communicating to diverse audiences: persona development

Communicating to Diverse Audiences: Persona DevelopmentMegan Homeyer, Billy McKim, & Holli Leggette

Texas A&M University

The Problem?

There is a communication gap between the growing adult population and the shrinking agriculture population.

82.7% of the U.S. population lives in urban areas (Worldometers, 2016)

Most Americans are at least one or more generations removed from the farm or ranch (Dimitri, Effland, & Conklin, 2005).

Agriculture sometimes uses the “hypodermic needle” model of communicating (Evans, 1985) that injects information one direction.

This is not effective

What is a better way of communicating?

The Problem?

The Solution?

• Create a “person” that represents a group of people

• Allows communicators to create messages for specific groups

• Are a way to tailor information to targeted audiences

• Learn how to speak their language (start out on the same page)

Personas

The Solution?

• Emphasizes the unique individuals you are trying to connect to

• Help focus and aid communication

• Provide empathy and a human element to the design stage

The Solution?

Personas need to be: Life-like

Consistent

Representative

Data-driven

Persona Lifecycle

Adlin & Pruitt, 2010

Family Planning

•Development of research idea

Gestation

•Creation & development of personas

Birth and Maturation

•Introduction of personas

Adulthood

•Personas are active and utilized

Retirement

•Evaluate usefulness of personas

Create a team

Identify goals What do you want your persona(s) to accomplish?

Improve the process of team communication

Improve communication to audiences

Improve organization

Family Planning

Create an action plan Define scope of project

Data Existing (internal and external)

Original

Secondary

Stay organized

Family Planning

Family Planning

Description Date Source Incorporated?

Primary Interview 2/02/16 Resp_001 Yes

Questionnaire 4/18/16 Resp_004 Yes

Existing perspectives of agriculture

5/22/14 Tegan, et al., 2014

Yes

Gestation

1. What are existing stereotypes? Helps structure data processing

Builds bridge between what is currently thought and created personas

2. Process data Identify themes

Gestation

Different methods of collecting data for creation of personas: Ad Hoc

In-depth interviews

Surveys

Q Sort

Combination

Gestation

Gestation

3. Create initial persona Brief

4. Validate

Gestation

Gestation

Create communication strategy

Introduction of the persona

Implement and continue to develop

Birth and Maturation

Personas are being used

Educating team on how to utilize the personas

Keep planning, designing, and evaluating

Adulthood

Measure effectiveness

Are the data still accurate?

Either continue with current personas or transition to a new project

Retire the personas

Retirement

What goes into a persona?

ThoughtsBeliefs

OpinionsAttitudes

GenderYOBRace

IncomeEducation Level

ContentMedium

Times Access

Psychographics

Psychographics

Demographics

Demographics

Media Consumption

Media Consumption

Personas

Psychographics

Psychographics

Demographics

Demographics

Media Consumption

Media Consumption

Example

Psychographics

Psychographics

Demographics

Demographics

Media Consumption

Media Consumption

(Mobly, 2016)

No definite stance on animal use or animal rights

Can be found on Facebook or YouTube

Familiar with the web

Easily influenced

The Follower

Has a love for animals, but are not animal activists

Believe the food industry requires improvement

Use the internet and YouTube

Familiar with Facebook, but does not access frequently

Listens to radio daily

Compassionate Information

Seeker

The Visual Learner

Likes images (Instagram) [Survey]

Does not like newspapers or magazines [Survey]

Supports animal agriculture, but more for food than rodeo [Q Sort]

The Follower

•Unsure of stance on animal use and/or animal rights

Mobly, 2016

•Target on Facebook or YouTube

•Increase engagement with videos

Compassionate Information Seeker

Mobly, 2016

•Cares for animals, but not activist

•Most familiar with YouTube and Web

• Food industry needs improvement

•Alternative platform is Facebook

The Visual Learner

•Target on Instagram or other image-heavy platforms

• Do not try to engage through paper-based platforms

✔ • Positive attitude toward animal use and consumption

•Undecided on the use of animals for entertainment

Mobly, 2016

Family Planning RetirementAdulthoodBirth and MaturationGestation

The Next Step

Initial Personas

Traditionalist

Organic Believer

Opinionated Learner

Health Conscious

Indifferent

Traditionalist

?

Psychographics

Psychographics

Demographics

Demographics

Media Consumption

Media Consumption

Traditionalist

Organic Believer

Opinionated Learner

Health Conscious

Indifferent

Traditionalist

Unaware

Easily Influenced

Family Planning RetirementAdulthoodBirth and MaturationGestation

Future Research

Some things to remember

Personas are a means to an end, not THE end

Can be a useful tool, but not infallible

Numerous methods to create personas

Time consuming

Let’s talk

Megan Homeyermhomeyer14@tamu.edu