You've probably heard of a persona. But what exactly is this and why is creating a persona so important? In this article, we will tell you more about what a persona is and how to create one.
In short, a persona is a fictional person who reflects your ideal (potential) guest. By creating a persona, you learn more about your target audience. Based on this information, you can then lay the perfect foundation for your marketing and communication strategies.
However, it is important to know the difference between a user persona and a buyer persona. With a buyer persona, you describe the ideal guest, while a user persona is someone who uses a service or service. So a user persona is sometimes not the guest themselves.
Multiple personas
If you have a very broad target audience, you can create multiple personas. For example, you might have a hotel, but also a restaurant, spa, terrace and bar. Perhaps guests come to eat at your restaurant, but they don't stay overnight. Other guests might come for a relaxing weekend away and like to use the spa facilities. By creating multiple personas and (sub)target groups, you will learn even more about your guests.
What is the purpose of creating a persona?
If you know who your ideal client is and what they look like, it becomes much easier to put yourself in the shoes of your target group. And if you can better empathise with your client, you can bring in more bookings. After creating a persona, you will know, among other things:
✅ How your guests look for a new restaurant/hotel
✅ Where to book guests
✅ How they like to book
✅ Who your competition is
✅ What are the frustrations in finding/booking
✅ How would you like to relax persona
✅ What does your persona like to do in their free time
What components does a persona consist of?
Each persona consists of a number of factors. We have made a list of examples below, but you can of course expand the list considerably. Also give your persona a name including a photo! This will make your ideal customer a lot more personal.
✅ Basic information such as age, education level, location, hobbies, etc.
✅ Pain points
✅ Marital status
✅ Does your persona have children
✅ Background information
✅ Frustrations (e.g. when booking/searching)
✅ Wishes (e.g. vegetarian food/breakfast in room//location/fast Wi-Fi)
✅ Social media usage (which apps does your target audience use)
Getting started yourself, creating your own buyer persona
- To create your own persona, you can start by analysing your data. Do you already have a website and use Google Analytics? Then you can already find a lot of information on age, gender and location here. Google predictions can help you with what your target audience is most looking for.
- You can also look at your existing guests. For example, is field research possible where you get your guests to fill in a survey? As a thank you, you could offer a voucher, for example. Interviews are also a possibility. However, these are more time-consuming and less anonymous.
- Now that you have gathered information, you can start to create one or more personas.
You can get started with pen and paper, but there are also handy tools available online. For example, you can start with the free programme makemypersona.com.
My persona is ready!
Nice, now what? Once you have created your persona, the real work begins. Now that you know more about your ideal customer and their needs, you can start adjusting your business tactics. You can change your marketing strategies, your communications and your social media channels. Perhaps there's an opportunity to make bookings easier, or you might discover a gap in the market with something you don't yet offer.
In conclusion
It is important to know than your persona also changes over the years. Therefore, look at your ideal customer and target group with some regularity. This way, you stay up to date with what is trending and you can adjust your persona accordingly. Share your persona with your staff so everyone knows what your persona wants. This way, everyone can do his or her bit for a successful company!
Over the years, we have helped quite a few clients create their persona. As you can see, this is a very effective way to get to know your guests better. Could you use a hand? Then call or email us at 31 (0)85 048 80 58 or contact@thefullybookers.com! This way you will reach your target audience even better soon!
