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B2B Monday Myth: A Persona Is the Same Thing As a Target Audience

by MGB2B

The Myth: A Persona Is the Same Thing As a Target Audience

The Truth: A Persona Is Much More Detailed and Personalized

For years, marketers have created “target audiences” for their brand or product. That means they’ve put large groups of people into one category, and labeled them. But today’s digital marketing world has become very personal. Brands now reach out directly to individuals. So, it’s time to take things one step further. If you want to give yourself a clear picture of the audience you’re attracting, you need to craft audience personas.

The difference between the traditionally defined target audience and an audience persona is that a persona is a narrative that describes a very specific type of person. It’s highly detailed and provides enough information that you could actually pick this fictional person, your buyer, out of a group.

Your buyer is a real person, so they should be identified as one. And every last detail you give is a potential clue for how you can most effectively target them. This means constructing a clear picture of your customer – including what will resonate with them both personally and professionally.

Some examples of questions you should answer as you’re writing personas for B2B brands:

• What is their position? Their day-to-day responsibilities?
• What are their personal and professional communication methods?
• What media do they consume? What’s their information source?
• What is their education background?
• What challenges face them? How can you help solve them?
• What do they value? What are their goals?

A traditional target audience might just read “head of marketing at a mid-size company.” But an audience persona will be more like a narrative, encompassing everything there is to know about this marketing head.

Let’s take James Smith, for example:

James Smith is 41 years old and the head of global marketing at mid-size insurance company. He is a “decision maker” who works above a team of about 25 marketing professionals in the Hartford, CT office. His main responsibilities include overseeing the development of new marketing initiatives and coordinating these efforts with the company’s overall business plan. James has the most say within the communications division of the company, but he still struggles to prove the worth and ROI of marketing to the top executives of the company. His top challenges include optimizing the work of the marketing team under a small budget and gaining approval up the ladder for new initiatives.

At the beginning of every day, James reads the New York Times, and sometimes browses through Forbes and the Wall Street Journal. He also reads several trade publications, like AdWeek and Direct Marketing News, in his free time. His goal is to prove the marketing team’s value by having the ability to quantify and measure leads for the sales team. He is most frustrated by stagnating sales productivity and work that is not measurable, and he is most motivated by recognition from executives and his peers. James also spends several hours a week maintaining his personal Twitter account, where he often engages with industry content. 

There are an endless number of benefits that come from writing several of these personas. A target audience description can only generalize, and therefore deliver the same generic content to varying types of people. In comparison, a audience personas can identify opportunities for personalized content and solutions.

Putting a face to different audience segments conveys to your buyers that you’re tailoring specifically to them. Personas can determine how your content is written, what kinds of images should be used, and where advertisements and media should be placed.

The biggest benefit from taking the time to write personas for B2B brands? When you learn your audience inside and out, sales will naturally follow.