Just for a moment, visualize yourself going fishing. As far as you are aware, you are going to require a fishing pole, some bait, and a pond. From the garage, you retrieve a spinning rod and a can of worms. You head to the closest lake, where you bring back a little catch to add to your meal. Let your minds wander to a scenario where you are not only enlisted for the sake of fishing but for fishing specifically for carp. So, before you go fishing, find out where he lives, what he bites, and what kind of rod would work best.
The same issue occurs regarding the target audience. If you are selling anti-wrinkle cream and all of your promotion is predicated on the fact that the product is aimed at ladies between the ages of 35 and 70, then you are just going for the fish. Without a doubt, there will be a catch, but it is not known what or who you will catch throughout this process.
What is a character?
The marketing industry has come up with a way to create characters or avatars to prevent blind fishing. A character represents the average person who buys a product or uses a service. Though he lacks the humanity of a genuine person, he shows many of the characteristics that make us human, such as our habits, preferences, flaws, and problems.
The character makes you feel something, unlike cardboard and indifferent people with data. Because we know who he is and how he lives, we can guess how he will act in every scenario. This helps experts work on the site's interface, make posts for social networks, and come up with a marketing message.
Let me give you an example. The phrase "men 30-45 years old, Moscow" doesn't mean much on its own. However, adding at least a few more features will begin to shape the image. Here is a comparison to the original version: "a married 30-45-year-old businessman from Moscow who loves Italian food, enjoys surfing, has no bad habits, and prefers casual style in clothes."
Collecting data
Although characters are just ideas, they require a lot of work to come to life. Just because you have some thoughts about who you're trying to reach, get an image from the internet, and throw in a little explanation doesn't mean you can get away with a rushed style. Those kinds of characters are quite useless.
People will need to be interviewed a lot, and trends in how they behave will need to be found for characters to be useful for marketing. If you require information, use every resource at your disposal. Here's a list of some of the more popular ones:
• Customer interviews conducted by the firm;
• Interviews with firm leaders, sales and customer service staff, and marketers. These personnel often engage with actual clients of the organization and may give information about them.
• Talk with people you know in the industry, such as journalists, independent consultants, and even rivals (keep in mind that you likely already have such connections).
• Data gathered from market research (e.g., user surveys and focus groups).
• Comparative study — websites of competitors where you may read evaluations about the website and products, online communities, and different groups on social networking sites;
• Articles about various subjects are found in the literature.
Creating a character
Determining the total amount of future characters is crucial after data collection and analysis are complete. To do this, it is important to classify customers based on their shared habits and way of life.
A lot of the time, it turns out that there is more than one type of person who fits the target group. We try to blend two figures into one, and if that doesn't work, we try to explain what happened next. There shouldn't be more than three or four characters, though, unless there is a very good reason for being longer.
Once we have a basic idea of the character's "skeleton" based on demographic information, we start the "revival" process.
Choosing a name
Naming a character helps you and people in your company relate to them on a deeper level. In the West, it is normal to give names like "Perfectionist Harry" or "Stylish Jane"—the name is chosen at random, but the attribute is a distillation of personality. For ease of use, the name is crucial, particularly when dealing with several characters. When you think about potential outcomes, such as "How will our spender Misha react to this advertisement?", decision-making becomes much simpler.
Collecting a comprehensive dossier
To compile a complete biography, we researched the character's history and the world in which they originated. What does our protagonist usually do for relaxation on Friday nights if you're a private investigator composing a dossier on an object linked to a suspect? For lunch, what's your favorite? What social media platforms does he frequent, and how does he like to commute to work?
Rather than limiting our attention to hobbies or work history, we want to get a feel for the candidate's attitude, routines, and purchasing mindset. We add important identifiers to the overall appearance so that the seller or management can quickly recognize the character and pick the best communication techniques for the customer.
Good marketers are TV viewers, occasionally go exploring in groups to which they don't belong, and are adept at communicating in contexts they've never considered before. Even though you're a cat breeder who prefers to spend her days at home, if you want to sell to millennials, you need to know their language, interests, issues, and solutions.
Giving peace of mind
Gaining insight into the client's struggles is the goal of a well-executed in-depth interview. By asking the correct questions, you may take on the role of a psychologist and go deeper, uncovering the audience's concerns, values, and hidden motivations. In the absence of this, the future persona remains a useless cardboard figure.
The following is an example list of questions that can assist you in gaining a deeper understanding of the character's inner world and in getting to know him better:
• What keeps you up in the night?
• What's the most frustrating portion of your day?
• What is the most effective approach to irritate you?
• How are you feeling about the changes?
• To whom and where do you seek guidance?
• Of what do you feel most proud?
• When you purchase our goods or services, how do you want to feel?
Creating a message for advertising
You may start crafting an ad message once you have completed detailed character images. It has to be an easy-to-understand description of our product and the impact it will have on a certain customer's feelings. Brand marketing and communications will be filtered through it based on this specific character.
You will start to communicate with your audience on a deeper level and focus your advertising efforts on the most successful channels based on this message.
Recommendations
Look at the characters once a year to make sure they are still useful. As your business expands and you sell more products, you can learn more about your primary customers.
Characters change over time. If the range or direction of the brand has changed, it's time to look at them again. The same is true if your prices have gone up by more than 20 to 30 percent. The people who buy from you have changed in every case. These people are not the same as before.
Characters, like keywords, can be positive or negative. We recommend that you create at least their sketches and use them in your promotion strategy. When you know exactly what a non-customer looks like, you can save the organization time and money.
The characters not only offer brilliant insights, but they also lay the groundwork for the whole advertising campaign. You may learn more about your target consumers and tailor your services to their needs with their help. You can attract the most valuable visitors, leads, and customers to your business by creating personas, so it's time well spent.