The Guide to Creating Content Marketing Personas

Table of Contents 

• What is a Content Marketing Persona?
• Steps to Build a Content Marketing Persona
• Key Takeaways 
• Conclusion 
• FAQs 

More than 60% of marketers like to build content marketing personas for their marketing strategy. That’s because when you convey a message on the internet, it should resonate with your ideal target audience. Every piece of content that goes online has an ideal audience, and your content marketing strategy should reflect their interests by providing answers to their questions. This article will cover everything you need to know about creating content marketing personas. You will learn how to build your personas to promote content effectively.

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What is a Content Marketing Persona?

A persona is a detailed sketch of a target market based on verified commonalities—not assumptions, but statistical evidence that points to the behavior of an audience. Content marketing strategy steps require careful research, and building a solid content persona will help you touch the hearts of your audiences. A content persona tells your content marketing strategy how to drive better engagement in the market, encouraging people to take action and promote your message.

Without a solid persona, you may be utterly oblivious to the kind of content that your audience will consume. You have to know what the audience wants to deliver engaging quality content. People actively seek information on the internet, and every content marketing strategy should actively seek information about internet users. With dedicated analytics and user behavior trends, you can draft a content persona that markets your content well across diverse verticals and promotional channels.

An important point about creating content marketing personas is that every persona can reach beyond the target demographics. That’s because a high number of internet users are distributed across the world, with varying interests and priorities. When you can relate to a particular mindset, you will be able to draft content that reaches a larger number of people on any given platform. Whether it’s on a website or social media, if the persona you create is well thought out, it becomes a universal tool for marketing. You can always look back and utilize a content persona to rebrand, repurpose, or reorganize your content marketing strategy. Always ensure maximum efficiency so that all key stakeholders are aligned.

Steps to Build a Content Marketing Persona

When creating a content marketing persona, relying on strategically aligned insights and valuable market information is essential. Constantly analyzing audience engagement and behavioral trends can give you deep insights into building a fitting persona. It is important to remember that personas are customized experiences that you aim to deliver through your content. 

Let’s find out how. 

1. Understand your ideal customer 

In any business, the buyer persona should be reflected in the content shared with customers. Maintaining a consistent tone and delivery of ideas will urge people to follow your brand. However, the content is based on how you envision your ideal customer. You can target people based on interests, age group, engagement, and demographics with dedicated analytics. With such information comes great responsibility to relate with people personally. 

A great way of envisioning your ideal customer is to give the customer a name and fill out a form that addresses their interests, the values associated with your brand, and the unique selling point that matches their requirements.

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Some considerations while drafting a persona for your content marketing strategy steps may include:

• Demographics of a user
• Professional details
• Experience in the industry

With a basic sketch about your ideal customer, you can begin research to understand how the market may respond to your content.

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2. Analyzing their work-life and challenges

An impactful way to study your customer persona is to understand their work-life, responsibilities, and potential obstacles they may face. A content marketing strategy should empathize with the requirements of a target audience. 

Hence, studying the pattern of people’s choices concerning their professional or personal life can come in handy. When you have a clear idea of what responses to expect from a person, you can position content in a way that reaches them in the best way possible. Additionally, when you develop a content persona, you must consider the time people dedicate to consuming content online and the words that can be used to persuade a particular person to take action.

Similar questions may arise about your content persona.

• What are the goals that define success for your persona?
• What are the challenges your persona may face in day-to-day life?
• What products or services may appeal to your ideal customer persona?
• What are the factors that prevent your persona from addressing their problems?
• How can you position a solution that magnifies their interest in your brand?

A detailed overview of your audience’s behavior adds an extra layer to the basic sketch of your content persona. 

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3. Align your content persona with business objectives

A key aspect of your content marketing strategy is to sell a product or a service. You have to generate leads for your business, providing valuable experiences to convert prospects into customers. For this, understanding the buyer persona is fundamental. Yet, aligning your ideal content marketing persona with your business objectives will guide you towards successful content promotion. 

If you are in the hospitality industry, you should know what packages will appeal to people of various age groups. If you work at a car showroom, you have to know the average working professional’s budget for a brand new car. Similarly, if you are a content marketer, you have to know how much your ideal customer is willing to invest in your idea. 

Aligning your content persona with the business objectives and buying cycle of your products and services will help you create a content marketing strategy that works. At the end of the day, your goal is to generate more interest in your content, and you should promote your brand in a way that engages people. 

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Here are some pointers:

• Decide what kind of tone you’re going to use.
• Narrow down the promotional channels for your business.
• Decide the format of the content you want to create.
• Dedicate a budget to paid advertising.
• Invest in visual content that reflects your industry and your brand’s uniqueness.

Once you have a solid idea of how to proceed with your content, your content marketing strategy is almost complete. Yet, a content marketing persona requires vigorous testing and analysis to reach strategic conclusions.

4. Pick your promotional channels and test the response.

Identifying your target customers or audience’s personas comes with the responsibility of delivering high-quality content that converts. To ensure that your content promotion is effective, you must pick the right channel to publish your message. You may use a website for blogs and whitepapers or YouTube for informational videos or Facebook for frequent posts, or use Google for ads. 

Social media, in general, is used to gain access to a broader share of the market. However, not every channel may suit your content marketing persona. While creating a persona, you must narrow it down to a few options guaranteed to work for your ideal prospects.

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Once you choose a channel to promote your content, you can start testing your content. After every piece is published, your goal is to assess the engagement and study the response to your efforts. A content marketing strategy template is more effective when it is result-oriented. Testing your audience’s reaction will legitimize your content persona and help you draft better content for online consumption.

Extensive research can show you what works best for a target market. However, a genuine and consistent analysis will indicate the success of your content marketing strategy.

Key Takeaways 

• More than 60% of marketers like to build content marketing personas for their marketing strategy. 
• A persona is a detailed sketch of a target market based on verified commonalities—not assumptions, but statistical evidence that points to the behavior of an audience. 
• A content persona tells your content marketing strategy how to drive better engagement in the market, encouraging people to take action and promote your message.
• A great way of envisioning your ideal customer is to give the customer a name and fill out a form that addresses their interests, the values associated with your brand, and the unique selling point that matches their requirements.
• An impactful way to study your customer persona is to understand their work-life, responsibilities, and potential obstacles they may face.
• Aligning your content persona with the business objectives and buying cycle of your products and services will help you create a content marketing strategy that works.
• You must pick the right channel to publish your message. You may use a website for blogs and whitepapers or YouTube for informational videos or Facebook for frequent posts, or use Google for ads. 

Conclusion 

A content marketing persona is an essential aspect of any marketing strategy. The moment you determine who your potential customer is, it becomes easier to plan your strategy around it. 

The tips mentioned above will give you great insight into creating a content marketing persona, why it is important and how you can apply it. 

FAQs