The problem with personas

Understanding your audience is the whole game — get that wrong and no amount of branding or marketing will land.

A persona is just a tool, not the answer — it's one way to understand your audience among several (market segments, messaging, raw data), and it shouldn't be reached for on every job by default.

Rival brands sell to the same people — but mass marketing still isn't your answer — a 1959 Ford vs Chevrolet study found near-identical buyers, which is why Byron Sharp pushes mass marketing over narrow segments. Fair in theory, but most SMEs haven't the budget, so understanding your audience and the problem you solve is the realistic route.

Data beats assumptions — personas built on real customer feedback ("Karen") guided every decision; a 30-page deck of ten invented personas got read once and never touched again.

Detailed personas can be dangerous — they narrow your focus onto an average person who may not exist, so test your assumptions and be willing to bin them.

Keep it consumable — nobody on a stretched marketing team is reading War and Peace about Jane. Whittle it to the three sentences that actually matter.

Ask what your user is trying to achieve — their goals, problems and needs, and which one you solve. Any detail that helps you answer that earns its place; the rest doesn't.