Customer Persona Template

Use this classroom activity to help young people studying marketing to build authentic target audience personas.

Our students often struggle with the concept of a target market, and tend to believe businesses market their products to ‘everyone’ or to massive segments of the population like “women”. Asking students to create a customer persona can help them unpack this idea further.

Customer personas help businesses understand the people they’re trying to sell to and how those people will be using their product or service. They’re particularly useful for marketing and product design departments, helping to narrow their target audience.

To use this resource:

1. Have each student (or pair) choose a product to focus on. This might be their own product design (in an entrepreneurial setting) or an existing product (like a Nike shoe or Amazon Prime subscription).
2. Ask students to complete Customer Persona Template  to create a detailed profile of their intended customer. They need to give the persona a name, and provide specific information about their background, habits, and buying behaviour.
3. Challenge students to create a marketing strategy for targeting this customer. Have them consider:

• What features/benefits would they draw attention to when advertising the product/service?
• How much should they charge?
• What promotional strategies would they use? What social media platforms would they use and why?
• Where will the product/service be available for purchase? How will customers receive it?
• What kinds of customer service or guarantees would the customer be most drawn to?

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