What’s the Difference Between a Persona and a Market Segment

Would you like to know what’s the difference between a persona and a market segment?

Buyer personas and market segments are vital components to successful copywriting. After all, it’d be hard to create a persuasive message if you aren’t crystal clear on who you’re trying to persuade.

That’s why, in today’s post, we’ll look at the differences between these 2 terms and highlight how you can use this information to your advantage.

Let’s get started.

What Is a Buyer Persona?

A buyer persona is a fictional representation of your ideal customer.

This could be determined based on demographics, psychographic or, any other type of information that helps you to understand their needs and wants.

For instance, if you’re selling business software for the manufacturing industry then one possibility might be a person in charge of managing inventory.

Or you may be writing specifically to mothers of toddlers aged 2 – 4 years old.

When building a buyer persona, the most important thing is to get as detailed as you can. This will help you create more persuasive messaging as you connect with your audience.

Here are a few questions you should ask when creating your buyer persona:

• What is their age (be specific) and gender?
• What are their interests, passions, and concerns?
• What do they need or want the most right now?
• Which words would you use to describe them in a few sentences?
• How does your product meet these needs/wants and make their life easier/better? How will it change their life for the better as a result of using it?
• What would you say your product does to meet their needs or make them feel a certain way?
• How will this impact their life as they go about doing the things that are important to them every day, week, and year?

The more time and detail you put into creating your buyer persona, the better equipped you’ll be to create a compelling message.

What Is an Effective Way to Reach Buyer Personas?

One of the best ways to target your buyer personas is through content marketing.

In order for this form of advertising to be successful, you need to have a deep understanding of who your potential customers are and what they care about most.

It’s also important that you’re able to take advantage of the different types of content that are out there. One person may prefer video while others might be more in tune with text-based articles.

Take a look at the following list to prepare yourself:

• Videos – Videos can help you tell your story and demonstrate product functionality, but they also have the power to convey emotions or make people laugh.
• Images – Images are a quick way to convey an idea and can be used in different ways such as having text overlaid on them.
• Infographics – Infographics provide information in a unique format that’s easy for readers to process, even those who don’t have time or interest to read the full article.
• Audio files – Audio files are a great way to cover topics that could otherwise be difficult for readers.
• Text-based articles – This is the oldest form of content marketing and can sometimes provide more context than other types.

The goal is to find the right kind of content that fits your unique buyer persona.

Younger consumers would likely be more engaged by images and videos, whereas older consumers may enjoy detailed text-based content.

This is obviously a bit of an oversimplification, and the only way you’ll KNOW what your audience likes is by monitoring the success of your marketing campaigns.

Copywriting Tips for Reaching Buyer Personas

Buyer personas are based on detailed information about your audience and what they want.

This means that the copywriting style is more conversational or personal because you’re trying to connect with them as if they were a friend.

Emotional appeals also work well for buyers who feel like you understand their needs, since these individuals usually have a strong emotional connection to your brand.

However, buyers who are more analytical may respond better to facts and data.

In these cases, it’s important that you provide them with the information they need in order for them to make a decision.

When writing copy for buyer personas, here are some other things to keep in mind:

• Keep it concise – Buyers don’t want to read a lot when they could be getting on with their day.
• Use words that speak to them – For example, if your product is designed for wellness-minded individuals, you might use the word “wellness” in your copy. If it’s something like an espresso machine, you may choose more descriptive terms like “delicious” or “energizing.”
• Be aware of your audience – If you’re writing copy for a younger demographic, make sure that it’s not too wordy and has lots of pictures. Older demographics may appreciate more in-depth text with supporting images.

Remember to be yourself when reaching out to different personas as if you’re talking to one person-to-one person

Now that we’ve gotten more clarity around what a buyer persona is, let’s turn our attention to market segments.

What Is a Market Segment?

A market segment is an identifiable group of people who share similar needs or problems. In other words, it’s simply a sub-section of your entire audience.

For instance, if you’re selling an app for fitness enthusiasts, then one of your market segments would likely be people who are into running.

While your fitness app will have more than just solutions for running, joggers would certainly be a portion of your total audience requiring a unique marketing strategy.

A market segment is typically based on more general demographic information.

So people who live in Boston or are from the United States, for example, might be included in your target market.

Market segments can also contain different psychographic groups like parents with children under 18 years old or single women between 25 and 34.

In a nutshell, market segments are made up of people with similar demographic information while buyer personas contain more detailed descriptions.

What Are Some Techniques That Can Help With Market Segments?

In order to reach market segments successfully, you need to know what they care about most.

The following list outlines some techniques that can help:

• Gather general data about your customers. Find out as much information about who your ideal customer is and what they care most about.
• Prioritize content topics by their importance to the audience you’re targeting.
• Utilize different mediums of content that are relevant for them, such as podcasts or videos. Be warned, though: It’s important to know your audience first!
• Look for patterns. Look at topics that tend to come up in many of the conversations you have with your customer. Use these as a way to better understand their needs or what they’re struggling with.

Create a list of questions to ask potential customers. What do they want? How can you help them?

Then compare this information and start grouping the answers into common themes or problems that are likely shared by other members in their group.

Copywriting Tips for Reaching Market Segments

When you’re trying to reach market segments, on the other hand, it’s better to use more general information about demographics and psychographic.

That way, you can tailor your marketing efforts towards people who share similar attributes (like age or location).

The copywriting tips for reaching your market segments are similar for reaching out to buyer personas:

• Keep it concise
• Use words that speak to them
• Be aware of your audience

The difference is that you’re speaking to a larger group than to an individual, so you need to focus on what matters to the group: solving that group’s unique problem (rather than an individual’s wants or desires).

So, What’s the Difference Between Personas and Market Segments?

There are a lot of similarities between personas and market segments, but there are some key differences:

1) Buyer personas include more information about your customers. Market segment content relies on general demographic information to tailor the marketing efforts towards groups that share similar attributes like age or location.

2) Persona-based copywriting is more personal while marketing to market segments is more copy-and-paste.

3) Market segment content should be focused on solving a group’s unique problem, rather than an individual’s wants or desires.

Once you understand the subtle differences between the two segments of your overall audience, you’ll be able to personalize the customer journey with more success.

As a result, you should see higher conversions from your marketing and sales campaigns!