Marketers never write an ad for "everyone." They write it for one person: a buyer persona, a realistic profile of a typical customer in the target market. In this activity, students make a poster about that person, with the focus on what a marketer needs to know: where the customer spends their time, which media they use, and what makes them say yes. A good persona answers the question every later activity asks: where do we reach this person, and what will they listen to?
If your class used the Customer Persona activity in our Entrepreneurship teacher guide, that persona asked who has the problem. This poster asks how to reach them. The TagBack example uses a new buyer, a team coach who buys in bulk, to show that one product can have more than one target market.
| SECTION | WHAT STUDENTS INCLUDE | EXAMPLE: TAGBACK BUYER |
|---|---|---|
| Name and Picture | A made-up name, a character, and a one-line description. | Coach Ellis, 34, coaches a middle school soccer team of 22 players. |
| A Day in Their Life | Three or four moments from a typical day. | Teaches all day, runs practice until 5:30, then texts parents about the next game. |
| Needs and Pain Points | What they want and what frustrates them. | Every game, two or three water bottles and jerseys go missing. "I spend my Saturdays as a lost-and-found." |
| Where They Shop | Stores, websites, and who decides what to buy. | Orders team gear from the league's supplier; the team fund pays for anything under $50. |
| Media They Use | What they read, watch, and scroll, and when. | The coaches' group chat, the league email on Sunday nights, and short coaching videos. |
| What Persuades Them | Proof, price, or promise that makes them say yes. | Another coach recommending it, a team price, and labels that survive the washing machine. |
(These instructions are completely customizable. After clicking "Copy Activity", update the instructions on the Edit Tab of the assignment.)
Create a poster that introduces the target customer for your product.
Students ask where people heard about the last thing they bought and what made them trust it, and write down the answers.
Students give the persona a made-up name, an age, and a one-line description, and pick a character that fits.
Three or four scenes show when the persona is busy, when they are free, and when they see media.
Students add needs and pain points, where they shop, the media they use, and what persuades them.
As an exit ticket, students write an ad headline that would work for this persona and no one else.
A buyer persona is a realistic profile of one typical customer in a business's target market: who they are, what they need, where they shop, and which media they use. Marketers write every ad for that one person instead of for "everyone," which makes the message sharper and helps the team decide where to advertise.
A target market is a group, such as "middle school soccer coaches in our town." A buyer persona is one imagined person from that group, such as Coach Ellis, with a name, a schedule, and real frustrations. Students usually find the persona easier to write for, and it shows them what the target market actually looks like.
Yes, even briefly. Three short conversations with likely buyers turn guesses into evidence. Two questions are enough: "Where did you hear about the last thing you bought?" and "What made you trust it?" Ask students to include at least one real answer on the poster, so you can see the persona is based on more than their own opinion.
The Entrepreneurship persona asks who has the problem and what they would pay to solve it. This marketing persona asks how to reach them: which media they use, when, and what persuades them. If students did both, have them reuse their first persona's name and add the new media and persuasion sections.
Give up to 2 points per section: 1 point for a specific detail and 1 for a detail a marketer could actually use. "Likes sports" earns 1; "reads the league's email every Sunday night" earns 2, because it tells the team where and when to place an ad. Add a point for a quote from a real interview.