Make training: master the creation of persona marketing step by step

More concretely knowing who is behind your customers opens up often unsuspected perspectives to optimize thepersona marketingand implement effective actions in your campaigns. Using easy-to-access tools and nuanced needs analysis, it is worth building useful profiles that can resonate with your audience and turn your communication into a measurable lever.

It remains to be done at each stage with a clear and pragmatic approach so that theTargetingremains simple and dreadfully effective, regardless of your course, or your experience (some more junior marketers surprise themselves with the progress achieved by simplifying their method).

Create your marketing persona in 4 simple steps (and measure impact, really)

You may be wondering in practice: how can a carefully designed marketing persona, in just a few hours, really boost the targeting of your campaigns? In support of tools such as HubSpot Make My Persona or Canva, everyone can gain in efficiency in a short time.

Many professionals in the sector regularly observe that refining their people improves thebetween 20 and 30 per cente-mail or advertising campaigns. A former training manager recently told me that these results « hold the road, even on difficult hearings » – it's not just a marketing promise.

Let's take a closer look at how to move from questioning "whom I really talk to?" to a persona that can be used quickly, step by step, and always without unnecessary complexity – with the tools that facilitate the task at each step.

Why create a persona? The concrete benefits for your marketing campaigns

A persona is not just an exercise, but the promise of more personalized campaigns, content that really echoes your customers and, ultimately, a ROI that can really progress. According to the opinion of the experts (HubSpot, Outbrain...), we see relatively often20 to 30 %This is far from negligible, especially when the budget is limited.

The best trainings – whether on Make or elsewhere – are the immediate impact and the pedagogical aspect that make the difference to the participants.

• Adapting the tone and background of the messages makes it possible to reach its target faster (e.g., "Sacha, a student parent, seeks training..." it immediately evokes a concrete experience)
• A net focus helps to limit fiscal dispersion on Facebook or Google Ads (nothing worse than too vague a campaign!)
• A/B tests are becoming more relevant thanks to a well-thought-out segmentation

Besides, it happens to hear after training: a well-defined persona is seen very quickly on the ground, in the rise of concrete feedbacks or in changes of engagement – this is not pure theory! Sometimes a customer is surprised by the speed of the results.

Step 1: Collect your data (even without sophisticated CRM: this is possible)

There is no need to be overdiploma in data to create convincing peopleas: the real spring is to alternate between tangible figures and "terrain" perception. A digital consultant recently reported that its participants most often started with three simple resources: website analytics, back-up support, and mini-surveys with existing or prospective clients.

It is also common to complete with a few telephone interviews, or simply with open questions addressed by e-mail (some confirm that a simple virtual coffee offered unlocks unexpected answers).

To be considered in structuring your portraits:

• Use the statistics of the most consulted pages, internal searches, or abandoned baskets: this highlights the real browsing routes
• Think about collecting the brakes or objections listed by your salespeople: these are often treasures of information to refine the approach
• Check out Google My Business or Trustpilot comments without hesitation to collect your customers' authentic vocabulary and emotions

On a concrete case of SME technology,about 80%First people could be refined from these sources, without the support of a substantial "study" budget. Some regularly wonder how much this basic information saves time.

Step 2: Segmentation & prioritization – Better 3 good peopleas than 8 blurs

Classic mistake here? Initiate in the creation of multiple people who, in their use, are too fragmented and unusable. For a regional e-commerce site, it is better to focus on two or three truly incarnate people, rather than exhausting to animate seven rarely followed profiles.

The key point remains to bring together those who share objectives, brakes, motivations and buying habits quite close.

• For the B2B, group your segments by company size, trade or mode of service use; in certain markets, the function takes precedence over the sector
• On the B2C side, remember age, family situation, preferred shopping channel, as well as the main motivation (price aspect is not always decisive, for example)

Another point often recalled in tools such as Canva or HubSpot Make My Persona: rarely more thantwo to five profiles. A recurrent test proposed by a specialist consultant: "Does this profile at least includeabout 20%of my turnover?" If the answer is no, it is better to focus its resources on another segment. (This kind of arbitrage sometimes makes teeth gnashing, but it brings some clarity.)

Step 3: Writing the persona profile (practical sheet and resources to adapt)

The writing of the persona, often experienced as the key moment (and yes, it sometimes becomes fun: spicy first name, anecdote, quotation...), nevertheless deserves to remain concise. The ideal is to stick to a synthetic page, neither too novel nor too schematic – a kind of deep identity card.

• For example: "Camille, 29, SME Marketing Manager, passionate about new tools but not very patient in reporting. Its main brake: fear of being wrong about a software and of appearing "not technical".

To help, I will gladly slide to my trainees a PDF or Canva template: first name/fictitious photo, demographic data, professional context, main objectives, obstacles, usual sources of information, "unexpected detail", and sometimes, a synthetic quote "I would like to automate my newsletters but I don't understand anything!" (Some users enjoy completing this type of file in less than ten minutes).

Step 4: Taking Action – Practical Tools and Direct Application

It's often at this stage that things change: how do you actually activate the persona in the strategy? Take the persona as a guide for every support articles, newsletter, social ads, etc. and choose channels accordingly (Instagram, LinkedIn? It is up to you to see according to the hearing).

Using the A/B testing then takes on a whole new dimension: aim+20 %The commitment to a structured campaign around the most relevant persona becomes a realistic objective.

Focus on some of the tools that professionals like:

• HubSpot Make My Persona to quickly formalize the profile (free and flexible tool)
• Canva Template Persona, ideal for creating a design support, easy to enrich or share in a team
• ChatGPT to challenge your profiles: "What content could inspire Camille?"

Some argue that a well-maintained persona lives and evolves, so it is necessary to adjust regularly following the feedback and trends observed after a few weeks or months of testing.

It remains essential to avoid the frequent pitfall of the "persona forgotten in a file": a trainer has already seen more than one project simmer because of this!

Frequently asked questions about creating marketing personas – your blockages and solutions (FAQ)

I am regularly asked these questions during each session: here is a summary of the concrete answers that come back the most regularly (reassuringly, no one has all the answers the first time... This is normal).

What exactly is a persona marketing?

It is a fictitious identity card, rooted in real data, that synthesizes your ideal customer (age, occupation, context, expectations, brakes, objections...). This portrait makes it possible to link more effectively products/services and concrete expectations of the market.

The right persona is not just a segment: it is described, sometimes illustrated by a story or a quote, to anchor the approach in everyday life. It is a lever for action, not just an analytical grid.

How many people do you need to create for an SME or an EFT?

Some guides, notably at HubSpot, recommend in general2-5personas. In many SMEs, two or three are already sufficient to represent80 %the potential business, if each profile proves exploitable.

Accumulating beyond risks getting lost, and falling into generalization or superficiality, according to several field trainers.

Which free tools are really recommended for a first persona?

To be used effectively:

• HubSpot Make My Persona, for guided accompaniment from the first steps (tool in French version, free, appreciated for its playful aspect).
• Canva Template Persona, allowing to collaborate and modulate sheets over time
• Buffer, useful for downloading a simple and effective persona template to read at a glance

Moreover, many experts also recommend using a simple Google Sheets spreadsheet to structure initial data collection – sometimes simplicity is good!

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To improve your understanding of your audience, learn from the good practices shared in thisBAFA cover letter: template, tips and tips for successful application.

How to create a persona without having the opportunity to make customer interviews?

The constraint comes back frequently. However, even without in-depth interviews, you can take advantage of traffic analytics, observe common interactions (frequent issues, abandoned baskets, most popular pages), or mobilize colleagues from the field or customer support (a handful of minutes is enough to identify major trends).

Many users also recall the often overlooked wealth of reviews and feedback from platforms such as Trustpilot – even in B2B, it includes nuggets.

Should we adjust his persona over time? How to keep it relevant?

This is a generally recommended precaution! Pay attention to feedback on your campaigns (opening rate, click rate, feedback questions): a lag or novelty in field returns should lead you to change the form, update the recognized blockages or test an "experimental" profile.

Many experts recommend at least one update every six months, or after each launch of a new offer (a participant shared only a short time ago that a small persona adjustment, just before a new service, had changed everything about the conversion rate... proof that nothing is frozen).

Comparison table of the main free tools to create a persona marketing

With a view to centralizing the essentials (and avoiding scattering between dozens of software), here is a brief overview of the most accessible options for 2024. Many hesitate because of the proliferation of tools: as much as going to the essential, even testing two or three maximum before deciding.

Good practices and mistakes to avoid: the persona is not a stereotype (or a photobot)

Thinking his persona as a cliché is the guaranteed loss of efficiency. An effective persona relies on the diversity of the behaviours identified: beware of the "Julie, 35 years old, loves shopping, reads Grazia..." that do not bring anything to commercial action or content creation.

The question to keep in the background remains: "Does this persona allow me to trigger a precise action on my content or sales deeds?" If this is not the case, it is best to take back your data, or reframe the tactical objective.

A simple cross-reading with an external co-worker or trainer can – as I have already seen in workshops – save you significant time, and save you unnecessary expenses.

Go further: persona and IA, trends 2026 not to lose sight of

The acceleration of the AI changes the situation: with tools such as ChatGPT or expanding marketing predictive options, it becomes possible to add an intelligent and forward-looking dimension to his persona.

Some tools already offer content ideas or identify niches with high potential, based on simple raw data. Recently, a marketing expert mentioned the case of an SME that doubled its average basket by exploiting a new segmentation from the latest IA features – nothing very theoretical here, there are tangible results, sometimes unexpected...

A question to ask: is your team ready to explore these new leads?

One last word (almost a question): Does your persona really live on a daily basis in your team?

The ultimate test is often there: if a colleague were to describe tomorrow the company's "persona n°1", can he evoke his actions, his doubts, his main expectations without hesitation?

If so, congratulations, the persona is already part of your operational thinking; otherwise, it is better to take the sheet from a template like the one offered, or revisit HubSpot Make My Persona to flatten the process.

For any persistent difficulty, I remain available to share a tailored return it is interesting (and often instructive) to advance together on real cases, especially when some blockages remain despite internal efforts.

Updated on 23 March 2026