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Topic: How important is a persona?
| Author | Message |
| JC | Posted – 4/17/2008 7:42:21 AM | show profile I'm reading a marketing book and the writer mentions several times the importance of a persona to someone "in the business". Do you have a persona? Is it important for a writer to have one to help them stand out from the crowd? What are some of your favorite persona's in the media? |
| snappiness | Posted – 4/17/2008 8:53:10 AM | show profile What the heck is a "persona?" Does it mean a specialty? |
| cakey | Posted – 4/17/2008 10:02:17 AM | show profile Love me, love my "brand" Brand is what everyone is talking about today. Even if you work in the corporate world, management wants you to "brand" yourself so that your name evokes an immediate, positive response. I'd say that's all about marketing your specialties and talents. Think self promotion on steroids and lots of networking. This is something many writers are not so good at. I know I'm not. |
| mkelly | Posted – 4/17/2008 3:32:50 PM | show profile Persona is all. Without it, you are confined to the realm of the mere surviving, those who toil away writing advertorials or quick-hit movie reviews or pitches for reality TV shows that end up on cable at 3 a.m. after re-runs of The Fifth Wheel. That's bad. Persona is the sine qua non of media success. Someone back in the 60s or 70s (who, clearly, didn't have enough persona, since we don't remember his name) once said the message is the medium. Today, the persona is the medium. Think Donald Trump, Martha Stewart, Osama bid Laden. These folks are *known.* In females, the sine qua non of persona is 'wide'-- wide arm gestures, wide smile, and ideally a wide ass. Oprah, Rachel Ray, Hillary Clinton. In males, persona is embodied in bold, manic activity. Think Ty Pennington, Michael Jordan, or Janet Reno. All of them instantly summon mental images of excellence, virility, and in Pennington's case, a real argument that Ritalin should be put in the drinking water. They transcend reality; indeed, people with persona *are* reality. We persona-less peons are the ones who do not actually exist. I hope that helps. |
| snappiness | Posted – 4/17/2008 3:37:00 PM | show profile I'm shocked that someone working in media wouldn't remember Marshall McLuhen! And I don't even have a journalism degree. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 4/17/2008 3:40:16 PM | show profile Here's examples of marketing guys with good personas: http://www.dankennedy.com/index.php http://www.bly.com/newsite/Pages/index.php |
| Village Gal | Posted – 4/17/2008 5:18:10 PM | show profile Yes, it was Marshall Mc Luhan and the poster has the quote backward. It should read "the medium is the message." |
| InsomniacNOT | Posted – 4/17/2008 6:35:11 PM | show profile And boy was MM prescient. He also coined the term Global Village. MKelly is going to need a new persona after his gaffes. |
| maphop | Posted – 4/17/2008 8:01:39 PM | show profile Back On A Serious Note... I'm with MKelly on his first sentence. In my weird little specialty area, persona is 90% of why I get the work I do and determines who will sit down with me for an interview and how much I will be paid. I don't think there's a problem being a generalist for most folks (a little travel writing, a little food writing, a little trade pub gig, etc) but having a specialty area increases your chances of keeping work flowing during a down market. And part of that specialty is (drumbeat) your persona. |
| mkelly | Posted – 4/17/2008 11:14:55 PM | show profile Did gaffes stop Rush Limbaugh from having persona? Or Bill O'Reilly, or Hillary Clinton? I think NOT! You peons picking apart mediums and messages from someone mentioned in second-semester J-school and never again clearly lack the persona you so eagerly criticize. I have it on this board, and you do not. It's not my fault you are in the same league as Columbia grads, while I reside in the higher plane with Pennington, Madonna, and Jesus Christ. Kiss off! |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 4/18/2008 1:08:11 AM | show profile I am a generalist -- write about health, insurnace, technology, business, marketing, law. However, everyone I write for in those fields thinks of me as a specialist in that field. --I don't think there's a problem being a generalist for most folks (a little travel writing, a little food writing, a little trade pub gig, etc) but having a specialty area increases your chances of keeping work flowing during a down market. And part of that specialty is (drumbeat) your persona.-- |
| Village Gal | Posted – 4/18/2008 10:52:21 AM | show profile I never went to J School but I have a MA in Media Studies. In terms of media theory, Marshall Mc Luhan is a giant. |
| InsomniacNOT | Posted – 4/18/2008 10:58:24 AM | show profile mkelly, I was thinking your persona was more bart simpson |
| InsomniacNOT | Posted – 4/18/2008 10:58:50 AM | show profile or homer, actually. |
| Canadiana | Posted – 4/18/2008 1:16:40 PM | show profile Geez, don't quote an iconic figure without making sure the quote is correct. Everyone knows Marshall McLuhan; you must have a pretty big ego to think that you're in the right for incorrectly quoting this groundbreaker! |
| WordyBird | Posted – 4/18/2008 2:08:26 PM | show profile Does Crazy Bird Lady Health and Science Geek count as a persona? :-) |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 4/18/2008 2:22:57 PM | show profile It's super easy to adopt a persona. The question is whether you can adopt and sustain a persona that will bring the result you desire. If you simply want to get attention on an Internet board, for example, you can get attention by being a troll. If you want to get attention and have people respect you, that's harder. So really the key parts of a persona are: sustainability and effectiveness. --mkelly, I was thinking your persona was more bart simpson== |
| mkelly | Posted – 4/18/2008 4:09:11 PM | show profile I could not agree more with Dribble's post above. For example, my sustained and effective attacks on journalism school-- particularly master's degrees, or any degree at all from Columbia-- have made me a well-known and respected persona on this board. So have my attacks on living in New York, I hope, since that's an equally ill-advised move for most people. But I'm happy to share that wisdom simply because I'm a good person. The alternative is to be some persona-less troll with nothing to say beyond mentioning Marshall what's-his-name, as if working writers live in a Comm 101 class rather than the real world. |
| Homer | Posted – 4/18/2008 4:21:37 PM | show profile Hey! I resemble that remark! InsomniacNOT Posted ? 4/18/2008 10:58:50 AM | show profile or homer, actually. |
| writesonwater | Posted – 4/18/2008 5:34:17 PM | show profile In my small fishbowl world of regional/community journalism, my personality has become completely enmeshed with what I do. Some love it, some don't. C'est la vie. C'est moi! And no, my persona isn't French ... It's how I approach my work, and how I get so many people to talk to me, to call me, to let me get their picture. And if you haven't guessed, it's not that of a hard-bitten cynic -- but i know some hard-bitten cynics who that approach works for. |
| writesonwater | Posted – 4/18/2008 5:36:43 PM | show profile | email poster I will say that while you're honing skills and getting experience, persona is not necessarily non grata, but it's no substitute for hard work and competence. If they don't come first, then you're pretty much a buffoon with "a deplorable excess of personality." (Quick, what movie did that come from?) Albert Einstein could get away with never brushing his hair because his work was brilliant. |
| Village Gal | Posted – 4/18/2008 7:46:57 PM | show profile Well, excuse me for having gone to grad school ( not Columbia) and for living in Greenwich Village for years. That happens to be part of my persona and a subject for a lot of columns. |
| writesonwater | Posted – 4/18/2008 8:52:34 PM | show profile I think eccentricity or personality standing out can be an asset as long as your work's outstanding. But that's the most important thing. Village, congrats on the master's. |
| snappiness | Posted – 4/18/2008 9:29:47 PM | show profile Oh, for a minute there you had me going. I thought mkelly was serious! Good one. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 4/19/2008 3:25:22 AM | show profile Appreciate the praise. Personally, I don't recognize your screenname. Might have seen it. But I don't remember it. As a general rule, though, the person who try to have to tell me they are well known and respected, probably aren't much of either. --I could not agree more with Dribble's post above. For example, my sustained and effective attacks on journalism school-- particularly master's degrees, or any degree at all from Columbia-- have made me a well-known and respected persona on this board. So have my attacks on living in New York, I hope, since that's an equally ill-advised move for most people. But I'm happy to share that wisdom simply because I'm a good person. The alternative is to be some persona-less troll with nothing to say beyond mentioning Marshall what's-his-name, as if working writers live in a Comm 101 class rather than the real world.pp |
