Developing Customer Personas

The fastest way to dilute a marketing budget is not poor targeting. It is shifting the message every time the channel changes. During one company’s growth phase, performance looked strong at a glance. Campaign metrics were solid. Engagement was steady. Leads continued to come in. Yet when prospects were asked what the brand actually stood for, the answers were inconsistent. Social channels told one story. Sales decks emphasized another. The website introduced a slightly different angle. Nothing appeared out of place. But nothing was distinctly remembered either. This is how cross-channel message drift works. It rarely announces itself. It shows up as subtle differences in tone, promise, or positioning. Over time, those small variations weaken recall. In B2B environments, where trust and memory heavily influence decisions, that uncertainty creates friction. Consistency is not about repeating identical language everywhere. It is about reinforcing a clear core belief across every touchpoint. When messaging compounds from channel to channel, recall strengthens. When each interaction reintroduces a new narrative, buyers are forced to reassess. This week’s newsletter examines how message inconsistency slows momentum, why recall is a strategic advantage, and what a cohesive messaging architecture looks like in practice. For teams that want to be remembered when it counts, it is a timely read.

Persona work is exhausting. You’ve got hundreds of sales calls recorded in Gong and somewhere in there are the insights your exec team needs to make critical business decisions. You spend the week digging through call recordings, listening to call snippets, copy-pasting customer quotes into Docs, trying to get revops to give you data from the CRM on personas tagged to historical opportunities, tabbing through spreadsheets, and creating a slide deck with everything you’ve learned. And in that time 40 new sales calls with that target persona have taken place. Those same insights need to be refreshed for Monday's board meeting.  Most "AI-powered marketing platforms" don’t solve these kinds of problems. Certainly not the “AI CMO.” They'll surface generic insights you can get from a web search. The real gold is still only found via spending days manually digging through six tools. The raw intelligence only YOUR company has. This is where WRITER is different. Last month, our product marketing team asked WRITER to build an interactive persona application for them. It listened to 350 Gong calls, cross-referenced with opportunity data in our CRM, filled in gaps where opportunities were sponsored by the persona but NOT tagged on the opportunity, generated the insights, and built a dashboard (WRITER voice, formatted) in a SINGLE flow. 2 weeks of work → 35 minutes of WRITER working autonomously. And when 40 new calls come in tomorrow? That dashboard is automatically updated, at a link the whole marketing team can access. Your personas stay CURRENT, not static. WRITER works end-to-end across your systems – Snowflake, HubSpot, Google Docs, Asana, Slack, Gong, and more – actually executing instead of just assisting. Which means you get to spend the bulk of your time on strategy, creativity, and driving the business forward. We don’t need AI CMOs. We need to help people go from 20% strategy / 80% execution to 80% strategy / 20% execution.

Here's one of the biggest unlocks to me staying a solopreneur forever.   AI agents are getting all the focus, but one of the big enablers for me isn't AI running workflows, it's AI having the expertise in area's I don't.   I use the projects feature of my GPT subscriptions *religiously*   I've crafted several persona's that are dedicated to serving me in key areas I need support, but don't have expertise.   They're like an executive team for all the things I can't and don't want to outsource or have to hire for.   These persona's are constantly refined through the needs of the business, and they're constantly kept up to date on business context that gives them much tighter and more relevant responses.   Here's all the persona's I use:   Marketing Expert: I use this all the time for marketing strategy, building campaigns, and thinking through content partnerships.   Account Executive: Helps me write proposals and do everything I need to enable my sales activities.   Copy writer: Probably my most frequently used one. Great for LinkedIn post refinement or long form newsletter writing.   Comp expert: My thought partner on everything to do with spreadsheet algorithms or comp best practices.   Legal Expert: What I use for preliminary review of legal docs and basic refinements. Crucially, it helps me understand risk on various things I am working on.   Head of People: Arguably one of the most important personas for me when everything I do is in service of the Head of People.   This persona gives me the ability to sense check or even generate concepts related to the challenges a Head of People is going through. It's like customer research on tap.   Great for chaining GPT prompts based on context provided by this persona.   AI personas won’t replace every hire, but they’ll stretch any solo operator further than headcount ever could.   Which role would you hire first on your AI team?

We’ve all heard of audience personas. But what if you could look beyond demographics and see how a persona thinks, behaves, and buys in real time? That’s exactly what I did today using Momentro, diving into the “Coffee Lovers” persona while comparing Barista Coffee Company Limited and t-Lounge by Dilmah but instead of focusing on search or content, I went deeper into behaviour. ☕ The “Coffee Lovers” Persona in Sri Lanka. 📌 Behavioural Trends: Actively follow slow living, café culture, and minimalism creators on YouTube. Prefer review led content over ads. Blend indulgence with wellness interested in both high-end desserts and clean living. 📌 Influencer Signals: Gravitate towards authentic, often micro-influencers who feel like trusted voices. Example: I checked out Alison Wijemanne who popped up in the F&B influencer space. Momentro provided me her category strength (food, beverage & travel) her brand history, her sentiment index (largely green = safe bet for partnerships) and some of the brands she has worked with in the past too. 📌 Brand Affinities: Engage with Barista, Dilmah T-Lounge, Java Lounge (Pvt) Ltd, Peppermint Cafe, Ibsons Choice Cafe, and even Starbucks — suggesting they blend local pride with global taste. 📌 Pain Points & Opportunities of coffee lovers in Sri Lanka: Tired of copy-paste content Seek genuine café experiences and behind-the-scenes narratives Want to feel spoken to, not marketed at For Content Teams: This is a Gold Mine. Most content teams are briefed with assumptions: “Target millennials,” “Make it Gen Z-friendly,” “Do something trendy.” But with Momentro, your creative team gets the nuance: -What this persona wants to hear -What frustrates them -What formats they consume -What tone feels authentic vs performative -Build campaigns based on what this persona already consumes -Choose influencers that align with their behavioural identity -Tailor content formats (YouTube > Facebook, micro > macro) No more content roulette. You build stories rooted in reality, pain points, motivations, peer influence, and preferred channels. Suddenly, your next campaign isn’t just more relevant. It’s more wanted! #marketing #influencermarketing #personaanalysis #microinfluencers #momentro

One of the most effective ways to define your brand is by mapping it to a specific person. Not just a vague demographic, but an actual persona—real or fictional—who embodies everything your company stands for. When I launched my activewear brand, Ellie, we created Amy, a 27-year-old woman from California who represented our ideal customer. Every marketing decision we made was filtered through the question: Would Amy be into this? Amy loved the outdoors, so our ads featured scenic landscapes. She wasn’t too serious, so our content was lighthearted and casual. She had big aspirations but also made time for fun. Getting specific with her persona made our messaging feel natural and authentic. And it worked. When defining Hawke Media’s persona, we landed on me because I am the customer we serve. Before launching Hawke, I built, scaled, and sold e-commerce brands. I know firsthand the pain points our clients face, from tight budgets to inefficient marketing strategies to the constant pressure to grow. That perspective shaped the way we built Hawke Media. We are not a buttoned-up, corporate agency. We take marketing seriously, but we also have fun, challenge norms, and embrace creativity. That personality attracts the right clients and the right talent because it reflects exactly who we are built to serve. Defining your brand’s persona, whether it is a fictional character, a celebrity, or even yourself, keeps your messaging sharp and consistent. It gives your company a voice, a personality, and a clear direction. Without it, your marketing risks being generic and forgettable.

5 rules that helped me keep brands consistent across 4 platforms. I built this system after realizing...   "Posting more” wasn’t the answer. When you manage multiple brand accounts, one thing you realize early on: Consistency isn’t the problem. System design is. Most brands try to “be everywhere.” But they end up spreading themselves thin. One post on LinkedIn. One on Instagram. And silence everywhere else. Initially, I made the same mistake. We were posting the same content across every channel. It looked efficient, but it didn’t connect. Because every platform speaks a different language. That’s when I built a multi-platform consistency framework.. One that keeps messaging cohesive, while adapting to each platform’s audience psychology. It’s now the same framework I use for my clients. To scale presence without burnout or creative chaos. Here’s how it works 👇 Step 1: Define your Core Message Pillars Every brand needs 3-4 content pillars that anchor every platform. The message stays the same. The delivery changes. → LinkedIn: Strategic frameworks → Instagram: Visual storytelling → TikTok: Quick, relatable insights Same foundation. Different format. Step 2: Repurpose by Angle, Not Copy Never duplicate captions. Translate tone. → LinkedIn = authority + storytelling → Instagram = emotional + aesthetic → TikTok = casual + entertaining (by the way, this may vary depending on your brand tone and niche) You’re not repeating yourself. You’re reinforcing your narrative. Step 3: Build a “Content Core” Document This is your strategist dashboard. Every idea starts here, then gets localized for each platform. No guessing. No starting from scratch. Step 4: Assign “Platform Anchors” Each channel plays a distinct role in the ecosystem. → LinkedIn → Thought leadership → Instagram → Brand storytelling → TikTok → Awareness driver → YouTube → Depth & trust When every platform has purpose. Consistency becomes effortless. Step 5: Weekly Sync, Monthly Scale I batch ideation weekly, review analytics monthly. That balance keeps content adaptable, but aligned with brand goals. Because true consistency isn’t about posting daily. It’s about designing a system that scales your message predictably. P.S. Platforms change. Algorithms shift. But your system? That’s what stays timeless. P.P.S. How do you currently maintain consistency across platforms? Manually or through a system?

Why Consistent Messaging Across Channels Increases Conversion Most brands optimize individual channels. Website Email Social media But in sexual wellness, consistency across all of them is what drives results. Users rarely convert after a single touchpoint. They see a post Visit the site Read product details Receive an email Each interaction shapes perception. If the messaging is aligned, confidence builds. If it shifts, doubt appears. Different tone Different positioning Different expectations These inconsistencies create friction. And friction slows conversion. High performing brands ensure: The same core message across all channels Consistent tone and language Aligned product positioning Reinforced trust signals at every step This creates continuity. Users feel like they are interacting with one system. Not multiple disconnected experiences. There is also a speed advantage. When messaging is consistent, users understand faster. Which leads to quicker decisions. At V For Vibes, alignment is a priority. Because in a category where trust is built step by step, consistency across every touchpoint is what moves users forward. #SexTech #MarketingStrategy #Ecommerce #ConsumerBehavior #BrandStrategy

I’ve seen more disruption in the past three years than in the last two decades, and it’s become clear to me that the old marketing playbook isn’t built for the speed or complexity of today’s world. The reality is that old-world linear campaigns, quarterly insights, and static segmentation miss the fluidity of today’s consumers. Culture moves faster. Algorithms move faster. Meanwhile, brands are still trying to steer with rearview mirrors. Paradoxically what used to guide us now holds us back. Marketing intelligence isn’t scarce, it’s abundant, accessible to anyone, anytime, often at zero cost. This isn’t a trend. It’s a fundamental reset that forces organizations to break with the past and chart a new path, new models, and new ways of working. The path forward demands more than tweaks; it requires a mindset shift: · Corporations need to move from playing it safe to experimenting at speed and scale. · Move from passive to highly participatory engagement. · From one-size-fits-all to personalized targeting. · Risk avoidance to opportunity creation. · Control to co-creation. Brands must stop dictating and start inviting. · Centralized command and control to empowered edge teams To bring my point to life, here are a few examples of emerging technologies and methodologies that are reshaping how brands engage with consumers and strive to create a new marketing playbook focused on fast, high-impact performance. · AI persona targeting - live, behavioral personas built from real-time data allowing for sharper targeting. Higher relevance. Better conversion. · Generative campaign creation - AI co-builds campaign assets across formats allowing marketers to test dozens of creative alternatives. Scale what sticks. Creative at speed. · AI packaging eye tracking. Real-world visibility into what grabs attention and why. To me this is a real game changer given that your shelf presence is on an iPhone. Used intelligently, this can collapse sequential testing and significantly reduce speed to market. · In Context social ad testing. Test creative in-platform. Capture implicit signals. Measure what people actually do, not what they say. Real behavior. · AI-Powered live equity tracking. Brand health as a live data stream, not a post-mortem as we did for decades. This turns early detection into early market advantage. The pace of change is relentless. And it is just accelerating. In my view, the future growth belongs to those courageous leaders willing to let go of what was, lean into what could be, and shape what comes next.

GenAI Interview Question Series Interviewer: Your enterprise chatbot gives different answers to the same query across channels. How do you ensure response consistency? Explanation: When an enterprise chatbot gives different answers to the same query across channels (web, mobile, Slack, WhatsApp), it usually indicates inconsistencies in prompts, context handling, retrieval, or model configuration. I address this at multiple layers. 1. Centralize the Core Logic I ensure all channels call a single backend orchestration layer. The same model version, system prompt, temperature, and decoding parameters are enforced centrally, rather than being configured separately per channel. 2. Standardize Prompts and Policies I use versioned system prompts and shared prompt templates. Any business rules, tone, or safety instructions live in the system prompt, not in channel-specific code. Changes go through prompt versioning and A/B validation. 3. Normalize Input and Context Different channels often add metadata or truncate messages differently. I implement a canonical input format so that user queries, conversation history, and user metadata are normalized before reaching the LLM. 4. Align Retrieval (If RAG Is Used) For RAG-based bots, I ensure: Same embedding model and vector store Same top-k, similarity threshold, and re-ranking logic Deterministic retrieval where possible This avoids different documents being surfaced per channel. 5. Control Randomness I keep low temperature and stable top-p/top-k settings for enterprise use cases. For critical intents, I may enable deterministic decoding or response caching. 6. Monitoring and Regression Testing Finally, I run cross-channel consistency tests using golden questions and track semantic similarity of responses. Any drift triggers alerts and prompt/model rollback. #llm #Genai #AI #interview