Buyer Personas  1. Determine what kind of content you need 2. Set the tone, style, and delivery strategies for your content 3. Target the topics you should be writing about 4. Understand where buyers get their information and how they want to consume it Background and Content Pillars The Coca-Cola Company is a successful and globally-recognized beverage producer and has set its sights on doubling its business by 2020. Coca-Cola recognized that there were two prevailing changes occurring in the market: consumers were creating an ever-increasing amount of brand content, and technology had empowered them as never before to shape the brand. Coca-Cola identified that audiences are now largely in control of the brand--and not the other way around. Because the buyers now control the narrative instead of Coca-Cola being able to directly control its message to customers as it has in the past, they realized they needed to figure out how to harness the power of content marketing in order to engage consumers. Their focus became creating a digital content marketing strategy that engages customers in an open conversation, based on two key content pillars: liquid and linked. · "Liquid" embodies the notion that our networked and connected world enables ideas to spread rapidly — liquid ideas are those that capture the imagination and cannot be controlled once they are put out in the world. While liquid ideas are creative, they are grounded in a linked strategy. · "Linked" makes sure that ideas are always centered on the core brand story and experience — in other words, liquid ideas must reflect positively on the Coca-Cola brand. It also means that all the brand channels should be coherent and unified. Content Marketing Plan Core Elements The concepts of the liquid and linked pillars provide the context and foundation to the three core elements identified as key to Coca Cola's success with their new content marketing strategy: storytelling, consumer-generated content, and unified brand experience. Storytelling:  As part of the liquid principle, Coca-Cola recognized the power of storytelling. Stories create an emotional connection, connect people and spread ideas, which leads to conversations. In dynamic storytelling, a brand idea is released to the audience and picked up in various conversations and channels. One of Coca-Cola’s key brand stories is ‘living positively’ and showing how the brand makes the world a better place. This content idea also forms part of the company values, showing the importance of aligning business and content objectives. Each sub-brand has a big-picture content plan that outlines key elements of the story and how they will be disseminated. Consumer-generated content: Consumer-generated content forms a cornerstone of the content strategy. Brand stories encourage consumer reactions and engagement (and are often created by the consumers themselves). The worldwide distribution of creativity and technology means that consumers have greate.

1. Buyer Personas
1. Determine what kind of content you need
2. Set the tone, style, and delivery strategies for your content
3. Target the topics you should be writing about
4. Understand where buyers get their information and how they
want to consume it
Background and Content Pillars
The Coca-Cola Company is a successful and globally-
recognized beverage producer and has set its sights on doubling
its business by 2020. Coca-Cola recognized that there were two
prevailing changes occurring in the market: consumers were
creating an ever-increasing amount of brand content, and
technology had empowered them as never before to shape the
brand. Coca-Cola identified that audiences are now largely in
control of the brand--and not the other way around. Because the
buyers now control the narrative instead of Coca-Cola being
able to directly control its message to customers as it has in the
past, they realized they needed to figure out how to harness the
power of content marketing in order to engage consumers. Their
focus became creating a digital content marketing strategy that
engages customers in an open conversation, based on two key
content pillars: liquid and linked.
· "Liquid" embodies the notion that our networked and
connected world enables ideas to spread rapidly — liquid ideas
are those that capture the imagination and cannot be controlled
once they are put out in the world. While liquid ideas are
creative, they are grounded in a linked strategy.
· "Linked" makes sure that ideas are always centered on the
core brand story and experience — in other words, liquid ideas
must reflect positively on the Coca-Cola brand. It also means
that all the brand channels should be coherent and unified.
Content Marketing Plan Core Elements
The concepts of the liquid and linked pillars provide the context
and foundation to the three core elements identified as key to

2. Coca Cola's success with their new content marketing strategy:
storytelling, consumer-generated content, and unified brand
experience.
Storytelling: As part of the liquid principle, Coca-Cola
recognized the power of storytelling. Stories create an
emotional connection, connect people and spread ideas, which
leads to conversations. In dynamic storytelling, a brand idea is
released to the audience and picked up in various conversations
and channels. One of Coca-Cola’s key brand stories is ‘living
positively’ and showing how the brand makes the world a better
place. This content idea also forms part of the company values,
showing the importance of aligning business and content
objectives. Each sub-brand has a big-picture content plan that
outlines key elements of the story and how they will be
disseminated.
Consumer-generated content: Consumer-generated content
forms a cornerstone of the content strategy. Brand stories
encourage consumer reactions and engagement (and are often
created by the consumers themselves). The worldwide
distribution of creativity and technology means that consumers
have greater power than ever before to create and drive brand
stories, which leads to emotional connections. Coca-Cola
actively encourages fans to ‘act and react’ to the stories.
Unified brand experience: Finally, Coca-Cola puts a lot of
emphasis on creating a unified, coherent and accessible brand
experience. While there are many stories to be told about the
brand, it is still necessary to filter and edit these to ensure that
they speak to the brand’s key values. By focusing on content
excellence, Coca-Cola is creating value and engagement, not
merely noise. Maintaining this means that the brand must
communicate effectively with staff around the world.
The Customer Persona
Coca-Cola would not have been able to identify the two pillars
of their content marketing strategy, nor would they have been
able to identify the three core elements driving the marketing
plan. Now it's your turn to use this information to identify the

3. buyer persona(s) used to build this content marketing strategy:
Who are these ideal customers and how do we get them to buy
Coca-Cola products?
In the real world, to create your buyer personas, you would
conduct interviews with customers, prospects, and members of
your sales and customer service teams. You could also send out
surveys and do your own research. In this assignment, the
"research" element would be satisfied by reviewing Coca-Cola's
presence on the internet and on social media channels. Looking
there will help you focus on the following topics when creating
each persona and help you address each of the following in your
assignment:
1. Background: Details about your ideal customer; demographic,
psychographic; extrinsic motivators; intrinsic motivators
2. Lifestyle details: What this person likes and dislikes,
education, job, etc.
3. Main sources of information: Where your persona does his or
her research
4. Goals: Persona’s primary and secondary goals
5. Challenges/pain points: Your persona’s challenges, and the
emotions which accompany those challenges
6. Preferred content medium: How your persona likes to absorb
content
7. Quotes: Bring your personas to life with actual quotes
gathered during interviews (list 3-4 quotes you've seen on social
media from Coke followers)
8. Objections: The objections you anticipate from your persona
during the sales process
9. Role in the purchase process: Persona’s influence in the
decision-making process
10. Marketing message: The messaging that speaks directly to
this persona
Please answer the 10 questions above thoroughly. Your answers
MUST be comprehensive and reflect a deep understanding of
your reading and course content. A few sentences for each is
not enough.