Personas are specific, but not precise

When working on defining your target audience, building a persona can be a great exercise. It’s something I do with some of my writing, where I occasionally write for a specific vision of a person. Having a person in mind when writing content can be a huge benefit, and it can ensure that you’re using the right kind of language (not too technical versus very technical, for example).

When building a persona, it’s helpful to be very specific, but just know that you won’t be precise.

By specific, I mean you should include all of the details you possibly can about this made-up person. Think about their age, gender, family, job, lifestyle, home, community, school system, and more.

By precise, I mean that clearly this isn’t the only person you’re targeting. If you manage to find this precise person, that’s great, but it’s wildly unlikely. Having that specific target to chase is a great thing, just know the reality won’t be as precise.

Here’s a partial persona example from a client we did this for recently.

Homeowner Hannah lives in a three-bedroom home off of Church Street in Marietta, Ga. The home was originally built in 1982 and her family has lived there for five years. They bought the home for $287,000 when they moved in and pay $1,800 per month in mortgage.