Developing Marketing Personas
Do You Know Who You Are Marketing To?
There’s a sweet spot when it comes to your target audience. You can’t be all things to all people. If you pursue all prospects all the time, you’re going to waste a lot of resources. By identifying personas you’ll see a greater ROI.
If you haven’t already identified who should be in your sweet spot, get your team together and walk through questions like these:
- If you could replicate one customer/student/patient, who would you replicate?
- What traits/characteristics does this person have?
- What are their values and fears?
- What aspects of your organization have the most appeal?
- What value do you bring to their life? What problems do you solve for them?
- How is this person interacting with your organization?
You may come up with some additional questions on your own, but the goal in the end is to get a good picture of who you should be targeting. It’s important to note that you’ll likely have more than one persona depending on your offerings.
We included an example of a prospective college student persona above. Request your own persona template by emailing RHolland@AMPERAGEmarketing.com.
Erin Bishop
As AMPERAGE vice president of strategy, it is not surprising one of Erin Earnest's strengths in Gallup's StrengthsFinder (now called CliftonStrengths) is "Strategic." Erin leads the account services team, research, brand development, marketing planning and strategy departments at AMPERAGE Marketing and Fundraising.
Erin received her undergraduate degree from Wartburg College in Communication Arts and Public Relations. Prior to joining the AMPERAGE team, Erin worked for Strategic Marketing Services, a research organization on the University of Northern Iowa campus.
Erin actively engages with nearly all AMPERAGE valued clients. Her research and strategy skills have predominantly been utilized in healthcare marketing, including work for Memorial Health System in Florida, Mercy Medical Center in Iowa, Upland Hills Health in Wisconsin and IowaHealth+.
She has presented at numerous conferences, including Wisconsin Healthcare Public Relations & Marketing Society (WHPRMS), Iowa Society for Healthcare Marketing and Public Relations (ISHMPR) and the National Council for Marketing & Public Relations (NCMPR District 5).
As a community leader and volunteer, Erin's passions are primarily in her children's schools (including escorting a group of Cedar Falls Aldrich Elementary 5th graders on a bus trip to the Iowa Capitol). However, Erin has found time to be a board member of Junior Achievement of Eastern Iowa, a Grow Cedar Valley Ambassador and a member of Cedar Valley Women Connect (Cedar Valley branch of Women Lead Change).
If you need to identify your organization's strengths and move the needle, Erin is your strategist.