Those kids today...

I remember the first cell phone bill I received and I remember saying, "What is texting and who is doing it!!!" Oh how things have changed. While today's adults are sending 10 texts per day, teenage boys are sending 30 or more and teenage girls are sending over 100!

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And what about the current group of college kids? 

Each August since 1998, Beloit College has released the Beloit College Mindset List. It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college this fall. The Mindset List website at www.beloit.edu/mindset, the Mediasite webcast and its Facebook page receive more than 400,000 hits annually.

The class of 2014 has never found Korean-made cars unusual on the Interstate and five hundred cable channels, of which they will watch a handful, have always been the norm. Since "digital" has always been in the cultural DNA, they've never written in cursive. Dirty Harry (who’s that?) is to them a great Hollywood director. The America they have inherited is one of soaring American trade and budget deficits; Russia has presumably never aimed nukes at the United States and China has always posed an economic threat.

The class of 2014 has never recognized that pointing to their wrists was a request for the time of day. They don’t own watches and instead use their cellphones to tell the time.

Do you know your personas? How do they learn about new products? How important is the quality/ brand/ feature set? What features can you omit and which are required?

Learn more in Buyer and User Personas

Filed under  //  personas  
Posted by Steve Johnson 

Is this Good for the COMPANY?

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My travel service writes:

In order to ensure your company receives the optimal value from this airline ticket, it is imperative any changes or cancellations are reported prior to your flight's original date of departure. This value may have a limited time for future use so be certain to find out all the details upon cancellation.

It's certainly clear who matters to the travel service, isn't it? Not, "Steve, you have a trip coming up. Are YOU ready?" but "don't you want to make sure the company receives the optimal value?"

I think this is a negative case of buyer personas and user personas.

Filed under  //  personas  
Posted by Steve Johnson 

Buyer Persona Blog: How Kristine developed a great buyer persona

I recently reviewed twenty-four buyer personas produced by four product marketing teams. While most  needed a lot more work, Kristine’s was exceptional.

My pal Adele reviews the process for creating great personas. (Hint: market data is the key).

Filed under  //  personas  
Posted by Steve Johnson