In mathematics and the natural sciences, it is one of the most popular methods of definition - ex negativo. Instead of spending a long time on what a term means, it is clearly outlined what it does not mean.
Marketers can also take advantage of this clarity: With the anti-persona. Just as a persona is a fictitious representation of character traits and social and demographic characteristics, the anti-persona deals with an outline of what Customers or leads are not.
In this post, we'll give you a detailed overview of the anti-persona and show you why it's important to use it at least as well as the Buyer persona to know.
With the Persona to the Target Audience
One of the most important tools in online marketing is the target audience. Through the multitude of data available to you, you can improve your Delimit target group very precisely and with good content and targeted campaigns target.
However, because describing a target group precisely is often somewhat abstract in practice, the buyer persona is used to communicate clearly, Who belongs to a target group. This gives abstract data a face and all stakeholders outside the marketing department know exactly who you are talking about.
Example of a user persona:
Francesca, for example, is a user persona. Francesca is 23 years old and a digital native. She works in the media industry and primarily uses mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Francesca owns an iPhone and shares several stories a day on Instagram, with 2,000 followers. She is a micro-influencer and relevant brands she likes to share in her Stories. Since Francesca is still a student, her budget is limited. She likes to buy exclusive brands, but waits for good deals - they mostly reach her through social media.
Immediately you have a picture of the target group from this persona, even though there is no further information about Francesca as a concrete example. But if you target based on these demographic, social, and economic characteristics alone, you'll still achieve an Scattering loss. And this is where the anti-persona comes in, because now you restrict your target audience at the neuralgic points.
What exactly is the anti-persona in marketing?
No company offers products or services for everyone. As a rule, the target group is even very specific; a clearly defined small target group can even be served better than a vaguely defined large target group.
So with the anti-persona, you don't have to "define out" all those people from the target group who don't belong.
The anti-persona is a Specification of the existing target groupby removing all those parts that seem to belong to the persona, but do not do so in practice.
Hiking shoes, for example, are beneficial equipment for those who spend a lot of time in the mountains. So active customers with a penchant for the outdoors and regular trips to the mountains are the perfect persona for hiking boots. However, people who go to the mountains in winter for skiing or in summer for climbing are excluded.
Via an anti-persona, these can be removed, because the chance of conversion is low in these cases. There is No legitimate purchase interest and instead of laboriously building scenarios over multiple personas, you can use an anti-persona to create clarity.
Who belongs to our target audience and who does not?
Even if, in the case of better targeting and retargeting, clearer Call-to-action and precise Content Marketing, a certain target group always bails out shortly before the purchase, you could Delete from the target audience by an anti-persona.
Why it is important to know the anti-persona?
Excluding a certain part of a potential target group is not only a win for your marketing budget. Also for the long-term reputation of your brand this can be quite useful, because out-of-place advertising, misleading content, or bad purchases will damage your brand.
Some simple examples: Young people searching the web for retirement homes, for example, don't need to be targeted with content for other products for the 60+ generation. After all, the search for a suitable home is certainly not for them.
Women, who are consistently targeted with marketing for grooming products specifically for men, can also be excluded via an anti-persona, for example. To be sure, it is important to think and work within the boundaries beyond the persona as well. But Too much wasted coverage causes frustration for an out-of-place target group.
Even seemingly suitable target groups can be put off by the wrong marketing. Not every fan of luxury cars, for example, is financially able to afford a Lamborghini. Such fans can be put off in the long term by right lead campaigns be recruited as Brand Ambassadors and are essential to a premium company's reputation, but buying brochures or regional retailers are less relevant to this anti-persona.
Good marketing also creates a positive impact beyond the Information content and the Quality of the content added value for the right target group. Bad marketing, on the other hand, can also frustrate. And this frustration will not be directed at the misaligned campaign, but at the brand itself.
Therefore, it is important to distinguish, which potential customers have a justified interest in buying and which users conduct study research on the Net, organize professional activities or simply have completely different interests.
The Anti-Persona helps companies - in more ways than one
Not only have companies become accustomed to sophisticated targeting, but so have users.
De-placed advertising in online marketing has a frustrating and almost invasive effect, damaging the perception of their brand in the long run.
The anti-persona can help you, more trust and transparency in your marketing and also to create your Improve content marketing. If you clearly know who you don't want to target, you'll have more time for your real audience.
