What is a marketing persona and why does every brand need one?

martinagvisionfact
Sep 15
3 min read

Updated: Sep 17

Are you starting your own business or creating a new product? If yes, this article is for you. The foundation of every business is to know who your customers are. Who do we want to sell our products to? To men or women, to young or old, to sportspeople? That's the answer you have to find out. Many brands struggle with creating campaigns or content that resonates with the right customers. Therefore, marketing personas are used as a tool to understand and connect with target consumers. Knowing your audience from the start can save you money, time, and ensure that your marketing strategy is right.

Five people in a meeting at a table with laptops and marketing charts. Papers labeled "Marketing Strategy" and "Analysis" are visible.

What is a marketing persona?

Firstly, in simple words, a marketing persona is a fictional representation of your ideal customer based on data and market research. When creating a marketing persona, it includes key elements: demographics such as gender or age, buying behavior, media consumption habits, or customers' pain points.

How to create a marketing persona

The foundation of every successful marketing strategy is to understand your audience. Without a clear picture of your target group of customers, your campaigns might be too general or miss the mark. Here are the steps for how to create a marketing persona:

Step 1: Start with research to gather useful information. You can use interviews, asking customers what their preferences are, or use analytical tools to check websites or even the market.

Step 2: Identify segments, once you have data from your research, try to find patterns in key elements such as demographics, behavior or psychographics.

Step 3: Build your marketing persona. Create a fictional character, give them a name, picture and short bio. Try to describe the character from different perspectives: what they like, and what their values are.

Step 4: Use your persona across your strategy. Now when you know who your persona is, you know what content to create, and how to promote it.

Example of a marketing persona in action

Imagine that you are starting a coffee brand. A small, cozy, modern, aesthetic coffee and brunch place. Who will your target customers be? You aim to have a coffee place where young people who like good coffee and food want to take pictures for social media or study and work somewhere in a nice place.

Therefore, our marketing persona profile will look like:

Name: Sarah

Age: 23

Occupation: university student, part-time job in retail

Lifestyle: loves exploring new cafés, values plant-based options, enjoys taking aesthetic pictures

Goals: wants a place to study outside of her home, and likes to discover new places to hang out with friends

Pain points: does not like crowded places, and gets bored of generic chains

Why every brand needs one

Now we have our marketing persona created, but why is it so important to have one? The profile of our marketing persona will help us understand the audience. It will allow us to create more relevant and personalized content specifically for our target group. From our example, we know that our target group will be young people who like good coffee. Therefore, we know that the style of our café should be modern, adapted for students where they can study or work, and offer more varieties of drinks and food that are popular.

People dining in a cozy restaurant with large windows and warm lighting. Earthy tones, wooden furniture, and plants create a relaxed atmosphere.

Moreover, knowing our marketing persona will allow us to promote our products more effectively. We will know which platforms we should use to reach our target customers. From our example, we know that the most effective campaigns will be on Instagram and TikTok, posting pictures and reels to engage with our target audience.

Conclusion

In today’s competitive market, creating marketing personas is not optional, but rather essential. A marketing persona changes raw data into a clear picture of your target group of customers, helping you understand your audience. By defining who your ideal customers are, you avoid generic messages, and instead, you can create a meaningful and loyal community for your brand. Whether you are starting a small coffee shop or a big brand, marketing personas are not just a theory, they are a practical marketing tool for building stronger brands. Ultimately, brands that invest time in creating and building marketing personas gain a powerful advantage in creating lasting customer relationships.