What is a Persona?
The World of New Media
We have the best message to tell the world. Most people, though, don’t think they need to hear our message. They have no idea that Jesus is the One who will truly satisfy all of their felt needs. So do we really want to spend thousands of dollars just to be ignored or not even heard?
Broadcasting, pushing out a message to the world is not the way new media works. The Internet is overloaded with noise that your message would just get lost. Users choose the media they want to consume and probably won’t stumble upon your content unless searching for it. People don’t usually make life altering decisions with one interaction. Everyone is on a journey looking to find answers and discover ways to fulfill their desires and felt needs.
Media is a tool that meets people on their journey and gives them a next doable step. What is a non religious radical change that someone might experience in your context. One example is becoming vegan. If you were to become vegan and wanted to share with others, how would you go about doing it? Most likely you would want to start with those interested or open to a conversation.
The 2.5%
Not everyone is open all the time. Church planting movement research shows that broad seed sowing is important, but not everyone will be ready to engage simultaneously. Frank Preston states in his article, “Armed with an understanding of anomalies, both statistical theory and social research observe that at least 2.5 percent of any society are open for religious change, no matter how resistant they [the society] are.”
At least 2.5% of any society are open for religious change
Media is meant to be a catalyst that identifies seekers whom God is already preparing and engage them with the right message, at the right time, on the right device. A persona will help you identify and break down “the who” in your context so everything else you develop (content, ads, follow-up materials, etc) is relevant and attractive to the target audience.
Defining a Persona
A persona is a fictional, generalized representation of your ideal contact. It is the person you are thinking of as you write your content, design your call-to-actions, run ads, and develop your follow-up process.
It is more than simple demographics such as gender, age, location, occupation, etc. It attempts to identify deeper insights in order to better aim your media strategy.
Persona development is essential to the business world and for marketing goods and services. A quick Google search will give you loads of great resources for how to develop a persona. This image is snapshot of an example persona profile from a really persona builder found on Hubspot.
Resources:
- This course section is very much inspired by and taken from the Foundations section of the Mobile Ministry Forum’s 41 lessons for Mobiles, Media & Ministry.