How do you create buyer personas, and how do you use them?

What the interviewer wants to hear

• Base them on research: interviews, surveys, analytics, CRM and sales input
• Include goals, pains, objections, channels and buying triggers
• Keep a small number of key personas
• Use them to guide messaging, offers, channels and content
• Review and update them over time

Model answer

I build personas from real data rather than guesses. I talk to customers and the sales and support teams, look at CRM and analytics data, and sometimes run a short survey. From this I find patterns, such as job roles, goals, pain points, objections, where they look for information and what triggers them to buy. I usually keep it to two or three main personas, because too many become hard to use. Each persona gets a simple one-page summary. I then use them to plan messaging and offers, choose channels and targeting, and brief designers and writers. For example, a finance manager persona might care about cost savings and need proof, so I would use case studies and ROI calculators. I review personas every year or when the market changes.

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