Lead Generation - Plan Phase
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Task 7:
Task 7:
When we think of our customers, we may first think in business demographic terms. Naturally, we want our personas to include the most relevant data points (e.g., business type, job title and function, geographic location). However, while this data is used primarily to organize customers by what they have in common, personas enable us to identify key differentiators that could give Gore’s content an edge.
Constructing personas
Constructing personas
Persona development is a customized process, as it helps us address our unique content creation challenges and opportunities. The following framework can help us get started on the right track:
Step 1:
Step 1:
Envision Our Ideal Customer
Envision Our Ideal Customer
This should be the person our content efforts are likely to help most. To build a picture of who she (or he) is, give the person a name and fill in the most critical characteristics relevant to Gore. This character sketch will serve as the foundation of our persona.
Who is she? What demographic characteristics describe her?
What’s her job title and function?
What kind of company/industry does she work in?
How long has she been serving in this capacity within the organization?
What experience/expertise does she bring to this role?
How does her job relate to the job of others in her department, and other departments in her organization?
Step 2:
Step 2:
Be Empathetic
Be Empathetic
Consider the specific objectives, responsibilities, and obstacles she might encounter regularly in performing her role.
What goals does she need to accomplish to be successful in her job?
What challenges frustrate her most about her job?
What needs or gaps might she be looking to fill or what specific problems would she need to solve to alleviate her frustrations?
What might keep her from addressing those gaps/problems?
TIP:
TIP:
Once we have a basic character sketch of who our persona is and what her most pressing goals and challenges are, it may be helpful to create some day-in-the-life snapshots – brief statements that illustrate what life is like in her (work) shoes. Try using the voice of the persona in our scenarios and speaking in plain language to give the team a relatable picture of who she is and what she might be looking for help with.
*Example of a persona map extracted from Gore Connect 1.5 workshop summary
Step 3:
Step 3:
Characterize the Role
Characterize the Role
Day-in-the-life scenarios are also helpful because they provide a clearer view of our persona’s relationships to other members of the “buying committee” – i.e., the people/teams within an organization who are involved in making purchasing decisions for the company.
Answering questions like the following can help us focus on important clues about the best way to approach content conversations with her – and uncover other stakeholder personas we might need to target:
How influential is she in her company’s decision-making process? Where might pushback come?
Who else might influence her decisions (internal and external)?
Does she need others to sign off on her decisions?
How far along is she in her consideration process?
What questions is she likely to ask to satisfy her criteria for making a purchase?
What obstacles might stand in her way as she looks to satisfy that criteria?
What keywords is she likely to use to search for the answers she needs to push forward?
It's tough work creating a persona as it takes a bit of research, some guesswork, and tweaking. But the end result is a clear picture of the person we want to market to and someone who will happily consume our content.
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