Most B2B marketers are targeting people who don’t exist.
The Mistake: Creating buyer personas based on assumptions, internal brainstorming sessions, or outdated demographic data instead of actual customer research and behavioral insights.
Why It Happens:
- Pressure to launch campaigns quickly
- Lack of direct customer access
- Confusing job titles with actual decision-making power
- Building personas around who you WANT to buy vs. who actually buys
The Real Cost:
- Wasted ad spend targeting the wrong people
- Content that doesn’t resonate with actual buyers
- Sales and marketing misalignment
- Longer sales cycles due to poor lead quality
The Fix – 3 Steps:
- Audit Your Current Customers (Not Your Assumptions)
- Interview 10+ recent customers about their buying journey
- Analyze your CRM data for patterns in deal progression
- Map actual influence vs. decision-making power in buying committees
- Build Behavioral Personas, Not Demographic Ones
- Focus on pain points, not job titles
- Identify trigger events that start buying processes
- Understand information consumption preferences
- Map the actual buying committee (hint: it’s bigger than you think)
- Test and Iterate Monthly
- A/B test messaging across different persona assumptions
- Track engagement and conversion metrics by persona segment
- Update personas based on campaign performance data
Stop guessing who your buyers are. Start with these three customer interviews this week.
Marissa Homere 