How to create a persona?

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20 Feb, 2023

Creating Effective Personas: A Step-by-Step Guide



Understanding your clientele's psychology is crucial for successful communication and business development. To help you in this endeavor, marketing specialists have developed a method known as persona creation.
At MMONET, we assist you in comprehending and engaging your audience by utilizing this widely recognized technique.


    Definition: Persona


    A persona (or personae in plural) is a representation of your typical client. By giving them a name, a personality, interests, and even a face, it becomes much easier to address them as a real person rather than using a robotic style.

    Why Define a Persona?


    Creating a persona is an effective method for shaping your content strategy. When you visualize a real person, your mind can better empathize, imagine their questions, and anticipate content tailored to their needs. Even the choice of persona names carries significance.
    Imagine the customer journey of individuals named Brigitte, Marko, or Cléa.

    Picture them doing their first online search, reading a flyer, discussing with friends, watching TikTok videos, or seeking advice from guides and white papers before making a decision. Consider whether they prefer guidance or making choices through comparisons.
    Based on their names (implicitly representing their age, social background, and other traits), you can visualize different buying journeys, information sources, and communication styles.
    As you can see, personas are vital for understanding your consumers and form a fundamental aspect of your strategic marketing.

    Understanding Your Current Customers with Buyer Personas


    Creating a relevant persona requires more than just intuition. Gather as much information as possible about your potential customers. Determine if you have a homogenous audience or multiple consumer profiles. Are they interested in the same offer or different services?

    Your CRM database offers valuable insights into your current audience. Analyzing first names can help estimate your customers' average age, and sales data can reveal their consumption patterns. Additionally, your sales team can provide essential information:

    • Frequently asked questions before and after purchase
    • The type of needs they want to fulfill with your products/services
    • How they express themselves in-store, online reviews, or on social media
    • Why they choose your offers over competitors'
    • What factors affect their decision-making: price, ease of use, style, etc.

    A buyer persona mirrors the characteristics of your existing customers. Understanding your current customers facilitates the implementation of a communication strategy and tailored promotional efforts.

    Reaching New Markets with a Persona


    If you're starting a new business, targeting a different market, or lack information about your customers, you can create a "target audience" persona.

    The target audience represents the ideal audience for your brand, those you want to target. Avoid vague profiles like "male or female executives aged 35 to 60," as they lack precision and do not guide your content strategy.

    Creating a Persona Profile in 6 Questions


    Here are some questions to create a relevant persona profile, even without relying on existing client data:

    Question Implication
    • What details could be found on their ID card? Gender, age, location, first name...
    • Personifying the persona with a name and identity.
    • What is their family or social situation? Married, divorced, in a stable relationship, introverted, sociable, etc.?
    • Understanding your prospect's living environment.
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  1. Is the persona a decision-maker, influencer, or prescriber? For example, in the context of buying diapers, the decision-maker is a parent, but influencers could be grandparents or a blogger recommending a brand.
    • Considering the entire audience and sources of influence in the buying process.
    • What is their profession? What are their passions? Where do they vacation? How do they spend their free time?
    • Understanding your target's lifestyle and how it affects their consumption choices.
    • How do they gather information about products, including yours and your competitors'? Do they call professionals, compare online, or prefer testing before buying?
    • Adapting to your target's buying journey to enhance the customer experience.
    • What are their needs or challenges? Do they want to express their style, feel secure, achieve immediate or long-term gains, etc.?
    • Understanding their concerns to tailor your sales pitch and connect with them.


    What you include in your personas depends on your company, industry, and offerings. However, the more information (or imagination) you have about your target prospects, the better you can adapt your marketing strategy, offerings, and content creation. This allows you to invest in the right acquisition channels, those favored by your audiences.

    We recommend reading market studies, visiting stores (yours and competitors'), or studying their sales pitches to understand your market before defining your personas.

    Using Personas as Strategic Tools


    Like any marketing tool (brand book, SWOT analysis), personas are only valuable if kept up-to-date and relevant. If they are forgotten, disconnected from reality, or too abstract for communicators, they lose their purpose as a guiding element in customer marketing.

    Always consider your personas when creating content or promotional campaigns. You can print their profiles and display them in your office or creative space to keep them top-of-mind while defining your digital marketing strategy, brand content, editorial guidelines, or in-store actions.

    By stimulating empathy, personas will boost your creativity. These not-so-fictional characters can help you generate unique ideas to stand out in your target market.

    Brand Image and Persona: The Example of Lacoste


    Brands sometimes face crises related to their brand identity. Take Lacoste as an example. Established in 1923 by tennis legend René Lacoste, this polo and sportswear brand encountered challenges in the 1990s and 2000s.

    Young individuals from suburban areas embraced the iconic crocodile logo as a symbol of distinction, particularly in the world of rap. However, this led to tensions with the brand's traditional, older, and more affluent customer base, causing them to avoid stores associated with these "kaïra" customers.

    In response, Lacoste initiated a marketing strategy shift. They defined a new ideal customer persona: an 18-25-year-old student living with their parents, who appreciated streetwear and sought comfortable yet stylish clothing. This persona was open-minded, artistic, interested in rap, and influential among peers.

    To attract this trendy audience, Lacoste collaborated with fashion and music icons to inject an artistic flair into their product lines. As a result, the brand appealed to fans of these icons without the negative connotations previously associated with the crocodile logo. Lacoste successfully reinvented itself while maintaining its connection to suburban supporters.

    Staying Relevant with Personas


    Many brands have multiple customer segments, each represented by different personas. It's crucial to regularly update these personas, evaluating the relevance of their characteristics to develop effective marketing strategies and create high-value content.

    Like your customers, personas evolve. Their expectations, desires, needs, and purchasing behaviors change over time. Use the insights of new hires or feedback from your sales team to update your personas annually and remain aligned with your target market.

    This allows you to anticipate and adapt to trends, ensuring your brand stays in sync with your audience. Realistic personas are essential assets for your brand image and marketing strategy.

    In summary, creating a persona involves giving a personality and identity to your target customer. Far from being just a collection of data, personas represent individuals with unique needs, desires, and lifestyles. Understanding these aspects is an excellent way to fuel your business growth by developing a marketing strategy that resonates with your target market.

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