Marketing persona templates: 10 options for nonprofit communicators

Are you in the habit of creating a marketing persona for your audience when planning a new communications initiative or nonprofit copywriting project? You should be. Every communicator should use this exercise (also known as audience persona, buyer persona, customer profile) in big picture planning and specific tactic development.

Marketing personas allow you to get into the mindset of your audience, their needs, interests and preferences. When it comes to copywriting, a marketing persona will help you to understand the messages and words to use as well as the benefits to highlight. For communications planning, you’ll make smarter decisions about channels, vehicles, timing and more.

I’m always recommending the creation of marketing personas to workshop and training participants, and I have one or two templates that I often point to. But because different marketing persona templates will appeal to different people, I’ve rounded up a list of options.

Here are 10 marketing persona templates for you to choose from:

Marketing persona templates created specifically for nonprofit communicators

• Creating Marketing Personas [Worksheet] – from Nonprofit Marketing Guide
• Create Personas to Bridge the Gap with Target Audiences – from Getting Attention
• Why Knowing Your Audience Is Your Most Important Knowledge Asset (+ A Free Resource) – from the Storytelling Nonprofit
• Marketing personas for non-profits: design and implementation – from The Guardian

[Editor’s note: Two years after first publishing this post, I’m adding an additional template because it is too good to miss. See the checklist within this post, Target Audience Personas: The Benefits of Persona Development, from WiredImpact. You now have 11 options!]

Templates not geared to nonprofit communicators, but from reputable marketing experts:

• Content Marketing Framework: Audience – from Content Marketing Institute. This is actually a list of resources about creating personas, including steps, research and mistakes to avoid
• How to Create Customer Profiles to Reach Your Target Audience – from Convince and Convert

And to round out my list, I asked around…

Here are a few more options suggested or created by smart nonprofit marketers I know:

• Marketing personas: the complete beginner’s guide – from BufferSocial (recommended by Steven Shattuck)
• How Writing for One Can Invigorate Your Nonprofit Marketing – from Pamela Grow
• Do You Really Know Your Stakeholders? Four Questions to Ask – from Prosper Strategies (recommended by RoiAnn Phillips)
• And Julia Reich suggests a chapter on creating personas in the book, A Website That Works

There you have it. No more excuses and no skipping this step! Find a marketing persona template or guide that works for you and complete it before your next nonprofit copywriting project or communications plan.

Do you have a favourite marketing persona template or resource? What would you add to this list? Please share in the comments!