What is a Buyer Persona? – Definition
A Buyer Persona (also customer persona or buyer profile) is a detailed, semi-fictional representation of an ideal customer. It is based on a combination of qualitative research (customer interviews, sales feedback), quantitative data (CRM, analytics), and market observation.
The term was coined by Alan Cooper in the 1990s and has since become a standard tool in marketing, sales, and product development. In contrast to pure target group analysis, which describes market segments, a persona makes the target group tangible and human.
For business model innovation, personas are particularly valuable: they ensure that the Value Proposition is tailored to real customer needs – not internal assumptions. In combination with Jobs-to-be-Done, personas provide a complete customer picture.
Structure of a Buyer Persona
A complete Buyer Persona typically includes:
Example: “Innovator Michael”
- Name & Photo: A fictional name and a stock photo – brings the persona to life
- Demographics: 45 years old, Managing Director of an SME in mechanical engineering (80 employees), Upper Austria
- Goals: Future-proof the business model, develop new revenue streams, drive digital transformation
- Challenges: Skilled labor shortage, price pressure from Asia, lack of digital maturity, little time for strategic work
- Decision-making patterns: Data-driven, needs clear ROI, obtains 2–3 offers, trusts recommendations from his network
- Information sources: LinkedIn, WKO events, industry trade fairs, Chamber of Commerce newsletter
- Quote: “I know we need to change – but I need a pragmatic partner who understands our industry.”
Creating a Buyer Persona: 5 Steps
- Collect data: Analyze CRM data, interview the sales team, evaluate website analytics, use social media insights
- Conduct customer interviews: 5–10 qualitative interviews with existing customers and non-customers. Ask about goals, challenges, decision-making processes
- Identify patterns: Cluster recurring themes, common characteristics, and behaviors
- Formulate the persona: Translate insights into a vivid, detailed profile – with a name, story, and specific details
- Validate and iterate: Present the persona to the sales team: “Do you recognize this customer?” Regularly update based on new insights
B2B Buyer Personas: Considering the Buying Center
In the B2B sector, rarely does a single person make a purchase. The Buying Center typically includes several roles – and each needs its own persona:
- Initiator: Recognizes the problem and starts the search process
- Decider: Has final budget authority – often management or C-level
- Influencer: Advises on the decision – e.g., IT management, specialist department, external consultants
- User: Works daily with the solution – their satisfaction determines long-term success
- Gatekeeper: Controls the flow of information – often assistant or purchasing
For innovation consulting in the SME context, the CEO (decider) and the innovation manager (initiator/influencer) are often the most relevant personas.
Buyer Personas in Use
- Marketing & Content Strategy: Create content that addresses the persona’s specific questions and challenges
- Sales: Adapt sales scripts and pitch materials to the persona – including pitch decks
- Product Development: Prioritize features based on the Jobs of the most important persona
- Brand Positioning: Adapt tonality, imagery, and messaging to the persona
- Pricing: Align pricing with the persona’s willingness to pay and purchasing behavior
- Customer Journey: Design touchpoints that match the persona’s information journey
5 Common Mistakes with Buyer Personas
- Based on assumptions: Personas without real customer interviews are wishful thinking, not strategy
- Too many personas: 7+ personas lead to confusion. 2–4 focused personas are ideal for SMEs
- Set and Forget: Create personas once and never update them – customer needs change
- Only demographics: “Woman, 35–45, academic” is not a persona – without goals, challenges, and behavior, the core is missing
- Not using them: Create personas but don’t incorporate them into decisions. Every marketing decision, every feature backlog item should be assigned to a persona
Buyer Personas for Austrian SMEs
SMEs have a natural advantage when creating personas: proximity to the customer.
- Sales as a goldmine: Your sales team talks to customers daily – systematically capturing these insights is the fastest way to reliable personas
- 5 interviews are enough: For an SME, 5–8 qualitative customer interviews are sufficient to identify the most important patterns
- Pragmatic personas: A one-page profile on an A4 sheet is better than a 30-page document that no one reads
- Create as a team: Involve sales, marketing, service, and management – in a half-day workshop
Get to know your ideal customers
We develop data-driven Buyer Personas with you that will take your marketing, sales, and product development to the next level.
Frequently Asked Questions about Buyer Personas
How many Buyer Personas does a company need?
For most SMEs, 2–4 Buyer Personas are optimal. More than 5 typically lead to a loss of focus and make implementation in marketing and sales unnecessarily complex. Start with the persona of your most important customer segment and expand gradually.
What is the difference between Buyer Persona and Target Group?
A target group describes a market segment with aggregated characteristics (e.g., “SME CEOs in Austria, 30–55 years old”). A Buyer Persona is a concrete, vivid profile of a typical person within this target group – with a name, story, goals, and challenges. The target group defines the “who,” the persona defines “how this person thinks.”
Do I need negative Buyer Personas?
Yes, negative (or “exclusion”) personas can be very helpful. They describe customer types you deliberately do NOT want to target – e.g., bargain hunters without budget approval, companies outside your core industry, or contacts who require a lot of support but generate little revenue. Negative personas help to use marketing budget more efficiently.
How current do Buyer Personas need to be kept?
Review and update at least annually, and as needed. Triggers for an update: new products/services, changes in the market environment, feedback from sales and service that deviates from the existing persona, or a strategic realignment of the company. The fundamental goals and challenges of a persona change less often than assumed – but information behavior and purchasing processes can change quickly.