Personas are great for storytelling.
Segmentation is how you win deals.
In early-stage or growth-phase B2B companies, it’s tempting to build detailed personas—complete with names, job titles, and coffee preferences. But if your GTM strategy is built on fictional characters instead of real market dynamics, you’re flying blind.
Here’s why segmentation should lead—and personas should follow.
1. Segmentation Is Strategy; Personas Are Tactics
Segmentation defines:
- Who you’re targeting: Industries, company sizes, geographies.
- Why they buy: Specific needs, pain points, and priorities.
- How they buy: Purchasing processes, decision-making criteria.
Personas, on the other hand, help tailor messaging within those segments. They add color but don’t set direction.
2. Segments Are Measurable and Actionable
Effective segmentation allows you to:
- Prioritize markets: Focus on the most promising opportunities.
- Allocate resources: Direct efforts where they’ll have the most impact.
- Track performance: Measure success across different segments.
Personas, being fictional, lack this level of precision and measurability.
3. Segmentation Aligns Teams Across the Organization
A clear segmentation strategy ensures that:
- Marketing targets the right audiences.
- Sales engages with qualified leads.
- Product develops features that meet specific segment needs.
This alignment is crucial for cohesive and effective GTM execution.
4. Personas Can Lead to Overgeneralization
While personas aim to humanize the customer, they can sometimes:
- Oversimplify complex buying behaviors.
- Create assumptions that don’t hold true across a segment.
- Distract from real data and insights.
Relying too heavily on personas can result in misaligned strategies.
Final Thought
In GTM strategy, segmentation provides the foundation for identifying and targeting the right markets. Personas can enhance your understanding within those segments, but they should not dictate strategy.
Lead with segmentation. Support with personas.
Stay focused. Stay productive. Keep building.
