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Exercises

How to Use a Persona

Let’s take as an example the following persona, “RV Betty”:

A retirement-age white woman smiles against a backdrop of trees.

Betty lives in a suburb of a city. Her husband is also retired. They have been talking about traveling in an RV upon retirement for years—this is a long-time dream of theirs. The kids are self-sufficient and have been out of the house for long enough that Betty doesn’t have to worry. She’s been retired just long enough to be bored. While she doesn’t consider herself wealthy, she and her husband have substantial savings and are prepared to enjoy their retirement.

Betty is worried about the logistics of traveling in an RV—how easy will it be to find utility hookups, where are the best places to stay if you have one, etc. She also wants something comfortable; she plans on spending a lot of time in it. She has other retired friends, so she wants additional sleeping space, and she wants to make sure they have plenty of room for food and even cooking. She wants as much ease as possible when traveling.

Based on this persona, briefly sketch three pieces of content. More precisely, concentrate on the general idea of what this piece of content would be about and draft the following:

  1. a first piece that addresses a problem or a need she is facing
  2. a second piece that helps her evaluate her options
  3. a last piece that sells your product
Tip: Make sure that your three pieces of content directly address the RV Betty persona!

Creating a Persona

Sketch up a persona for a Montreal real estate company specializing in first-time house buyers. To do so,

  • Identify a few sociodemographic characteristics (e.g., age and revenue), and
  • Find one general need or problem they are facing.

Tip: Ask yourself why these people would need a house. For example, you might ask yourself the following questions:

  • Why would people move to a house in Montreal?
  • Are there different groups of first-time house buyers? What differentiates them? Which one are you concentrating on?
  • Is there one need or problem that unites that group?

Moving From Persona to Journey Map

  • Sketch a journey map for your real estate persona using the following journey stages:
    • awareness
    • consideration
    • purchase
    • post-purchase
  • Identify two concrete activities that your persona is engaging in for each stage
  • Identify two touchpoints that your persona is coming into contact with for each stage
  • Identify one opportunity for your company per activity

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