The Person Behind the Purchase

Do You Really Know Who You’re Marketing To?

Let me ask you a question: Who are you really trying to reach?

I don’t mean everyone who could buy from you or every person who might technically benefit from what you offer. I mean the person your business most needs to connect with right now.

That question sounds simple, but it can get surprisingly complicated. I have talked with plenty of small business owners who say some version of, “Well, honestly, we can help almost anyone.”

And that may be completely true.

A realtor may be able to help many different types of buyers and sellers. An accountant may serve businesses of different sizes and across several industries. A consultant may have experience solving a wide variety of problems, and a contractor may be equipped to help all kinds of homeowners.

Being able to serve many people is often a strength. The challenge comes when your marketing tries to speak to all of those people at the same time. The message can become so broad that no one feels like you are really speaking to them.

That is where a customer persona becomes so helpful.

A Persona Is More Than a Demographic

When people hear the word persona, they sometimes picture a fairly basic profile: a woman between the ages of 35 and 55, a homeowner in North Georgia, or a business owner within a certain revenue range.

Those details can matter. They provide context around someone’s responsibilities, habits, budget, and decision-making. But they do not tell you much about the actual person behind the purchase.

What is happening in this person’s life or business right now? What are they worried about? What have they already tried? What finally caused them to start looking for help? And what would make them comfortable enough to take the next step?

That is the part we are really trying to understand.

Your Best Persona May Already Be Right in Front of You

Here is the good news: You may not need a giant research study to begin understanding your audience better.

A lot of the answers may already be sitting in your inbox, your reviews, your sales conversations, and your client meetings. Think about the questions people ask before hiring you, the concerns that seem to come up repeatedly, and what people say when they are finally ready to move forward.

You can also look at your existing clients. Which ones do you especially enjoy serving? Who tends to get the strongest results? What do your best-fit clients have in common? Who sends the kinds of referrals that make you say, “Yes, we would love more people like that”?

“You are looking for patterns among real people.”

You are looking for patterns among real people.

The goal is not to invent a fictional customer with a cute name, a favorite coffee order, and an imaginary golden retriever. Although, I have seen plenty of persona profiles that go in that direction.

The goal is to recognize the real people you are already serving or the people you want to serve more intentionally. What do they have in common beyond their age, location, or job title? What circumstances, concerns, goals, and decision-making habits connect them?

Those details are far more useful than knowing whether your imaginary customer orders a latte or an Americano.

Persona Work Changes More Than Your Social Media

A lot of people assume customer personas are mainly useful for content creation. They are certainly helpful when you are choosing blog topics, writing social posts, planning videos, or building an email campaign, but their influence should go much further.

Your understanding of the audience should shape your brand. It should help you decide what to emphasize, how your business should sound, what you want to become known for, and what the right person needs to see or hear before they trust you.

It should also influence your website. Once you understand the person visiting the site, you can make better decisions about what they need to understand first, which questions should be answered, what proof they need to see, and which next step will feel most natural.

Your persona can also help you decide where and how to show up. Are your people searching on Google, spending time on LinkedIn, asking friends for recommendations, or attending local business events? Are they part of a professional association, a neighborhood group, a chamber, a church, or an industry community? When you understand how they gather information and build trust, you can stop feeling pressure to be everywhere and become more intentional about where your business is present.

And this is important: Persona work should influence how you speak, not just what you write.

“Persona work should influence how you speak, not just what you write.”

Think about the last time someone asked what you do at a networking event. Did you give a broad explanation that could apply to almost anyone, or did you say something specific enough that the right person could immediately think, “Oh, that sounds like me”?

When you understand your audience, it becomes easier to talk naturally about your business. Your introductions become more relevant. Your sales conversations become less focused on reciting a list of services and more focused on connecting what you do to what the person in front of you actually needs.

Your persona should shape your website copy, social posts, emails, conversations, follow-up, and even the way you explain your work across the table at a networking breakfast. It should not sit quietly in a document somewhere. It should show up in the decisions you make.

Let’s Get a Little More Granular

You will hear me use the word granular a lot when I talk about audiences and messaging.

I like that word because broad marketing may sound perfectly nice, but granular marketing feels personal. It moves beyond a general idea and gets closer to the specific situation your audience is experiencing.

For example, “We help businesses grow” is a broad statement. It sounds positive, but it could apply to thousands of businesses.

Now compare that with: “We help successful small business owners understand what their agency or marketing team is doing, ask better questions, and make smarter decisions about where their marketing dollars are going.”

Can you feel the difference?

The second message gives the right person something to recognize. It speaks to a specific business owner, a specific concern, and a specific result they would like to achieve.

That is what I mean by taking a granular approach. You move closer to the person’s real situation, the problem they are experiencing, and the outcome they want. And that is usually where stronger messaging begins.

Do You Know What Is Bothering Them?

You do not have to make your marketing dramatic or negative, but you do need to understand what is creating tension for the person you want to reach.

What are they tired of trying to figure out? What feels harder than it should? What have they already spent time or money trying to fix? Is there something they have been putting off because they do not know where to begin?

For one person, the problem may be a lack of leads. For another, the business may be generating leads, but they are not the right ones. A successful business owner may already have an agency or someone on the team handling marketing, but still not feel confident managing the process. Another person may have a website that no longer reflects the quality of the company they have built.

And for the person building a personal brand, the challenge may be even more personal. They may have years of experience, a strong reputation, and a valuable perspective, but struggle to translate all of that into a message that sounds natural and gives people a clear reason to listen.

These pain points matter because people rarely begin looking for help without a reason. Something changed. Something stopped working. Something became more urgent. Or something finally pushed the issue to the top of the list.

Do you know what that moment looks like for your audience?

Do You Know What They Really Want?

Understanding the problem is important, but it is only half of the picture. You also need to understand what the person hopes will be different after the problem is solved.

Someone may say they want a new website, more leads, a marketing plan, stronger content, or a more polished personal brand. Those may be the services they are shopping for, but what do they hope those things will create?

Maybe they want to feel more confident when someone visits their website. Maybe they want greater credibility in their industry or more control over the direction of their marketing. They may want better opportunities, less wasted time, or a business that finally looks and sounds like the one they have worked so hard to build.

People may buy the service, but they are usually reaching for the change they believe the service will create.

That desired outcome should influence your message just as much as the pain point does. You are not only showing people that you understand what they want to move away from. You are helping them see what they may be able to move toward.

Signs Your Marketing May Still Be Too Broad

One of the clearest signs that you have not gone deeply enough into your audience is messaging that could appear on almost any website.

Phrases such as “quality service,” “customized solutions,” and “we help businesses grow” are not necessarily wrong. But could those exact phrases be used by 100 other companies? Would your ideal customer see them and immediately recognize that you understand their particular situation?

Another sign is choosing marketing channels because everyone else seems to be using them. It is easy to feel pressure to be on Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, email, and whatever platform becomes popular next. But where does your audience actually spend time? Where do they look for help, seek recommendations, ask questions, and decide whom to trust?

A third sign is marketing that explains everything about the company but very little about the customer. You may describe the service, process, package, and credentials in detail, while the reader is still trying to answer a few very human questions: Is this for someone like me? Do they understand what I am dealing with? Could this help me get where I want to go?

That is the connection your persona work should help you create.

You May Have More Than One Persona

Most businesses do.

You may serve several industries or work with both individuals and organizations. The person who initially finds you may not be the same person who makes the final decision. You may also have referral partners or influencers who play an important role in connecting people to your business.

That is okay. The goal is not to force your entire business into one tiny box.

It is also important to remember that different personas may discover and respond to your business in very different ways. One may be active on LinkedIn, while another spends more time on TikTok or Instagram. One may trust a referral from a peer, while another begins with a Google search and reads every review before reaching out.

Your message may need to shift too.

You are not changing who you are or creating a completely different brand for each audience. You are adjusting the emphasis so the message speaks to the needs, concerns, and desired outcome of the specific person you are trying to reach.

A realtor, for example, would not speak to a first-time homebuyer in exactly the same way they would speak to an experienced real estate investor. Both may need help buying property, but their questions, concerns, level of knowledge, and expectations will likely be very different.

The first-time buyer may need reassurance, education, and a clear explanation of what happens next. The investor may be more interested in timing, numbers, market opportunities, and return on investment. The realtor’s expertise and overall brand do not change, but the conversation does.

The same principle applies at YBB. A successful small business owner trying to better manage an agency or internal marketing team may need different guidance than someone beginning to build a personal brand. Both may need marketing support, but they are entering the conversation from different places and looking for different outcomes.

Trying to define several personas at once can quickly become overwhelming, and it often pulls the message right back into broad territory. So, start with one.

Who matters most for your next season of growth? Who do you want more of? Which customers get the strongest results from your work? Who is connected to the product, service, or offer you most want to grow?

You do not have to ignore everyone else. You are simply choosing where to focus first.

A Persona Is a Guide, Not a Box

Real people are complicated. Thank goodness.

A persona will never tell you everything about every customer, and it is not meant to. It should not become a rigid profile that causes you to make assumptions or treat every person as though they think and behave in exactly the same way.

A persona is a working guide. It gives you a thoughtful starting point and helps you make decisions based on real patterns rather than guesses.

It helps you consider what your audience may need to hear, what concerns may need to be addressed, what proof can strengthen trust, and what kind of next step will feel reasonable.

When You Know the Person, the Marketing Gets Easier to Build

Once you understand who you are talking to, many of the other pieces begin to make more sense.

Your message becomes more specific. Your website becomes easier to organize. Your content ideas become more relevant. Your networking introduction becomes more natural, and your calls to action become easier to shape. You can also give clearer direction to an employee, freelancer, or agency because you are no longer asking them to market to “everyone.”

For someone building a personal brand, knowing the audience also makes it easier to decide which parts of their experience and perspective are most valuable to share. Instead of trying to talk about everything they know, they can focus on what will be most meaningful and useful to the people they want to reach.

You do not need to know everything about everyone you could possibly serve. You need a meaningful understanding of the person you are trying to reach next.

Inside YBB Studio, our members use the Discover Your Persona worksheet to move beyond broad audience descriptions and build a practical picture of the people they are best equipped to serve. It is one of the first steps in Basecamp because your audience influences nearly everything that follows, including your niche, offer, message, website, presence, and growth strategy.

If you are already a YBB Studio member, begin with one person. Not everyone you could serve, but the person who matters most for your next season of growth.

And if you are not part of YBB Studio yet, this is exactly the kind of work we do together: practical tools, thoughtful questions, guided support, and marketing that begins to sound and feel a lot more like you.