Developing Customer Personas

The secret to successful ABM? It's not what you think. It starts with thoroughly analyzing your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).  Forget basic demographics.  We need to understand the motivations and behaviors that drive your ideal customer. And how do you find a truly effective ICP? It's about layering.  Firmographics are the foundation, industry, size, and revenue, and they are important. But to really understand your ideal customer, we need to explore their technographic (tech stake within the company) Knowing this reveals a lot about their needs and how sophisticated they are. Psychographics (lifestyle, interests, and values of individuals) hold the real magic because they give us hints about their buying decisions. This helps us understand their values and what motivates and keeps them up at night. I recently worked with a company whose ICP was basically "any business with over 500 employees." Way too broad!  We dug deeper, analyzing their best customers to uncover surprising patterns in their psychographics and technographics.  The result? A well focused ICP and an increase in #ABM performance. Refining your ICP takes time and effort.  But it's worth it because it lets you focus your ABM efforts on accounts likely to convert. It's about working smarter, not harder. #b2bmarketing #marketingstrategy #demandgeneration

👩🦰 Designing Accessibility Personas (https://lnkd.in/evVnB4hd). How to embed accessibility and test for it early in the design process ↓ We often assume that digital products are merely that — products. They either work or don’t work. That they help people meet their needs or fail on their path to get there. But every product has its own embedded personality. It can be helpful or dull, fragile or reliable, supportive or misleading. When we design it, willingly or unwillingly, we embed our values, views and perspectives into it. Sometimes it’s meticulously shaped and refined. And sometimes it’s simply random. And when that happens, users assign their perception of the product’s personality to the product instead. Products are rarely accessible by accident. There must be an intent that captures and drives accessibility efforts in a product. And the best way to do that is by involving people with temporary, situational and permanent disabilities into the design process. One simple way of achieving that is by inviting people with disabilities in the design process. For that, we could recruit people via tools like Access Works or UserTesting, ask admins of groups and channels on accessibility to help, or drop an email to non-profits that work in accessibility space. Another way is establishing accessibility personas for user journeys. Consider them as user profiles that highlight common barriers faced by people with particular conditions and provide guidelines for designers and engineers on how to design and build for them. E.g. Simone, a dyslexic user, or Chris, a user with rheumatoid arthritis. For each, we document known challenges and notable considerations, designing training tasks for designers and developers and instructions to simulate experience through the lens of these personas. By no means does it replace proper accessibility testing, but it creates a shared understanding about what the experiences are like. You can build on top of Gov.uk’s profound research project (https://lnkd.in/evVnB4hd) — it also explains how to set up devices and browsers, so that each persona has their own browser profile. Once you do, you can always switch between them and simulate an experience, without changing settings every single time. All Accessibility Personas (+ Tasks, Research, Setup) https://lnkd.in/evVnB4hd Accessibility doesn’t have to be challenging if it’s considered early. No digital product is neutral. Accessibility is a deliberate decision, and a commitment. Not only does it help everyone; it also shows what a company believes in and values. And once you do have a commitment, and it will be much easier to retain accessibility, rather than adding it last minute as a crutch — because that’s where it’s way too late to do it right, and way too expensive to make it well. [Useful pointers in the comments ↓] #ux #accessibility

I've found empathy mapping most valuable during early project phases and presentations. Nothing convinces leadership to greenlight a project like showing them you truly understand your target audience's pain points. But, they're not for every situation. For straightforward projects with well-understood users, a quick check-in might be sufficient. The key is using empathy maps as tools for insight, not checkbox exercises. I've seen firsthand how they break down communication barriers between departments. The beauty of empathy mapping lies in its simplicity. The classic version has four quadrants – Says, Thinks, Does, and Feels — though I've found adding "Sees" and "Hears" can provide even more context for certain projects. What matters isn't the exact format but the conversations it sparks. Here's what works in my experience: - Start with a clear purpose. Are you trying to align your team around user needs? Inform a specific design decision? The goal shapes everything that follows. - Ground your map in reality. The most valuable maps come from actual user data – interviews, surveys, support tickets – not assumptions. I've watched teams realize how much they'd been projecting their own preferences onto users when confronted with real feedback. - Make it collaborative. Bring together people from different departments to fill out the map. The magic happens when your developer suddenly realizes why that feature the marketing team kept pushing for actually matters to users. - Keep it alive. The best empathy maps evolve as you learn more. I keep ours visible and revisit them regularly, especially when we're making crucial decisions.

"Your brand is what other people say about you when you're not in the room." In the digital age, that room has expanded to encompass countless channels and platforms. Brand consistency across these multiple channels is not just important, it's critical for building trust and recognition. The journey of maintaining brand consistency in a multi channel world is a complex tale of balancing uniformity with platform-specific adaptability. The ability to navigate this intricate landscape is paramount. It's not just about replicating the same message everywhere; it's about adapting our core brand essence to resonate effectively across diverse platforms. At the heart of successful multi-channel brand consistency lies a deep understanding of brand identity, channel-specific nuances, and audience expectations. It's about creating a cohesive brand experience that feels familiar yet tailored to each touchpoint. Let's explore the key challenges and solutions for ensuring a unified brand message across all marketing platforms: ● Brand Guidelines Evolution: Remember when brand guidelines were static documents? While still crucial, modern brand guidelines need to be living documents that address multi-channel applications. ● Centralized Asset Management: As content needs multiply, a centralized digital asset management system becomes essential for maintaining consistency and efficiency. ● Channel-Specific Adaptation: We've learned that blind consistency can be detrimental. Successful brands adapt their core message to fit the unique characteristics of each platform. ● Tone of Voice Consistency: Maintaining a consistent brand voice across channels, from formal LinkedIn posts to casual TikTok videos, is a delicate balancing act. ● Visual Consistency: Ensuring visual elements like logos, colors, and imagery remain consistent yet optimized for each platform is crucial for brand recognition. ● Message Alignment: Coordinating campaign messages across channels to create a unified narrative, rather than disjointed communications, enhances brand coherence. ● Cross-Team Collaboration: Breaking down silos between teams managing different channels is essential for maintaining consistency. Maintaining consistency across multiple platforms while preserving authenticity presents unique challenges. Striking a balance between adhering to brand guidelines and allowing for local market adaptations is crucial. Remember, multi-channel brand consistency aims to create a cohesive brand experience that builds recognition and trust across all touchpoints. It requires a commitment to clear brand strategy, flexible guidelines, and ongoing communication across teams and channels. So, you have to get ready to tackle the challenge of maintaining a unified brand message in our multi-channel world, creating a consistent yet adaptive brand presence that resonates with your audience wherever they encounter you. #BrandConsistency #MultiChannelMarketing #BrandStrategy

Your Ideal Client Profile (ICP) isn’t just a business exercise—it’s the foundation for steady, predictable income. Over the next 4 days, I’m breaking down the key steps from my Sustainable Sales Blueprint. Today, let’s focus on the basics: demographics and psychographics. Demographics reveal the "who": Age, income, location, and job roles tell you where to focus your efforts. Psychographics uncover the "why": Their values, motivations, and goals show you what truly matters to them. Here’s how it drives consistent revenue: 1. Stronger messaging: Your audience feels seen and heard. 2. Offers that sell: You’ll create solutions they can’t ignore. 3. Faster sales cycles: Speaking their language builds trust quickly. When you skip this step, your marketing feels generic, and your revenue stays unpredictable. If consistent revenue is your goal, start by deeply knowing your audience. Are you ready?

We’ve all heard of audience personas. But what if you could look beyond demographics and see how a persona thinks, behaves, and buys in real time? That’s exactly what I did today using Momentro, diving into the “Coffee Lovers” persona while comparing Barista Coffee Company Limited and t-Lounge by Dilmah but instead of focusing on search or content, I went deeper into behaviour. ☕ The “Coffee Lovers” Persona in Sri Lanka. 📌 Behavioural Trends: Actively follow slow living, café culture, and minimalism creators on YouTube. Prefer review led content over ads. Blend indulgence with wellness interested in both high-end desserts and clean living. 📌 Influencer Signals: Gravitate towards authentic, often micro-influencers who feel like trusted voices. Example: I checked out Alison Wijemanne who popped up in the F&B influencer space. Momentro provided me her category strength (food, beverage & travel) her brand history, her sentiment index (largely green = safe bet for partnerships) and some of the brands she has worked with in the past too. 📌 Brand Affinities: Engage with Barista, Dilmah T-Lounge, Java Lounge (Pvt) Ltd, Peppermint Cafe, Ibsons Choice Cafe, and even Starbucks — suggesting they blend local pride with global taste. 📌 Pain Points & Opportunities of coffee lovers in Sri Lanka: Tired of copy-paste content Seek genuine café experiences and behind-the-scenes narratives Want to feel spoken to, not marketed at For Content Teams: This is a Gold Mine. Most content teams are briefed with assumptions: “Target millennials,” “Make it Gen Z-friendly,” “Do something trendy.” But with Momentro, your creative team gets the nuance: -What this persona wants to hear -What frustrates them -What formats they consume -What tone feels authentic vs performative -Build campaigns based on what this persona already consumes -Choose influencers that align with their behavioural identity -Tailor content formats (YouTube > Facebook, micro > macro) No more content roulette. You build stories rooted in reality, pain points, motivations, peer influence, and preferred channels. Suddenly, your next campaign isn’t just more relevant. It’s more wanted! #marketing #influencermarketing #personaanalysis #microinfluencers #momentro

Data alone can often feel impersonal and hard to relate to but professionals have found an interesting way around it - at least in the consulting world. I found it interesting that Bain & Company tackles this by using "customer journey mapping" - an approach that transforms data into vivid narratives about relatable customer personas. The process starts by creating detailed personas that represent key customer groups. For example, when working on the UK rail network, Bain created the persona of "Sarah" - a suburban working mom whose struggles with delays making her miss her daughter's events felt all too real. With personas established as protagonists, Bain meticulously maps their end-to-end journeys, breaking it down into a narrative arc highlighting every interaction and pain point. Using techniques like visual storyboards and real customer anecdotes elevates this beyond just experience mapping into visceral storytelling. The impact is clear - one study found a 35% boost in stakeholder buy-in when Bain packaged its conclusions as customer journey stories versus dry analysis. By making customers the heroes and positioning themselves as guides resolving their conflicts, Bain taps into the power of storytelling to inspire change. Whether mapping personal experiences or bringing data to life, leading firms realize stories engage people and shape beliefs far more than just reciting facts and figures. Narratives make even complex ideas resonate at a human level in ways numbers alone cannot.

How do you and your teams synthesise and select which customer needs or pains to progress in your #product, #design, or #innovation projects? Imagine you've just completed some great customer discovery research, including observing, interviewing and being the customer. You've built some good empathy for who your customers are, what is important to them, what pains them, and what delights them. Then you unpack your findings into some form of empathy map, and you've got 100s of sticky notes everywhere. You've then started to narrow them down to the most promising and interesting observations, but this still leaves you with a sizeable collection and you want to add some rigour to your intuition on which ones to take forward first. Well, here are 3 different methods that I’ve used and iterated over the years: Number One – The Opportunity Scale This first one is the simplest and is inspired by how Alexander Osterwalder et al rank jobs, pains and gains in their book Value Proposition Design, 2014. As a team, you take your short list of observations from your empathy map and rank them from how insignificant/moderate to how important/extreme the need/pain is for the customer with the most important/extreme being prioritised to explore further first. Number two – The Opportunity Matrix A The opportunity matrix increases the rigour and confidence of your prioritizing by adding ‘strength of evidence’ as another dimension. Strength of evidence at this stage of journey can be determined by the number and type of data points. For example, if you heard from several customers that a pain point was extremely painful then you could be more confident this was worth solving than one highlighted by only one customer. Likewise, observing customers do something provides stronger evidence than customers saying they do something. Here you prioritise the most important needs with the strongest evidence first. Something to watch out for is when your team selects an observation that has strong evidence but isn’t that important of a need or pain to customers. Teams can be blinkered by numbers and end up over-investing in time wasting-opportunities. Number three – The Opportunity Matrix B The third method swaps out evidence for fulfilment of the need - how satisfied are customers with their ability to fulfil the need/solve the pain with the solutions they use today? By matching this with the importance of the need/pain we can select those observations that we understand to be the most important and unmet for our customers. You can then overlay the strength of evidence across this ranking to make your final selection even more robust. And to take it to a whole new level and really de-risk your selection you can test your prioritised observations, written as need statements, in quantitative research with customers. This is something that Antony Ulwick shares in his book Jobs To Be Done, 2016. I hope you find these methods useful. #designthinking #humancentreddesign

Scaling in 2025: Why Direction Matters More Than Speed As companies prepare for 2025 with ambitious goals, the spotlight often shifts to speed—getting there faster, scaling quicker, achieving more in less time. But if my years in sales and business development have taught me anything, it’s that direction is far more important than speed. This belief is especially true when defining a Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy. It’s not just about how quickly you can deploy your plan but about ensuring it aligns with your unique strengths, your team’s dynamics, and, most critically, your customer persona. Understanding your persona goes beyond knowing their title or industry. It’s about truly grasping who they are and what drives them on three levels: emotional, functional, and social. Think of your persona as more than a customer; they’re individuals with hopes, challenges, and goals. Emotionally, they may be striving for recognition, security, or the satisfaction of achieving something meaningful. Functionally, they’re looking for solutions that deliver real, measurable impact—something that simplifies their workload or solves a pressing problem. And socially, they want to stand out, to align with industry best practices, and to be seen as leaders in their space. When you take the time to understand these aspects, something powerful happens. Your GTM strategy transforms into a tailored approach that resonates deeply. You start connecting with your customers in a way that feels natural and authentic. You know which channels to invest in because you’ve understood where they spend their time and what messages speak to them. Suddenly, every touchpoint in your sales engagement becomes intentional, purposeful, and impactful. This isn’t a shortcut or a one-size-fits-all approach. It’s a commitment to doing the hard work of understanding, aligning, and building trust. And the rewards? They’re worth every ounce of effort. A recent Forrester study revealed that 73% of buyers are more likely to engage with companies that provide personalized and relevant interactions. This tells us that alignment with the persona isn’t just an option—it’s the path to scaling effectively. So as we move into 2025, let’s remember that growth isn’t just about speed; it’s about moving in the right direction. It’s about taking the time to truly understand your customers, aligning with their needs, and crafting a GTM strategy that guides them—and you—toward success. “The better you know your customer, the clearer your path to meaningful growth becomes.” Here’s to scaling thoughtfully, purposefully, and with the right direction in 2025! #GTMStrategy #ScalingWithPurpose #PersonaAlignment #DirectionOverSpeed