Persona (Per-so-na) -n
A fictional character created to represent a particular market segment
Inspiring designers or developers to create new products and services can be challenging. Frequently I find “new ideas” are really just reinventing existing ones. An example of this is I routinely meet with clients that think they have the next “Facebook”, in actuality they just have “Facebook” with a minor twist or spin. Who whats to be a member of Facepage?!?!
Most companies have in-depth demographic & physcographic information on their target customers. This information is useful but has the opportunity to be a much more effective tool for inspiring new products or services. Developing personas that show the day in the life of target customers can be instrumental in hatching new ideas.
Charts, graphs, PowerPoint presentations & spreadsheets are a difficult way to really promote forward thinking. Imagine how bringing the content found in the previous mentioned mediums to life through video or an interactive web site interface can be. Those charts, graphs, PowerPoint presentations & spreadsheets can become a living breathing inspirational tool for your designers & developers. Through these living breathing personas you’ll see real opportunities to fill needs.
Of course if you don’t yet have good research and data on your target customers there are great resources such as SonicRim out of Columbus OH & San Francisco, CA or Hartman Group out of Seattle, WA.
Bullseye Creative has taken mountains of research and demographic data to created engaging, entertaining & truly effective personas for your company to better understand its target consumers. Mediums for this work has included video, web & print.
Five Keys to Success:
1. Focus on relevant data
2. Don’t just utilize the persona in product or service development…also use it as a foundation for the marketing
3. Focus on the facts found in the data not what your think you’ve always know about your target customer (You may be surprised how limiting your pre-existing thoughts are)
4. Include scenarios in the research & persona development
5. Make personas believable but also entertaining
Additional Resource:
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona_%28marketing%29
Note: Due to the private nature of personas, Bullseye Creative is not providing specific examples.
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