Are you always aiming for a single persona? Or are there situations where two or more make more sense?

Answer

6 Answers

Market Research

Greg Hollander

Novi VP of GTM & Strategy • 8y

More than one persona can definitely make sense. It just depends on the business. Ideally you want to have one persona per “target audience”. The balance is having enough to create coverage across the segment(s) that are strategically valuable to the business, and not too many that they become information overload and are not actionable.

1,590 Views
Sherrie Nguyen (she/her)

Indeed Director of Product Marketing • 3y

Always aim for as many personas as you encounter, but see above for my explanation on identifying a target segment and then choosing the personas you want to go after. It's important to stay focused on key decision makers, budget holders, and influencers. Part of this may be trial and error with continuous learning as you enter sales cycles and learn more.

807 Views
Jennifer Kuvlesky

Snow Software Director of Product Marketing • 3y

There are situations where multiple personas might make sense. If you are just getting started, I'd focus on your primary persona and get that right. Does your product solve problems that multiple personas have? If so, you could extend your messaging to that persona. But don't assume the same message for your primary persona will land with your secondary persona. Do the persona research or risk throwing away marketing dollars. I had a product several years ago and the primary persona was the sys ...Read More

718 Views
James Winter

Telescope Partners Head of Marketing | Formerly Nexmo, Dialpad, Aspire, Brandfolder • 8y

In my experience, it's rare that a single persona would be particularly valuable. For example, in my current role, there are at least 3-4 main personas who all have very different motivations, roles, etc... One of the most basic examples of why you'll probably need at least two personas, at least if you're selling a B2B product, is that it's very rare that you are every selling to just one person. In most B2B scenarios, there are at least two people involved in the purchasing decision process. ...Read More

695 Views
Madison Leonard

Marketing & GTM Consultant | Formerly ClickUp, Vanta, DreamWorks Animation • 3y

Most companies will have multiple personas. There are two distinctions here - user personas and buyer personas. If you're selling mostly to SMBs, you may only have 1-2 buyer personas (usually CEO or COO) during your sales cycle. The more you move into mid market and enterprise, the more people will be involved in the buying process and therefore you'll need to know how to sell to each persona. For product-led growth companies with a freemium or trial product, you'll also have user personas. For ...Read More

372 Views
Daniel Palay

KPI Sense Chief Executive Officer • 6y

Definitely multiple persons, the number of which really depend on: 1. Number of stakeholders involved in the purchase decision (usually at least two or three; user, champion, buyer - more if it's "purchase by committee"). 2. Number of distinct customer segments you are going after (note: I use a somewhat nontraditional definition of "segment"). 3. Number of non-customer stakeholders (like strategic partners) also must buy in. While there will likely be some significant overlap, the reason to con ...Read More

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