By Kevin French

For countless years, we have used research to understand audiences and bump up the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns ? focus groups, copy testing, ad tracking and the like.

As digital takes center stage in the way people spend time and make purchase decisions, we have reacted by adding even more sophisticated methods of understanding behavior unique to the online space.

As a result, personas have become a cornerstone of effective digital programs. Yet, as a steady stream of new marketing mediums such as mobile bubble to the surface, our use of personas has not changed.

Does the glove fit?
A quick definition: personas are a form of audience segmentation that are demographically agnostic and psychographically centric.

Personas find commonalities in behavior, attitudes and aspirations of a target or group of targets to inform how brands can meet a customer?s goals. And they can be very effective. I have personally witnessed their use turn average digital marketing plans into case-study-worthy.
 
Still, digital today means so much more than it did even two years ago.

Gartner research recently predicted that by 2013, mobile phones will overtake PCs as the most common Web access device worldwide, according to Gartner?s report, ?Top Predictions for IT Organizations and Users, 2010 and Beyond: A New Balance.? It is no surprise.

Consumption of media is increasingly mobile - games, applications, SMS, augmented reality, QR codes and digital out of home.

With this kind of widespread adoption of mobile, accessibility of information and functionality will only serve to further decrease the attention span of consumers. This has a dramatic effect on how people interact with brands and how they will respond.

Identifying and using mobile behavior
Even though desktops and mobile devices share the same Web, they provide access through vastly different experiences.

Mobile devices tend to be very task-specific i.e., ?There?s an app for that.?

So, while personas in their current state do inform, they need to be focused in such a way that embrace how an audience?s mobile nature affects overall marketing success.

In short, this means we need to turn our attention to research methods that uncover ways to give people what they need even more efficiently. 

By making personas mobile-inclusive, we address behavior that define today?s Web-connected consumer ? people who use their phones to ?check in,? price-compare and even shop. And they indicate how and where people are interacting with brands even when they are on-the-go. 
 
Mobile-inclusive personas translate into not only more successful digital programs, but more efficient ones. Here is how:

?  Fitting the puzzle pieces

Identifying specific mobile characteristics allows for a more concrete understanding of how mobile fits into the total digital picture and how to best drive wanted behavior.

For example, will an application serve the audience best, or will a targeted SMS campaign be more appropriate, or both? And how do these campaigns marry with other digital initiatives in a given program to maximize return?

?  Prioritizing messages

Understanding an audience?s behavior at the desktop and beyond allows you to prioritize both messages and mediums.

This means less effort and less money to get the right interaction in front of the right audience at the right time.

?  Eliminating guesswork

First, the most effective use of personas is long term, or beyond the discovery phase of a new program. This gives a voice to an audience at all times and in every initiative. 

Then, having a comprehensive view of an audience?s behavior removes much of the guesswork for every new campaign ? such as if and how an audience will embrace a mobile campaign.

Marketers should see mobile personas as a chance to pioneer the way they evaluate, understand and sell to a mobile-connected consumer. And during a time when budgets are still reduced, and time is critical, it is a behavioral tool that can help craft more precise and effective marketing plans.

Kevin French is general manager at Band Digital Inc., Philadelphia. Reach him at