Today’s marketing has evolved and old-school methods will no longer cut it, especially in this age of heightened customer ad fatigue.
If you want to stand out from the sea of businesses that are out there, then you must hone new techniques to engage your customers and prospects.
However, all of these mean nothing if you can’t first identify who your target audience is, even if you have the most valuable things to provide.
In this article, we will be looking at 10 target audience persona examples that have been used repeatedly by many businesses, so that you can decide which information will be most useful for your own business.
What is a Target Audience Persona?
A target audience persona is a concept that allows you to use fictional characters to represent an ideal customer in order to narrow down your scope to specific users based on their characteristics and your business offerings.
Think of personas like avatars that you can use for your marketing strategies to identify your target audience’s values goals and pain points. That way it becomes easier for you to visualize the real person that your products or services are meant for and you can tailor your message to suit them. They can come in different formats, depending on your goals.
Target audience persona templates are Important because they carry information that both the sales and marketing teams require. It will help both teams understand the decision-making factors of their mark, as well as the unique selling point to pitch to the customers.
1. Martha, the Stay at Home Mom
Background Info
- Martha is always busy at home taking care of her kids and sorting out other home responsibilities
- Her husband, George, is a salesman who leaves early and returns home late
- They have a happy home, but it would be nice if they could afford a vacation
- 35 years of age
- Married mother of two
- Lives in North Carolina
- She has a background in marketing and is setting up an online business to sell promotional items
- Her husband has a high-paying sales job
Pain points
- Martha and her husband have lots of expensive bills and often have only a little cash to spare
- She needs time and resources to get her business off the ground
For this example, you can tell a lot about Martha already from her background and lifestyle. For example, there is only one salary source so the financial pressure must be overwhelming. It is clear that she opts to be a stay-at-home mom to take care of her home and often has her hands full.
However, while she’s not looking for an office job, she’s on a budget and could do with some quick information that would help her internet business.
2. James, an In-house Content Writer
Background Info
- Literature graduate
- Millennial
- He reports directly to the Head of Marketing in his company
- Big fan of content marketing blogs like the Content Marketing Institute
Pain points
- James is swamped with so many content marketing tasks that he can barely keep track of the content production process
- Some things slip through the cracks
In this case, James joined his current firm when they were still a small business operating on a lean budget. He conveniently handled all of their content production and nothing ever got past him, until now.
The company has grown in size and so has James’s role. He is still in charge of content, but since the company’s needs have grown beyond just managing a blog site, James now has to manage a team of content writers and produce and coordinate content for their outreach efforts across several channels.
James has always used a spreadsheet to keep track of his tasks when he had fewer responsibilities, and even now, he still uses it to track tasks given to his team members. Now that the scope is wider, updating the spreadsheet has become a hassle.
He has to schedule content that he receives from his staff and follow up on other communication activities. These consume a great deal of his time.
James loves his job, but he’s not thrilled about the process he goes through every day. He is looking for solutions that can help.
3. Peter, the Social Media Strategist
Background Info
- Gen Z or Millennial
- Reports to his Accounts Director
- Big fan of blogs on social media such as Social Media Examiner and Social Media Today
Pain points
- Has issues with the time he spends coordinating with his colleagues and on client reporting
Here, Peter is a social media marketer working for an agency. He has a reasonably-sized portfolio and although his plate is full, he can handle all his clients’ accounts without a lot of issues.
He is able to handle all of his clients with a scheduler that works across platforms. However, he does find it easy collaborating with his team members without distracting his workflow. He is looking for a tool that can help him collaborate better and still have the capabilities of the old one.
Since he works with clients and gives them reports often, Peter would also need the tools to have good analytic and reporting features to avoid wasting time on reformatting data.
4. Sam, the Head of Digital Marketing
Background info
- Gen X or Boomer
- She reports to the Head of Marketing
- Big fan of top news sites like Wall Street Journal, NPR, CNN, and a couple of marketing blogs
Pain points
- She needs her team to adopt a more structured and efficient process to guarantee better output
Sam is the head of the digital marketing team of her company and has more than a dozen staff members under her. She won’t be using the digital marketing tools herself, but it is her job to know what her team needs.
She notices that her team struggles with coordination, scheduling, reporting, and scalability and she wants to introduce a tool that is practical and scalable.
To that end, she’s always on the lookout for content about new tech in digital marketing and she’s not scared to try out new products to see if they are user-friendly enough to quickly onboard the team.
5. Alfred, the Head of HR
Background Info
- Boomer or Gen X
- He reports directly to the CEO
- He’s a big fan of HR Bartender and HPPY blogs
Pain points
- Alfred’s biggest challenge is that it is difficult to get employees to voice their issues directly to HR. Instead, they’d rather vent on Glassdoor.
In this case, Alfred invests millions of dollars every year on employees’ welfare and development, yet each time he visits Glassdoor to see how the employees view the company, he’s astonished by the number of negative reviews.
He has tried to ensure that everyone feels comfortable talking to HR about anything, but they are often reluctant to do so.
Now he’s on the lookout for a solution that lets employees drop anonymous feedback directly to HR. He believes that this way more people will be willing to give their feedback which would help his team get a general sense of the working atmosphere.
6. Mary, the New Entry-level Employee
Background Info
- Millennial or Gen Z
- Reports directly to her supervisor
- Gets information from random news sites online, social media, and the company’s channels
Pain Points
- Mary is uncomfortable with office politics, especially among the managers, and she sees no realistic way of voicing her ideas and concerns for fear of retaliation
Mary is recently employed at the company and for the first few months, she liked it there. Over time, she has begun to see situations and knows that management can do better, but she’s unable to drop her two cents because of the internal politics in the office.
Mary believes that she and some of her colleagues have some valuable insights and it frustrates her that they cannot be voiced as it might be seen as going around her immediate supervisor which is a recipe for animosity.
She will feel a lot more comfortable airing her views on the matter if the company adopted an anonymous feedback system that employees have access to frequently. She needs to be absolutely convinced that the feedback system is truly anonymous otherwise she will not use it.
7. Joy, the Marathoner
Background Info
- Millennial, Gen Z, or Gen X
- Big fan of Women’s Running and Runner’s World websites
Pain Points
- Joy is not herself whenever she’s unable to run because of injury
- She rarely finds comfortable shoes for running that are durable
To Joy, running is not just a hobby, she actually takes part in serious competitions and always comes out in the top 10. Since she’s a professional runner, it is important that she has the right shoes and gear.
Her biggest fear is having to give up on running because of recurring injuries, so she needs shoes that are comfortable and safe for her, yet built for speed and performance.
She’s willing to pay as much as possible for the right shoes as long as they meet her needs.
8. Tasha, the Comfort Queen
Background Info
- Millennial, Gen Z, or Gen X
- Big fan of Disney Family and self-health blogs
Pain Points
- Tasha is a sucker for fashionable and functional wear. She will not compromise on either
Tasha is a remote worker who does all of her work in the mornings. By noon she goes grocery shopping, walks her dogs in the park, and ensures that she gets her 10,000 steps in before the day’s end. You will never catch her in the gym.
Her work routine affords her to stay in yoga pants and tennis shoes for the most of the day, but you will never catch her leaving the house looking like a slob.
She’s conscious of the details of her outfits to a T and would only throw away money on clothes that are the perfect blend of fashion and function.
9. Michael, the Teenager’s Dad
Background Info
- Gen X or Boomer
- Big fan of CNN and the USA today
Pain Points
- Michael is a doting father who is often worried about his son’s safety and the potential car insurance costs if his son crashes his car
Michael’s teenage son has just turned 18 and was given a car for his birthday. He’s a good kid, so he mostly drives at the recommended speed, but Michael knows how kids can be especially when they are with their friends.
He worries about his son’s safety and at the same time the potentially rising insurance premiums should he ever crash the car. He’s always on the lookout for the best insurance plan and a company that is sympathetic.
At the same time, he also wants some tips on how best to keep his son safe.
10. Lisa, the Everyday Driver
Background Info
- Millennial
- Big fan of NerdWallet and Consumer Reports
Pain Points
- She’s not a car freak, but she’s wary of cute marketing schemes and just wants a brand that she can trust
Lisa uses her car a decent number of times every day. Aside from a few speeding tickets when she was a lot younger, she has a pretty clean driving record.
She needs a good insurance company that will be as transparent as it can be when she needs them. While she’s not ready to spend her life savings on car insurance, money isn’t a major factor here.
Conclusion
The above examples are ideas to help you frame your own target audience personas with sufficient personality information and a good backstory.
Remember, when creating target audience personas for your business, it is always advisable to start with broad information for a demographic. It is the details like income, location, job title, and interests that help you refine your persona as much as possible.
Once you get this and understand how to attack their pain points, you would have unlocked one of the toughest points in marketing.
The great thing about your personas is that they are your own, so you can use them all over again, with some adjustments to fit the strategies that your brand intends to use to speed up your target audience.