According to CBS, an average American consumer may see 5,000 ads a day. They’re not going to pay attention to most of them. Setting your brand apart is necessary to get them to pay attention to you instead of someone else. A persona, or a role you use when communicating with customers, can help you do that by keep consistency and helping your customers connect on a deeper level. This persona differs from the persona you might use to better understand your customers but is instead the persona that represents your brand.
The most famous persona in marketing is probably Betty Crocker—she was a made up woman meant to give a personal touch to the company’s answers to questions about products. Over the years her look has changed but we know exactly what she stands for—wholesome home cooked goodness straight out of the oven that warms your heart and tummy. Betty’s strong identity resonated perfectly with the products throughout the years, from soup mixes to containers of frosting, and the desire of those who buy those products. They want to be their own version of Betty Crocker and bring happiness to their friends and families with minimal effort or skill. And they could place trust in a woman who knew her way around the kitchen.
Today you’ll notice that Betty has been replaced with a red spoon and you won’t see her face much anymore. Instead, you’ll see the food speaking for itself but the messages still carry the same ideals of wholesome happiness from food. However, the human touch hasn’t been completely lost in the way Betty Crocker communicates with clients because the company’s content still keeps a warm and welcoming tone. While the decision to get rid of Betty might have stemmed from a lot of different things, ranging from our more multicultural society to people identifying with real life celebrity chefs, the brand still carries the persona in their messaging.
The persona doesn’t have to be a person, but can instead be the persona in the mind of your staff when sending out messages and producing content. By creating a persona, you can keep a more cohesive message in your content by simply asking yourself “Would so-and-so say this?” or “How would so-and-so take a photograph of this?” These questions can give you inspiration to help supply the content for your brand. Even if an individual represents your business, it can help to ask these questions to ensure it’s all consistent.
To create the right persona for your brand, spend some time nailing down exactly what your brand stands for and who it most appeals to:
- Write down all the words associated with your brand, from the smallest to the biggest concepts.
- Write down anything and everything that has to do with your brand and the products you make or services you provide.
- Next, go through and circle the words and phrases the mean the most for your brand and then take those ideas and think about who might say those things.
- Write down facts about this imaginary expert, what they love and find inspiring, any words they would use regularly, and anything you can think of that is important to this person.
- Give this imaginary person a name and you’re ready to put your new persona into action.
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