Personas in Digital Marketing: What they are, how to create, and apply them in effective strategies

Regardless of the message you want to convey, it will only have an impact if it is directed at the right people. Are you really speaking to those who matter most? Are you addressing the challenges of your true potential buyers? If your campaigns aren’t generating the expected results, it’s time to rethink your approach and deepen your understanding of your audience. This is where personas come in – detailed profiles that represent the different types of customers who interact with your brand.

These are the people you need to communicate with. They should be at the core of everything you do, as they form the foundation of any marketing strategy. But how do you create? And how can you use them to drive the success of your campaigns? This article answers everything you need to know.

What are personas and why are they essential in Digital Marketing?

Personas are semi-fictional characters that represent the common traits of different customer groups. Instead of working with a broad target audience, personas go further by humanizing your contacts and helping you better understand their pain points, aspirations, interests, and behaviors.

Many people confuse target audiences with personas, but they are different concepts:

• Target audience: A broad and generic group of recipients for your offers (e.g., for our Arpoone platform, “Decision-makers in SMEs and large enterprises across Europe and PALOPs with high email and SMS communication needs”).
  
• Persona: A detailed profile including specific aspects like demographics, challenges, habits, and preferences. Each company should have up to five personas to avoid excessive complexity (for instance, for Arpoone: “Marketing Managers in SMEs and large enterprises in Europe and PALOPs who seek to communicate efficiently and personally with their audience, prefer working with a local partner offering full support, aim to increase brand visibility, support sales, and improve retention. They are knowledge-driven, staying informed through events, LinkedIn, industry media, peer recommendations, and Google searches, valuing simplicity, centralization, and automation”).

By creating personas, you can segment campaigns more precisely and communicate effectively, ensuring your message resonates with them. Instead of sending everything to everyone, you start crafting different communications for perfectly identified groups. Did you know that 78% of marketing professionals say that subscriber segmentation is the most effective strategy for email marketing campaigns?

How to create personas

Creating personas starts with collecting real data about your customers and potential clients. Here are some practical steps.

1. Gather information about your audience

Use multiple sources to obtain valuable insights:

• Internal data analysis: Review your CRM, customer database, Google Analytics, and past campaign reports to identify behavioral patterns.
• Interviews/surveys: Ask customers directly about their preferences, needs, and challenges via email, SMS, or website forms.
• Sales and support team feedback: Those who interact daily with customers can provide essential insights into their doubts, objections, and needs.
• Social media and forums: Analyze interactions and comments to spot trends and interests.

2. Structure your personas

Based on the data collected, group similar characteristics and create detailed profiles. Here are some key aspects to include, depending on whether you operate in B2B or B2C:

Name | Gender & Age Group | Education Level | Job Role & Industry (B2B) | Geographic Location | Buying Role (Decision-maker, Influencer, Blocker) | Preferred Content & Information Channels | Common Purchase Motivations | Challenges & Aspirations | Potential Buying Objections

Giving each persona a name and a story helps make them tangible, enabling the entire marketing team to view them as actual individuals. For this reason, personas should be based on real people to facilitate the process.

3. Segment your personas

As highlighted earlier, not all customers have the same needs. Identify different segments and create multiple personas if necessary. For example, in Arpoone’s case, we have four distinct personas, and our communications are tailored to their unique characteristics and challenges.

How to apply personas in marketing strategies

Once you have well-defined personas, it’s time to use them strategically to make your communication more targeted and improve your results.

1. Personalizing campaigns

Each persona responds best to different approaches. Adjust the tone, content, and call-to-action (CTA) based on each group’s preferences and challenges. For example:

• A marketing professional might prefer detailed insights and case studies via email.
• A young entrepreneur may respond better to direct, concise SMS messages with quick links to relevant content.

2. Creating targeted content

Use personas to develop content aligned with your audience’s interests and needs:

• Blog, infographics, and eBooks: Create educational materials tailored to each persona.
• Segmented email campaigns: Send personalized newsletters with offers, promotions, and insights.
• SMS campaigns: Use direct messages for urgent alerts or event reminders based on each segment’s preferences.

3. Improving segmentation and automation

With proper segmentation, you can create automated workflows that send the right messages at the right time, while synchronizing across channels. Example:

1. A user downloads a guide on weight loss strategies.
2. They automatically receive a welcome email inviting them to subscribe to the newsletter.
3. After five days, they receive an SMS invitation to a webinar on the topic.
4. If they interact with the webinar, they receive a special offer.

This keeps the user engaged and increases the chances of moving further down the sales funnel. To grow your database with high-quality contacts, think of an offer your audience will love, create a specific form, and promote it everywhere.

And now? How to bring it all to life?

That’s the easy part, 😊 taking your communication to the next level is simple with Arpoone! Arpoone is the ideal platform for effectively communicating with your personas via email or SMS.

With advanced segmentation, personalization, and automation features, it ensures that each message reaches the right person at the right time, with the perfect tone and content.

If you’re already using Arpoone, start exploring its full potential in this area. If you’re not yet on board, schedule a free demo today. Our team is ready to support you throughout the journey.