This second session of the the free seven-week online Church Communications Strategy Training Course focuses on Personal Profiles and how they are used in a communications strategy.

2. Defining Personas

3. A persona is a
fictional representation of
your target audience

4. A persona profile is a
detailed description of
your persona

5. Using Personas in
Communication

6. Personas adds personalization
to your communication, rather
than generalization

7. Personas remind you that
you are communicating with
individuals, not data points

8. Personas will shape
how you communicate
what you communicate
the means you use to communicate
to whom you communicate

9. Determining Personas
for Your Audience

10. Christ Community Church
Large Church in Growing Suburb
Goal: Increase active participation
in new summer Bible Studies
to 35% of the congregation

11. MILLENNIAL MELODY
Melody is a single 25-year-old
who was actively involved in
youth group as a teen and is
trying to regain a connection
to the church as an adult.
FORTY-ISH FRED
Fred is a 42-year-old father
whose schedule revolves
around kids and work. It’s a
struggle to get him involved
in much outside worship.
OLDER ADULT ALICE
Alice is 72 years old and is just
starting to admit she needs
assistance with her health.
She’s fearful of losing her
independence.

12. MEMBERS?
EMAIL?
ACTIVE?
DESIRE TO STAY
INFORMED?
MILLENNIAL MELODY




FORTY-ISH FRED




OLDER ADULT ALICE




What do they have in common?

13. PREFERENCE?
FINANCES?
AVAILABILITY?
INTERESTS?
MILLENNIAL MELODY
Social
Weekends
None
Fellowship
FORTY-ISH FRED
Email
Weeknights
Stable
Worship
OLDER ADULT ALICE
Bulletin
Weekdays
Fixed
Fellowship
Where do they differ?

14. How to
Determine Personas

15. Every adult in your
congregation should
be able to be easily
assigned to a persona.
GENERAL
The personas should
accurately describe
how to communicate
with those individual
members.
SPECIFIC

16. Start with your
Mission Statement;
who are you called to reach?

17. Next, move to your
Ministry Goals;
who is the goal recipient?

18. Add personas as needed, but
try to keep it fewer than eight

19. Personas may be identified by:
Communication
Demographics
Participation
Interests

20. Personas may be the recipient
of more than one goal

21. Christ Community Church
Large Church in Growing Suburb
Goal: Increase active participation in new summer
Bible Studies to 35% of the congregation
MILLENNIAL MELODY FORTY-ISH FRED OLDER ADULT ALICE
Personas Based on Demographics

22. St. Paul Lutheran Church
Small Church in a Rural City
Goal: Increase number of church-sponsored
community-focused events to one per quarter.
REGULAR REBECCALIFELONG LARRY
Personas Based on Participation
OCCASIONAL OLIVIA

23. Concordia Lutheran School
Small School in a Suburban City
Goal: Increase enrollment of students from
200 to 225 by the start of the next academic year.
ATHLETIC AUBREE
Personas Based on Interest
CURRICULUM CORYFAITHFUL FELICITY

24. Hope in Christ Foundation
Local Funder of Homeless Ministries in Urban Center
Goal: Increase amount of recurring
monthly gifts by 20% to $30,000 by year-end.
SOCIAL SARAH EMAIL ELLIOTT VISITING VICTOR
Personas Based on Communication

25. Writing Persona Profiles

26. Persona profiles give your
personas a name, a face, a
personality, and a story

27. They provide a single reference
point of your persona for your
team (and yourself)

28. They provide accountability for
better planning and
implementation of plans

29. Structure of a
Persona Profile

30. Example Profiles

31. Example Profiles

32. Example Profiles

33. The Basics
Name
Photo
Biography

34. Demographic Information
Age
Family
Background
Home Life

35. Education
Degrees
Learning Style
Value of Education
Occupation

36. Technological Skill Level
Comfort
Ability to Learn
Device Preferences
Social Media Accounts

37. Faith Background
Became a Christian
Membership
Importance
Instruction

38. Church Involvement
Worship Attendance
Bible Study Attendance
Types of Service

39. Interests, Skills, and Passions
What are their interests?
Why are they important?
What ministries are interesting?

40. Goals, Hopes, and Intentions
What are they looking for?
Where are they seeking that?
Why are they there?

41. How to Determine
Persona Details

42. Lots of research and
more than a little intuition

43. Discussion among
your team members

44. Formal and informal
conversations with
your audience

45. Survey your audience

46. Community listening
and monitoring

47. Review the data in
your database

48. Using Personas and
Lists Together

49. Lists are groups of
actual people segmented
by their preferences or
information

50. Personas shape the message
Lists segment the recipients

51. Identify which personas
should receive each message

52. Choose the right medium
based on the persona profile

53. The medium will significantly
influence if you can use lists

54. Communicate with
the persona, not the list

55. When the message and the
persona are incongruent, ask,
“Is it the right message?”

56. When the list and the
persona are incongruent,
ask, “Is it the right list?”

57. TL;DR
too long; didn't read
Personas represent the unique audiences of your church
Everyone in your audience should be matched to a persona
Personas shape your messaging; lists filter your recipients

58. Dive Deeper at ConcordiaTechnology.org/Blog

59. Download the Persona Profile Worksheet

60. Join the course Facebook Group at
facebook.com/groups/ChurchCommunicationsStrategy

61. Tuesday, May 12, 1:00 p.m. (CDT)
Next Session

62. Q&A
Feel free to email me at peter.frank@cph.org