Personas are my crack cocaine.
Why, when it comes to creating video, this Creative Director is addicted to personas
There are many reasons why I’m hooked on the idea that reviewing a persona first should be the initial step of the video development process. The most important reason why is this: having a persona to start with means I don’t have to guess what will resonate with the target audience. Instead, I will know because the persona will confirm it for me—everything from what the buyer’s goals are, the problem or issue they are trying to solve and their thought process to what motivates them, the barriers to buying, the stages of their buying cycle, the industry vernacular they use and more.
Personas are the good stuff–100% pure insight
Videos that deliver the greatest ROI all have one thing in common—they connect with their audience. How do they do this? By focusing on what truly matters to the buyer, and that’s why having a persona is so important. As a creative person, a persona allows me to form a complete picture of who the buyer is. Delving this deep into their world is what uncovers the nuggets—those key insights that I can leverage to craft a video that truly engages, resonates and motivates the buyer.
Personas eliminate subjectivity and lead to 100% buy-in
Everyone has their opinion. Unfortunately, some people use it to judge whether an idea is good or bad. That’s another reason why I love personas. By basing a video’s concept on the insights provided in a persona, I eliminate the subjectivity of the creative team, ad agency personnel, and most importantly, the client from the equation. Instead, the video will be judged on how well it reflects and addresses the insights and issues outlined in the persona, which gives me all the ammunition I need to defend my creative direction for the project.
Invite the feedback of sales to confirm 100% validation
To validate the relevance of a video concept, I don’t stop at personas; I seek input from the client’s salespeople too. No one else has as intimate an understanding of the buyer as the salespeople do. They are the ones on the frontline talking, pitching and selling to customers every day. They hear firsthand from customers what the pain points are. They are in tune with the buying cycle. They speak the vernacular with their buyers. Time and time again, one of the most valuable steps of the video development process has been the feedback I’ve received from salespeople as it validates the persona insights and ensures the video will be on point and resonate with the buyer.{{cta(‘df5c0613-77b4-4fae-acc6-345633212029’)}}