Close your eyes and imagine yourself in the checkout line at your neighborhood Target. Who might you see in line behind you? A mom with her young toddler and a cart full of groceries? A young professional grabbing a few essentials after work? A college student scouting out dorm supplies?
Each of these people might represent one of Target’s “client personas,” fictional, general depictions of their ideal customers. These client personas help make their customers more real by providing important details about their lives and shopping habits. Developing these client personas helps the retail chain create new products and services and also informs marketing strategy and brand positioning. In other words, these are the segments of people that Target targets (see what we did there?).
What’s an example of a client persona?
The more details you have about your business’s persona(s), the better. For example, take the young mom behind you in the checkout line. Let’s give her a name – Lauren. She has a 2 ½ year old son and she shops at Target to get anything from groceries and shoes to birthday cards and home decor. She’s a married, stay-at-home mom who tries to work out regularly and likes to host a book club on Wednesdays.
Feel like you know her better?
Why are client personas important?
Client personas help inform important marketing decisions, like what types of ads to run and where to spend your marketing dollars. For example, let’s take the young professional – Austin – who likes to stop by after work to pick up a few essentials, like toilet paper and frozen pizza. How might Target expand their sales of other items, like clothing, to this client persona?
Well, research indicates that many young professionals read blogs to stay up to date on trends in affordable fashion. So Target might use part of its marketing budget to partner with a few well-known bloggers to showcase their newest clothing line in blog posts and on social media. The next time Austin drops in after work, he might have a new pair of jeans in his cart in addition to his usual toothpaste and deodorant purchase.
How do you create your client personas?
You might have realized by now that the more information you have about your client persona(s), the better you’re able to build your brand, develop trust and encourage sales. Here is a sampling of questions you might ask when developing yours:
- How old is your ideal client?
- Is your client gender-specific?
- What type of job might they have?
- What are their interests and hobbies?
- What is their income?
- Where do they get their information before they make a purchase (online, in-store, from friends, etc.)?
- What are their biggest concerns?
- What are their biggest dreams?
Research, surveys and interviews of current and potential clients can help you find out a lot of this information. The more information you can gather about your current client segments – and the client segments you want to tap in to – the more you’ll be able to tailor your messages to them with useful, relevant information. And the more successful your next marketing campaign will be.
Do you need assistance developing your client personas? Or tailoring your marketing strategy to them? We’re happy to help! Contact us here and we will be in touch shortly.
