Developing Powerful
Audience Personas
For Successful Online Engagement

lauralhampton impressiontalk
uk.linkedin.com/in/lauralhampton
laura.hampton@impression.co.uk

Influence

The capacity to
have an effect on
the behaviour of
someone or
something, leading
to a desired
outcome.

The use of psychological
principles is powerful in
marketing &
communications

Mirroring

Social
validation

Similarity

Familiarity

Notice a common
theme in these?

In order to properly
engage, you need to
know your audience

Who are you trying to
speak to?

What are their
interests?

What challenges face
them/their industry?

How does your
service/product/offer
help them?

Some people use
audience segments

They consider things
like age, gender,
location, education

They might consider roles
such as business manager or
homeowner

This where most businesses start,
looking at mass segments such as
‘manager’ or ‘homeowner’
Broad audience
segments
Motivations
Personas
impression.co.uk

Broad audience
segments
Motivations
Personas
impression.co.uk
This is as far as most businesses go.
We seek to understand what
motivates our audience.

Broad audience
segments
Motivations
Personas
impression.co.uk
This is where we reach that really
deep understanding of who the
audience is and can much better
meet their needs.

Broad audience
segments
Motivations
Personas
impression.co.uk
This where most businesses start,
looking at mass segments such as
‘manager’ or ‘homeowner’
This is as far as most businesses go.
We seek to understand what
motivates our audience.
This is where we reach that really
deep understanding of who the
audience is and can much better
meet their needs.

These can only tell us so
much….

Persona

A fictional
person that
represents the
intricacies of an
entire audience
segment.

Why?

Image: socialdot.co.uk

How

1) Start with your
typical audience
segments

Workshops

Workshops
Sales people Customer
service
ProductMarketing

Sales
Data/CRM

Competitor
Analysis

Surveys

2) Focus on what
motivates them

Workshops

Surveys

Focus Groups

Social Media
Analysis

Influencers

3) Build out a
fictional person
to represent all
these elements

Techniques to build out
your personas

Trade/Interest Publications

Conference Agendas

Social Media Engagement

News Stories

Surveys/Questions

Tools to build persona
understanding

Google Alerts

Hootsuite for Twitter

Google Trends

Google Keyword Planner

Google Analytics

Use Your Personas.

Display

Discuss
“Is this right for….”

Content Grids

– Influencing customers is one of our biggest challenges
– We can only influence successfully when we know our
audience
– Personas are representations of audience groups based
on needs and motivations
– Don’t make personas and forget about them - use them!
Summary

6. Google Analytics Affinity Categories
7. Content marketing by Impression
8. Digital PR explained by Impression
9. SEO by Impression
10. PPC by Impression
Want to learn more?
1. About building personas
2. About content grids
3. Google Alerts
4. About Hootsuite
5. Google Trends

Developing Powerful Audience Personas
For Successful Online Engagement
laura.hampton@impression.co.uk
www.impression.co.uk
01158 242 212
www.twitter.com/lauralhampton
www.twitter.com/impressiontalk
www.linkedin.com/company/impression-digital-limited