Creating Customer Personas For Innovation Projects

In my work as a growth advisor, I have a lot of conversations with Founders. Their most common question: “What’s the marketing secret to scaling my startup?” The answer isn’t really a secret: Develop high-converting messaging. That is, messaging that is compelling to your target audience and differentiated from alternatives in your category. Extra points for having personality. Of course, this is much easier said than done. There are TONS of messaging frameworks out there. Some are too academic and hard to put into action. Others are superficial and lead to generic messaging that doesn't land with anyone. After years of tinkering, I’ve come to rely on a proven six step framework that we use for our clients at Lantern: 1. Build a Customer Persona 2. Construct the Benefit Ladder  3. Develop the Brand Pyramid 4. Anticipate the Barriers 5. Test with Target Consumers 6. Launch & Iterate Today’s post will cover the first step and over the next few weeks, I’ll lay out the others in enough detail that you can put this framework into action for your business. Step 1: Build an In-Depth Customer Persona The most important thing to do when marketing a startup is to ground yourself in your customer. This goes beyond “we're targeting millennials.” Instead, paint a complete picture of who you are speaking to. This allows you to craft resonant messaging that speaks directly to your customers' needs and beliefs. Consider: • Basic demographics: Age, gender, location, and income level. Who is this person on paper?  • Motivations: Your customer’s pain points and desired outcomes. What problems do they want to solve? • Awareness journey: How they discover your product. Where is the friction and points of delight? • Perceptions: Your customers beliefs about your category. What opinions do they already have? • Decision process: Their path to purchase. How do they research? Who is involved in their decision to buy?  • Ideal experience: The best case user interaction with your product. How can you deliver their dream scenario? Here’s an example of how this work informs marketing strategy: Both Signos and Sequence are weight management startups, targeting women in their 30s and 40s who want to lose weight. Yet they have totally different consumer personas based on different core insights. The Signos insight: many consumers want to be in control of their journey and don’t believe in easy solutions. They want to put in the work — they just need guidance on how to make their weight loss efforts more successful.  The Sequence insight: another segment of consumers have tried everything to lose weight and have given up. They feel stuck. They need a significant push to restart their weight loss journey. These are two companies in the same category with totally different consumers. These insights led my team to devise totally different messaging for each company. What are some other pieces that traditional "target consumer" frameworks miss? 

Your buyer persona: “Meet Sarah. She’s 35. Drives a Honda. Drinks oat milk.” OK ... But that tells me nothing. I don’t care if she shops at Whole Foods. I want to know: 👉 what does she struggle with? 👉 what triggers her to buy? 👉 what words does she actually use? Most personas are packed with shallow info. Not what actually moves a customer to buy. You don’t need a cute name. Or a coffee order. You need insight. Here’s how to build a persona that actually helps you sell: 1. Do customer interviews 1. Talk to real people. 2. Ask open-ended questions. 3. Capture exact language. And during these interviews ... 2. Capture voice of customer (VOC) VOC are the words your customers use to describe: - their customer journey - your product VOC eliminates jargon. And ineffective messaging. It makes customers think, "They get me." 3. Map customer pain points 👉 What keeps them up at night? 👉 What problem are they trying to solve? 👉 Why have they failed to solve it? 👉 What else have they tried to solve it? 4. Identify search triggers 👉 Why did they start looking for a solution? 👉 What triggered their search? 👉 What makes their search urgent? 5. Document objections 👉 What gives them pause? 👉 What uncertainties do they have? 👉 Where have competitors failed them? 👉 What almost stopped them from buying? 👉 What makes them doubt your product? 6. Find "The Flip" What makes your customer flip from 🧐 “What is this?” ↓ 😍 “This is exactly what I need.” Build your messaging around this moment. ___ This is how you create a messaging guide. Not by guessing. Not with a cute persona worksheet. Knowing Sarah’s favorite podcast? Sorta helpful. Knowing what keeps her up at night? Insanely helpful. ____ ♻️ Repost this if you found it useful 🧐 Follow me (@lizwillits) for more posts 💌 Get VIP insights in my email newsletter

56% of sales & marketing people get customer personas wrong. Let's understand how to create personas with little/no access to first hand data... Last quarter, we analyzed 750+ “ideal customer” profiles. → 73% were just job titles & demographics → Only 27% mapped actual behaviors, buying triggers/pain points If your persona looks like this: "CMO at a mid-sized SaaS company, 35-50 years old, USA-based" You’re already off track. Here’s how to fix it: ✅ Analyze Unstructured Data (CRM alone won’t cut it) → Scan support tickets, live chats, & sales calls → Spot recurring objections & frustrations ✅ Reverse Engineer Buying Triggers → Check LinkedIn, Quora, & Reddit in your niche → Find what’s making people switch vendors ✅ Use Competitor Reviews → Study G2, Capterra, or Trustpilot → 1-star reviews show pain points (5-stars reveal what matters most) ✅ Validate with Prospects (No Costly Surveys Needed) → DM 5-10 people on LinkedIn: "Hey [Name], I see you’re working on [industry problem]. I’m putting together insights on [pain point]. Curious - what you seeing as the biggest challenge with [specific issue]?" Personas built this way drive conversions –  because they reflect actual buying behaviors, not assumptions. Find this useful? Follow → Junaid Dar