Project One – Create Buyer Personas1

 

 

Overview

 

This assignment will require approximately two weeks to complete. The due date for this assignment is Week 4, 11:59pm Sunday. The Departmental Late policy for late submissions is found in the Grading Information area of your syllabus.

 

The rubric including all grading criteria is found within this assignment. Be sure to review the rubric before, during, and after your project to ensure you address all criteria.

 

After successfully completing this assignment, you should be more confident in your ability to recognize the various factors that influence consumer behavior in the buying process. You also should understand how marketers form insights and make decisions using research including customer data, environment scanning, and other forms of market intelligence.

 

• Copyright © 2019 University of Maryland University College/University of Maryland Global Campus. Do not post or share outside of MRKT
• The Marketing Program adheres to the Departmental Policy on Originality of work. This policy appears in the syllabus for this course in the Grading Information section and reads in part, “The work in this class must be your own and original to this course. Work prepared for other courses or use of material obtained from other students is expressly prohibited and can result in a grade of zero “0” for the assignment and/or course failure…” This means you may not reuse work that you have submitted in a prior course, either at or

 

 

Scenario3

Your marketing firm, MRKT600, has been approached by a client, Best, Inc. a boutique fitness company about to launch its first location. Best will offer an upscale gym and personal training experience for fitness fans who aim to achieve their personal training goals.

 

Your firm has a reputation for its insightful consumer research. The partners of Best, Inc. have hired your firm to create its first two customer personas, known in marketing as a buyer persona.

 

Best was founded by three former college athletes, two male and one female, seeking to capitalize on the boutique fitness craze. 4 The partners have secured funding for their first site. They are considering a spot in an outdoor mall in the Largo, Maryland area. The site already has one fitness business offering high-end cycling classes – but no personal training gym experience. Best plans to offer all-access memberships about $200/month and classes in the $30-$40/class range. Site preparation and equipment is an expensive investment. So, before they place any equipment order the partners wish to identify the most likely fitness customers they would attract and those customers’ needs.

 

To get started your boss has recommended several sources to use for guidance. They appear in the section below marked “Additional Resources.”

 

 

 

Assignment

The Best, Inc. clients have requested TWO buyer personas. You have been assigned to create one male persona and one female persona for Best.

 

You’ll read How to build a buyer persona (Hootsuite, 2018) from the Resources section of this document to get a sense of what a buyer persona is and how to complete this task.

 

• The company and all the site information in this scenario is fictious and was created purely for purposes of this
• Do not copy this into your document. This information is background for your

Your task is to complete two buyer personas, one male & one female, that would be appropriate given what is known about Best, Inc. and the boutique fitness industry.

 

Your buyer personas must include the following items/sections (Adapted from Hootsuite, 2018).

 

• A first name – name should reflect the identity of each persona you
• Job title or other life identity – what does your persona do?
• Age – not an age range, a specific
• Location – in what city, town or village does your persona live?
• Income – annual job compensation or household income
• Relationship status – any dependents?
• Sports background – any info on this is particularly interesting to Best
• Current workout habits – Runner? Weight lifter? Rower? HIIT? What classes and equipment does this customer use now? What would they try?
• Performance training goals – who does this customer want to be? 10)Pain points – what gets in the way for this customer?

• One or two sentences to sum up this customer for Best, Inc.. How should Best think about this customer? Give Best a short-hand description that helps the company to encapsulate this customer and their wants/needs.

 

 

Get Started

 

From the Scenario section you have a basic understanding of Best, Inc. and what the firm might offer.

 

Since Best, Inc. is a firm that is not yet launched, it has no actual customers. Therefore you must rely on secondary research to create your buyer personas. Your boss has suggested you read two very recent articles on the boutique fitness industry and use a market demographics software that many marketers use called “Esri” – it’s mentioned in one of the articles – to hone in on the local market.

 

First, read How to build a buyer persona (Hootsuite, 2018) from the Resources section of this document to learn how to build your personas. Remember, your buyer personas must include the items/sections mentioned above to meet expectations.

 

Read, The boutique fitness boom (Rossman, 2019) and Why F45 is the fastest-growing fitness franchise (Raphael, 2019) to get a sense of the consumer trends in this field.

 

Then, do some demographic market research using Esri software.

 

• Go to Esri ZIP code lookup. Input the Largo, Maryland ZIP code of 20774 and click on the three segments (be sure to choose “Read more,” then “Click for more details” for the full profile).
  • NOTE: broaden your search using Esri’s “Drive Time” feature and see who lives within a 15 minute drive of the 20774
• What was the most appropriate Esri segment? Choose the segment that you think best fits the Best, Inc. customer and select some of that data to build one buyer persona. What did you learn from Esri that might be relevant to building a buyer persona for Best, Inc.? Edit the data as you determine
• Keep track of your research notes, (i.e., which specific segment did you select, what was the name of it, why did you select it for Best, Inc.?) You will need to include these notes in your presentation.
• Choose another segment appropriate for Best. Select some of that data to build another buyer persona. Edit the data as appropriate.
  • Reminder: Choose two different segments for your two personas.
  • Reminder: Remember to build one female and one male
• Build the two buyer personas and display the results professionally in PowerPoint®.
• Here is one example of a professional buyer persona.5 This is for illustration purposes only. Your buyer persona will feature different information fields. Follow the assignment & format

5 Adapted from the ANA Buyer Persona Template.

 

• IMPORTANT: In the slide notes section of each PowerPoint® slide, provide written narration of what you would say when presenting this slide to the client. This is where you share your research notes. Research notes should be written in narrative form, as you would explain to the client. Here is where you have the opportunity to impress the client with your critical thinking and analytical skills. What makes your customer personas particularly relevant and appropriate to the situation presented in the scenario? How did you apply your research to the facts of the scenario?

 

You are encouraged to do additional research to improve your personas. You may add additional fields, images, etc. The more detailed your personas, the more valuable they will be to the client.

 

 

Format

Assignment is to be formatted as a professional presentation, rather than an academic document. Display the results your work in a PowerPoint® presentation using this guide.

 

Follow this format for your slide deck.

 

• Cover – Buyer Personas for Best Fitness, Inc. by MRKT600 [Your name]
• Introduction – one slide
• Buyer Persona 1 – approx. four slides
• Buyer Personal 2 – approx. four slides
• Summary – one slide
• Reference list (must be in APA format)

 

In the slide notes section of each PowerPoint® slide, provide written narration of what you would say when presenting this slide to the client. This is the place to share your research notes. Research notes should be written in narrative form, as you would explain to the client.

 

Including an images in each persona is encouraged. The source of any images you use must be cited on the reference list. A reference list slide in APA format is required. See the Writing Resources section for how to format the reference list in APA.

 

It is reasonable to expect that your presentation will be about 10 slides (not including title and reference pages).

 

Resources

• (2018). How to build a buyer persona. Retrieved from https://blog.hootsuite.com/buyer-persona/
• (n.d.) ZIP code lookup. Retrieved from https://www.esri.com/en- us/arcgis/products/tapestry-segmentation/zip-lookup
• Raphael, R. (2019, August 24). Why F45 is the fastest-growing fitness franchise—and workout craze. Fast Company. Retrieved from http://ct.moreover.com/?a=40024421000&p=2a4&v=1&x=ZGufMGwBqxkN
• Rosman, K. (2019, June 17). The boutique fitness boom. Retrieved from https://search-proquest- ezproxy.edu/docview/2241534511/B35ABD891821444APQ/1?a ccountid=14580

 

Writing Resources

Writing tutoring is available, free of charge, for support in developing your written communication skills. See Course Resources > Writing Tutor Registration for details.

 

The APA reference list video (<10 min) is about formatting the reference list. It also looks at several different types of references – all from online sources – and how to cite those in APA format.

 

• APA References List Formatting

 

Rubric

	Qualities & Criteria	Excellent 90-100%	Good – Very Good 80-89%		Improvement Needed 70-79.99%	Unsatisfactory Below 70%
Fo C	Content – Possible points: 80
	Buyer Persona Demographic Description (Name, age, title, location, income, relationship status)	Highly engaging & appropriate set of robust demographic profile description for buyer persona.   Buyer persona demographic data is complete and creatively presented.   Specific demographic data is highly appropriate to situation presented in the scenario.	Appropriate set of demographic profile description for buyer persona. Contains all required fields.   Buyer persona demographic data is complete and well presented.   Specific demographic data is appropriate to situation .		Demographic profile description for buyer persona unclear or confusing.   Buyer persona demographic data is incomplete or confusingly presented.   Specific demographic data is not appropriate to situation.	Items of demographic profile description missing for buyer persona.   Buyer persona demographic data is missing items or presentation is incomplete.   Specific demographic data is inappropriate to situation .
		20 – 18	17.99 – 16		15.99 – 14	Under 14
	Points

 

Buyer Persona Background, Goals & Summary (Sports history, workout habits, training goals, pain points, summary)   Application of Critical Thinking   Application of Analytic Skill	Includes highly appropriate examples of relevant history, habits and behaviors.   References to potential pain points is outstanding.   Summary of buyer persona is exceptionally appropriate in level of detail and goes beyond requirements.     Strong evidence of critical thinking in assembling background, goals & summary for buyer persona.   Strong evidence of analytical skill in assembling demographic profile for buyer persona.	Includes examples of relevant history, habits and behaviors. May need more information and/or support. References to potential pain points is appropriate, but may need more information and/or support. Summary of buyer persona includes necessary information. May need more support.   Some evidence of critical thinking in assembling background, goals & summary for buyer persona.   Some evidence of analytical skill in assembling demographic profile.	Examples of relevant behaviors may lack clarity. References to potential pain points may lack clarity.   Summary of buyer persona may lack clarity or be missing important information. Lower level evidence of critical thinking in assembling background, goals & summary for buyer persona.       Lower level evidence of analytic skill in assembling profile.	Examples of relevant behaviors may be missing. References to potential pain points may lack clarity. Summary of buyer persona may be missing.     Less evidence of critical thinking in background, goals & summary for buyer persona.         Profile appears to have assembled with little application of analysis.
	60 – 54	53.99 – 48	47.99 – 42	Under 42
Points
Total Content	80 – 72	71.99 – 64	63.99 – 56	Below 56
Content Points

 

Communication	–	Possible points : 20
Form, Format & Writing			Exceptional professional presentation.	Professionally presented.   Effective use of text to convey content.   Cover slide may need more information. Overall, writing meets graduate standards. Fewer than 5 errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, and/or sentence structure.   Few errors in the proper use of citations (APA format)		Presentation needs improvement.   Text less effective to convey content.   Cover slide lacks clarity. Overall, writing does not meet graduate standards.   Overall, unacceptable number of errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, sentence structure.   Reference list not properly used (APA format)	Not professionally presented.   Text not effective to convey content.   Cover slide does not accurately describe scope & contents.   Overall, writing does not meet graduate standards. Unacceptable number of errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, sentence structure.   No reference list or no attempt to apply APA format.
			Presentation includes effective creative use of images and graphics to convey content.
			Cover slide appropriate to scope & contents.
			Overall, graduate level writing is reflected throughout, including accurate spelling, punctuation, grammar, and sentence structure.
			All sources and images are identified and cited properly in the reference list (APA format)
			20 – 18	17.99 – 16		15.99 – 14	Below 14
components
Content Points + Comm Points = TOTAL Grade

 

END