Are focus groups a thing of the past? For a growing number of marketers, the answer is yes. Will “personas” take their place?

By: W. Eric Martin

Focus groups have been a staple of marketing research for decades, but Rodger Roeser, president of Eisen Management Group, thinks they’re a mistake for modern marketers. “Focus groups take edgy ideas, or things that might have an impact, and they round off the corners,” he says. The result: Your brand gets watered down as you to try to make it all things to all people.

To keep your brand strong, you might consider flipping the focus group strategy on its head by replacing it with a “marketing persona.” A persona is a detailed representation of your company’s perfect customer, an archetype that embodies everything you want your brand to represent. When creating a persona, you’ll choose a gender, an age, an occupation, a living situation, a name and so forth. Think of it as a fictional ideal customer. The process is akin to an author creating the main character in a novel: You’re putting a face on the person who will buy what you’re selling.

“When we create the persona, that creates our pathway our bull’s-eye that leads the entire campaign,” says Sarah Biondi, an account supervisor at the marketing firm McKee Wallwork Cleveland.

The key to a successful persona is focus. “When we start working with a client,” says Biondi, “we ask who their target customer is, and they say things like everyone’ or all men.’ But if you aim at everyone, your message isn’t going to be effective. By aiming at a small group, you can make the messages relevant and there will always be bleed through and crossover.” Rather than casting the widest net possible and risk alienating core customers, personas help focus marketing on keeping that core group happy.

The Taos Ski Valley resort, for example, has a very specific customer that it tries to attract: The resort has more than 50 percent expert trails and none of the glitz that defines some other ski areas. This year, the resort will open to snowboarders for the first time ever, but that doesn’t change what Taos wants to sell the pure alpine experience.

This clearly defined goal led McKee Wallwork Cleveland to help Taos develop a persona dubbed “The True Skier.” Says Sarah Biondi, “He has hat (hair) and a raccoon tan at the end of the day because he’s so focused on skiing. He’s not into off-mountain amenities like spas; he’s there for the sport.” Taos hopes the approach wins over a larger percentage of the 6.4 million alpine skiers nationwide.

Personas can also drive the development of the brand itself. For example, when Dr. Krane’s KoolLips cold-sore treatment was first introduced, the product had a bland, folksy look. John Hiebert, president and CEO of Taiga Bioactives, says that when the company created the brand, it was focused on the natural ingredients within the product rather than who would actually buy it.