Perfect Prospect Personas (PPPs) are often treated like a checkbox. But when they’re done poorly (or not at all) they become a silent bottleneck. Let’s unpack three of the biggest mistakes companies make.
1. Treating Everyone Like a Buyer
Not everyone who could buy from you should. When you try to appeal to everyone, you dilute your message to the point of invisibility. Your best-fit customers need clarity, not compromise.
Fix: Define who you don’t serve just as clearly as who you do. Create boundaries within your Perfect Prospect Persona to focus your message and protect your resources.
2. Skipping the Psychographics
Many personas stop at “35-year-old female in Texas who shops online.” That’s a shell, not a person. Without understanding what she fears or dreams about, your marketing can’t speak to her reality.
Fix: Use our FFWA Framework (Fears, Frustrations, Wants, and Aspirations). Go beyond surface demographics to include emotional drivers, personality traits, and belief systems.
3. Creating Perfect Prospect Personas Once and Never Revisiting
Markets shift. Customer language evolves. If your Perfect Prospect Personas are based on 18-month-old assumptions, they’re likely off-base.
Fix: Revisit your Perfect Prospect Personas quarterly. Check your data, analyze campaign performance, and look for new signals from your customers.
