How do you share your buyer personas with stakeholders?

Buyer personas are fictional representations of your ideal customers, based on data and research. They help you understand their needs, goals, challenges, and behaviors, and tailor your B2B marketing strategy accordingly. But how do you share your buyer personas with stakeholders, such as your sales team, product team, or executives, to ensure alignment and consistency? Here are some tips to make your buyer personas more accessible, engaging, and actionable for your internal audience.

1 Use a simple format

Your buyer personas should be easy to read and digest, without overwhelming your stakeholders with too much information or jargon. Use a simple format, such as a one-page document, a slide deck, or a infographic, that highlights the most relevant and important aspects of each persona, such as their name, role, industry, pain points, goals, motivations, and preferred channels. Avoid using long paragraphs or complex charts, and use visuals, such as photos, icons, or quotes, to make your personas more human and memorable.

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Shan Saleem

xAgency Head | Advertiser | Marketing Orchestrator (Digital & Traditional) | Creative Strategy | Brand Launch & Management | Brand Scaling & Growth | AI Enthusiast | Web 3.0 Explorer 🚀
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One helpful approach in sharing buyer personas with stakeholders is to create persona-specific "day-in-the-life" scenarios. By crafting scenarios that illustrate how each persona interacts with your products or services throughout their day, stakeholders can better understand the persona's needs, pain points, and motivations. For example, if one of your buyer personas is a "Marketing Manager," you could create a scenario that walks through a typical day for them.

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2 Share the story behind the personas

Your buyer personas are not just static profiles, but dynamic stories that reflect the journey of your ideal customers. To share the story behind the personas, you need to explain how you created them, what data and research sources you used, what insights and patterns you discovered, and how they relate to your value proposition and differentiation. This will help your stakeholders understand the rationale and validity of your personas, as well as the context and scenarios in which they apply.

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3 Provide clear guidance and recommendations

Your buyer personas are not just descriptive, but prescriptive tools that help you and your stakeholders make better decisions and actions. To provide clear guidance and recommendations, you need to show how your personas influence your B2B marketing strategy, such as your messaging, content, channels, offers, and campaigns. You also need to show how your stakeholders can use your personas in their own roles and functions, such as sales conversations, product development, or customer service. You can use examples, case studies, or best practices to illustrate your points.

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4 Update and refine your personas regularly

Your buyer personas are not just fixed, but evolving tools that reflect the changes in your market and customers. To update and refine your personas regularly, you need to collect and analyze feedback and data from your stakeholders, as well as from your actual customers, such as surveys, interviews, reviews, or analytics. You also need to communicate and collaborate with your stakeholders to review and revise your personas, and incorporate new findings and trends. You can use tools, such as dashboards, newsletters, or workshops, to keep your personas fresh and relevant.

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5 Make your personas accessible and visible

Your buyer personas are not just hidden, but visible tools that inspire and inform your entire organization. To make your personas accessible and visible, you need to store and share them in a central and secure location, such as a cloud platform, a wiki, or a CRM system, that allows your stakeholders to access and update them easily and frequently. You also need to display and promote them in various ways, such as posters, stickers, or badges, that remind your stakeholders of your ideal customers and their needs.

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6 Solicit feedback and input from your stakeholders

Your buyer personas are not just top-down, but bottom-up tools that reflect the input and expertise of your stakeholders. To solicit feedback and input from your stakeholders, you need to involve them in the creation and validation of your personas, as well as in the implementation and evaluation of your B2B marketing strategy. You also need to encourage them to ask questions, share opinions, suggest improvements, or report issues regarding your personas. You can use channels, such as surveys, forums, or meetings, to foster dialogue and engagement.

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Dean Peterson

Top 1% LinkedIn Voice (DM, B2B, PMM & Leadership) | Digital Marketing & Growth Leader (B2B & B2C) | Certified Startup Coach | → TLDR: I'm always happy to help 🫶, share my insights ⚡, connect 👋 and collaborate! 🤝
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Personas should be living documents that evolve as your understanding of your audience grows. To ensure that stakeholders' viewpoints, insights, and buy-in are met, involve them in the persona creation phase as early as possible. Make sure to share relevant market research, customer feedback, and data that support your buyer personas. This will help stakeholders understand the rationale behind each persona and the decision-making process and also allow them to contribute their unique perspectives and insights. Adapt your communication style to resonate with different stakeholders. Executives may be more interested in high-level summaries while sales teams may benefit from more detailed insights into customer behaviors and preferences.

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7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Dean Peterson

Top 1% LinkedIn Voice (DM, B2B, PMM & Leadership) | Digital Marketing & Growth Leader (B2B & B2C) | Certified Startup Coach | → TLDR: I'm always happy to help 🫶, share my insights ⚡, connect 👋 and collaborate! 🤝
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Short video interviews with actual prospects or clients that fit the profiles are one of the best approaches to not only give life to your buyer personas but also a great way to share insights with stakeholders. Let these individuals share their experiences, challenges, and motivations in their own words. This adds authenticity and credibility to your buyer personas, making them more compelling for stakeholders.

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How do you share your buyer personas with stakeholders?

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1 Use a simple format

2 Share the story behind the personas

3 Provide clear guidance and recommendations

4 Update and refine your personas regularly

5 Make your personas accessible and visible

6 Solicit feedback and input from your stakeholders

7 Here’s what else to consider

B2B Marketing Strategy

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How do you share your buyer personas with stakeholders?

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1 Use a simple format

2 Share the story behind the personas

3 Provide clear guidance and recommendations

4 Update and refine your personas regularly

5 Make your personas accessible and visible

6 Solicit feedback and input from your stakeholders

7 Here’s what else to consider

B2B Marketing Strategy

Rate this article

Thanks for your feedback

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