experiences you offer and reveal weak spots in customer journeys. Understanding personas can help you identify opportunities that can tip the scales in your favour and convert reluctant leads into recurring purchasers.
• Characteristic mapping can help you determine alternative approaches to content creation that cater to different behavioural patterns, such as the cautious consumer looking for reassurance or the returning purchaser looking for new offers.

Aside from customer journeys and content creation, customer personas can also help you refine your Brand Value Propositions(s), design a powerful landing page for your website, adopt an appropriate tone for social media engagement, tailor your FAQ page, improve your SEO, and guide digital marketing campaigns.