You may find Personas mentioned on marketing blogs and sites. Personas represent a type of qualitative target market research

Many businesses use personas as a way of visualizing potential customers in order to market to them. Personas serve the same purpose as target market research, but the two aren’t exactly the same. Each has advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages of Personas Compared To Target Markets

The major advantage of personas over target markets is that personas allow you to add detail to the visualized customer. This detail may not found in target market research because marketers use their experience and instincts to estimate what the best customer for a product is like.

Another advantage of personas is that they provide an imaginary person that you can hold up to represent your potential customer.

Disadvantages of Personas Compared To Target Markets

The disadvantages of personas are flip sides of the same coin as the advantages.

The first disadvantage is that many of the distinctive characteristics of the potential customer come from experience and instinct instead of from research. Some marketers believe that their experience is more valuable than research.

But throughout my career, I’ve often experienced two experienced marketers form different conclusions based on their experiences. So I trust research more. It’s more consistent. It’s more verifiable and reliable.

The second disadvantage grows out of the first. Because personas go beyond what you know from research, it’s more probable that part of your imaginary person doesn’t really represent your potential customers. Just one small mistake in understanding your customers can result in a failed marketing campaign.

Why I Prefer Target Market Research More Than Personas

While I recognize the value of being able to visualize your potential customers and think of one person to represent them. I believe this can be done using research. Demographic, phychographic and behavioral characteristics acquired through market segmentation can create detailed pictures of target market., I call them target market profiles. But because they are based on research, they are more likely to be reliable and accurate than personas.

Personas and Target Market Research Conclusion

Using either personas or target market research will help you to visualize a picture of potential and present customers.

I believe all business people need to take this approach to select and direct their marketing at a target market. Some small business owners think they can market to everybody. That usually results in what I call marketing madness. It just throws money at marketing and provides little return on marketing investments.

You can use market segmentation to learn more about customers and potential customers with the idea of developing clear pictures of them. Once that picture is clear, it’s much easier to develop products and marketing tactics that improve conversions and reciprocal relationships.

You can use personas or target market research to market to potential customers. I believe that target market research is the better of the two methods.

You can learn more about marketing research at the page linked below:

Why Is Marketing Research Important?

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Posted 8-11-08: Personas Compared To Target Market Research

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