Tips for Honing In On Your Target Audience

Create personas for each of these four groups based on data that you have about your target audience following these steps:

1. Give personas names and characteristics, for example:

• Group 1: Anna — retired woman who cares for her ailing husband and is comfortably middle class
• Group 2: Jessica — a single mom who wants to build her resume and get a job where she makes more money
• Group 3: John — a Harvard MBA; upper middle class; children in Ivy League. Wants to give back
• Group 4: Maria — a teen who wants to save the world

Think about each persona and determine what they value. Some examples of values Miller shared with attendees are time, sleep, convenience, adventure, public recognition, good karma, control, love, status, power, fitting in, change, self-help, competition, action, formality, openness, pragmatism, cooperation, idealism, safety, money, efficiency, challenge, privacy, connecting, independence and teamwork.

Convert the features of what your organization is trying to do into benefits for each persona. Ask yourself, "Given everything we know about them, what aspects and benefits of our ‘product' will appeal to them most?," Miller said. "Translate values into imagery and taglines that are going to appeal to the individuals in those groups."

Miller used as an example the old-school anti-smoking efforts targeted at teens to show a values mismatch. Those efforts focused on the message that smokers die younger and smoking hurts people around you, but Miller says they were ineffective partly because, to many teens, dying young is cool and most didn't really care that they were affecting those around them.

A value match is the TRUTH campaign, which accuses adults and those in positions of authority (i.e., big tobacco companies) of being evil people who want to manipulate teens into smoking. The campaign is much more effective, as teens are generally skeptical of authority.

Miller says it's up to each organization to figure out what its audience values and reinforce those values. Can your organization get them closer to something they value? Or are you blocking them from feeling these different values?

2. Add values to basic demographics.

• Group 1: Anna — takes care of husband, so she'll value predictability, time and recognition
• Group 2: Jessica — a single mom, so money is important. Wants to build up her own resume, so self-help is important. But she's busy, so convenience is important
• Group 3: John — baby boomer. Efficiency is important, as is control. He's a business man used to doing things his way
• Group 4: Maria — an idealistic teen concerned about fitting in and having fun