Target the Persona, not the Person
Not long ago, the marketing world was abuzz with the promise of big data applied to digital experiences—realizing the elusive dream, at long last, of precision targeting, and hyper-personalization. Data would save the day. Automation and machine learning would generate messaging and content optimized for the individual, in exactly the right context, at precisely the right time. Transforming shoppers into buyers. Occasional purchasers into loyal customers. Customers into advocates. Finally, everything had aligned to deliver truly personalize one-to-one marketing, at scale.
But then reality hit.
The era of privacy regulation dawned. Certainly, interest in safeguarding and protecting personal information pre-dated the adoption of regulation, but it was GDPR that served as the first real wake-up call for marketers. And CCPA was soon to follow. Long-held assumptions made about the ability to gather and store consumer data unfettered, about tracking behaviors online without explicit consent, and about using personal information to target consumers as they moved through the digital landscape were suddenly challenged, many forbidden entirely.
We can argue and push back, but the reality is that these regulations are here to stay—and are likely to get even more restrictive. And, as consumers ourselves, we too value our privacy and digital security. The question is then, how should we as marketers adapt?
The solution lies in marketing to personas, not individuals.
So, what does that mean? We like Gartner’s definition: Persona marketing is the delivery of relevant digital experiences to individuals based on their inferred membership in a defined customer segment, rather than their personal identity.
The same holds true regardless of application—be it marketing, sales outreach or service delivery.
Of course, doing that successfully is predicated entirely on the validity of the personas you have identified and detailed. So, here are a few fundamental guidelines to follow to makes sure your personas are real—and addressable.
Marketing personas must:
Be based on data, not conjecture
To have value, personas must be based on data and evidence—insights into how diverse customers and prospects cluster meaningfully (and, ideally, statistically) in ways that can be reached and addressed by the users of the personas. Any recent, reliable and relevant data can be applied here, but expect that at least some primary data collection will be part of your persona development efforts.
Represent real people, not stereotypes
Too often, marketers document personas made up entirely of hypotheses and guesswork. Without the rigor of primary data collections and astute analyses to guide their development, personas can easily devolve into stereotypes or unrealistic amalgams of characteristics and descriptors that have little to do with what real people do, or how they behave.
Focus on engagement and activation
Defining personas is a solid first step. But putting those personas to work is what really matters. That’s where Marketing Playbooks come into play, providing prescriptive direction for addressing and engaging personas, for use by everyone in the organization—from marketing to sales to engineering to customer support. And Buyer Journey Maps, to ensure that the focus and content of those engagements are timed and sequenced to the needs and expectations of buyers along their path to purchase.
It may not be one-to-one marketing as some had hoped. But with careful, data-driven development of real-world personas, we have the next best thing. Marketing to targetable groups of high-potential audiences. While playing by the new set of rules, with full respect for the privacy rights of the individual.