SBP 032: To Persona or Not to Persona? That is the Question.

Spurred by a class assignment, our hosts Marc and Vassilis engage in a riveting discussion, debating whether personas truly enhance segmentation and enrich a marketer's targeting strategy or if they add layers of unnecessary complexity. Analyzing real-world examples and reflecting on their personal experiences, they delve deep into the merits and pitfalls of using personas in marketing, offering a nuanced perspective on their validity. Enjoy the episode! ____________ The Sleeping Barber Podcast: Follow our updates here: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/sleeping-barber/⁠⁠ Get in touch with our hosts: Marc Binkley: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbinkley/⁠⁠ Vassilis Douros: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/vassilisdouros/⁠ ________________ Sources Why Personas are more important than ever https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2021/12/02/why-buyer-personas-are-more-important-than-ever-for-facebook-advertisers/ The customer persona is dead! https://business.adobe.com/blog/basics/the-customer-persona-is-dead-long-live-the-customer-profile SEM Rush https://www.semrush.com/blog/market-research-guide/  7 Common Mistakes in Building Marketing Personas https://rockcontent.com/blog/buyer-personas-mistakes/ Ditching marketing personas for Marketing Science https://www.mi-3.com.au/17-04-2023/how-ex-pg-us-marketer-ditched-cohorts-personas-and-restrictive-segmentation-blended-0  Only crap marketers mistake stereotypes for market segments https://www.marketingweek.com/mark-ritson-stereotypes-segmentation/ Personas are worthless for marketing https://articles.data.blog/2021/06/16/matt-lerner-says-personas-are-worthless-for-marketing/ B2B category entry points https://business.linkedin.com/content/dam/me/business/en-us/amp/marketing-solutions/images/lms-b2b-institute/pdf/b2bi-cepinb2b-final.pdf ________________ Timestamps 0:49 - Setting up the theme - Do personas still make sense?  6:03 - What is a marketing persona, and how to create one?  8:07 - What is the point or value of a persona?  9:30 - Do you have to use demos, behaviours and gender to create personas?  12:39 - Do you always need a persona for an effective targeting strategy? 15:45 - Marketing personas versus buyer needs 20:30 - The importance of targeting personas that represent a segment 22:14 - The key to making a persona useful 23:10 - How the persona can become strategic for a business 28:57 - Do you need personas for in every stage of a company’s lifecycle? 31:51 - How many personas are too many?  33:00 - Connecting personas to strategic business objectives 34:05 - The 5 dangers of personas 40:32 - To persona or not to persona? 43:47 - Personas in B2B  46:18 - The takeaways on personas ____________ Where to listen Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-sleeping-barber-a-business-and-marketing-podcast/id1609811324 Spotify: ⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/4v0kaM350zEY7X2VBuyfrF?si=7083317d5afd488b⁠ Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy84MWVjYWJhNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwji_oSOopP-AhXnlo4IHTZKBgYQ9sEGegQIARAC Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sleepingbarberpodcast © 2023 Sleeping Barber