Why buyer personas fail (and how to fix them)

Fun fact: Most buyer personas fail to influence your messaging, content, or campaigns…

The way most marketing teams create and use buyer personas can be problematic. At some point in time, buyer personas seemed to turn into a box-ticking exercise, a slide in a deck, a fictional name, and perhaps a few vague ‘pain points’ like “Brian is time-poor” or “Julie cares most about ROI.”

I’ve never been a big fan of them, to be honest. In most of the in-house teams I’ve worked with, personas have existed, but they seemed to be rarely referenced or remembered by sales or marketing once a campaign actually went live.

So it’s no surprise that, in the present, many marketing teams have likely (and quietly) stopped using them altogether.

But, when they’re formulated properly, buyer personas can still be one of the most powerful tools in your content strategy.

What is a buyer persona?

A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer, based on real data, behaviours, and insights, not assumptions.

It’s used to guide:

• Your messaging
• Your content strategy