User Profiles. What they are, and why your brand strategy needs them.
The term ‘user profile’ or ‘user personas’ or ‘client profiles’ may be something that you’re heard mentioned during a branding or digital design process and you have dutifully nodded along having half idea what it means, or you may have no clue at all. Creating user profiles is a key tool used in marketing and design to bring to life who your brand/website/product is for and can be very powerful to help you figure out their needs and differences.
The perfect time to create these profiles is at the beginning of your brand journey – before you’ve even got a name or a logo. But it’s never too late to create them, they can inform your business at any point in your journey.
So, what the heck is a user profile? It’s essentially a made-up person, based on your knowledge of your customer, that you create as a ‘client’ for your brand. Often these can be based quite closely on someone you know, just to make them feel more real. It even helps to find a picture of a person to put with your details, to really start to bring them to life. We’re essentially creating characters for our story (the story being your brand)
So, what information does this profile need? Well, here is a simple example:
This is for a brand called ‘Get Out!’ a digital platform that lists local events for individuals and families looking to spend time in nature and get active.
Name: Sienna Choy
Age: 41
Family status: Married with 5-year-old and 18 month year old children
Occupation: Part-time: Living landscape officer for the Woodland Trust who works remotely
Hobbies/Interests: Road cycling and has recently started making her own clothes
Digital planforms that they interact with daily: Whats App, Instagram, Strava, Patreon
A brief bio: Sienna loves to get herself and her young family outdoors as much as possible. She has recently moved to a new area and is looking to find opportunities to meet up with like-minded people at events for all of the family.
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And another
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Name: Dan Ford
Age: 27
Family status: Single with a 6-year-old child
Occupation: Mental Health Nurse
Hobbies/Interests: Hiking and mountain climbing
Digital planforms that they interact with daily: Whats App, BBC Sports, Youtube
A brief bio: Recently divorced, Dan wants to find opportunities to get out and about with his son in nature, as well as finding local events/courses to improve his own outdoor skills, when he doesn’t have his son.
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And another
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Name: Sarah Levy
Age: 63
Family status: Married, two grown up children and one 4 year old grandchild
Occupation: Semi-retired. Does gardening for a few older local neighbours
Hobbies/Interests: Walking, Yoga, Sailing, Gardening
Digital planforms that they interact with daily: Whats App, Email
A brief bio: Sarah loves to keep active and busy, and doesn’t see retirement as a time to slow down. She looks after her grandchild one day a week and likes to take her to new places.
And you can just keep on going. Explore all of the different types of people that you’d like your brand to attract, think about what their needs are, and what they’re looking for, and think about their lifestyle and how and where your brand will fit in.
Delving into the life, situation and interests of your customer in this way makes you see how and why they’d interact with your brand in a whole new way.
Communication touch points - Where are they already? What platforms do they use, how can you fit in with these?
Time - How much time does your customer have? Can they sit and read long newsletters or blog posts, or do they need quick access to information?
Interests - This can inform the types of content your client might like to see
Platforms - Where should you be focusing your marketing efforts
Age - What technology do they use, again, where will you find them already?
Print these profiles out and hang them above your desk – then as you continue down your business journey, keep referring back to them. Are you still serving them? Have you missed something? You’ll start to find they become your pals during the process. They’ll start to become the voice in the back of your mind as you make your new strategies. E.g. Are you serving Sarah as well as you’re serving Dan with your marketing?
You should find that they’ll bring up ideas that you hadn’t previously considered. Have fun with it and let the ideas flow.
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If you’d like to talk to us more about your brand and brand strategy, pop Sally & Kim an email hello@somewhereoffgrid.com