Jump-Start Buyer Persona Development with Chat GPT
Many of us are looking for ways to leverage Chat GPT (and AI in general) to help in our personal and business endeavors. I wondered if Chat GPT could be used to create buyer personas. And if it could, how good a job would it do?
My expectations were really, really low. I assumed it would return a bland collection of useless information like a 5-year-old did the work.
One of the things I learned along the way is that the quality of the results is only as good as the specificity of the request. That is, vague requests produce generally useless information.
After a few failed experiments, I arrived at a request with a pattern to produce results that I found interesting. With more experimentation, I believe I can get Chat GPT to produce gradually better results.
I started by asking Chat GPT to “build” a buyer persona. Eventually, I learned that using “create” produced a better result. I also learned to be specific about a job title. Chief Marketing Officer had better results than CMO (which could be misinterpreted as a chief medical officer).
The request for the results you will see below came from this request
“Create a buyer persona for a chief marketing officer in a large technology company”
Within seconds Chat GPT started delivering a fully formed buyer persona.
Here’s what I received…
Sure! Here’s a buyer persona for a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) in a large technology company:
Name: Sarah Lee
Demographics:
- Age: 35–50
- Gender: Female
- Education: Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in marketing, business administration, or a related field
- Professional experience: 10+ years of experience in marketing, with a strong background in technology marketing
Goals and motivations:
- Drive brand awareness and demand generation
- Increase market share and revenue growth
- Develop and implement effective marketing strategies that align with company goals
- Build and maintain strong relationships with customers and partners
- Keep up-to-date with industry trends and emerging technologies
- Achieve personal and professional growth and development
Challenges and pain points:
- Creating differentiation in a crowded and competitive market
- Managing a large and complex marketing organization
- Balancing short-term and long-term marketing goals and priorities
- Demonstrating the value and ROI of marketing initiatives to the executive team
- Attracting and retaining top marketing talent in a highly competitive job market
Preferred channels of communication:
- Phone
- Video conferencing
- Industry events and conferences
- Professional networking groups
Influencers:
- C-level executives, particularly the CEO and CFO
- Product management and development teams
- Sales and customer success teams
- Industry analysts and thought leaders
- Key customers and partners
Values and personality traits:
- Strategic and analytical thinker
- Strong leadership and communication skills
- Collaborative and team-oriented
- Innovative and adaptable
- Results-driven and data-focused
Overall, Sarah Lee is a busy and ambitious marketing leader focused on driving brand awareness and demand generation while building strong relationships with customers and partners. She is well-versed in technology marketing and is constantly seeking to stay ahead of the curve in a rapidly evolving industry. While she faces many challenges, she is determined to overcome them and achieve success through hard work, strategic thinking, and effective communication with her team and stakeholders.
The request pattern I used is”…
“Create a buyer persona for a [job title] in a [industry sector].”
As I mentioned, adding more specifics is likely to produce a different result, like another industry sector or adding attributes to narrow the industry sector.
Then I wondered, “Where did Chat GPT get the information to create Sarah Lee?”. By the way, the name in the buyer persona came from Chat GPT, not from me.
So, I added a follow-up request…
“Please provide citations.”
Again, my expectations were low. I assumed there would be a single source that was repackaged to produce the Sarah Lee buyer persona.
Here’s what Chat GPT returned…
Sure! Here are some sources to support my previous response:
- Buyer Persona Definition:
2. CMO Demographics:
- Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2021/02/19/what-cmos-are-planning-for-2021/?sh=6b41a6b2441e
- Glassdoor: https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/chief-marketing-officer-salary-SRCH_KO0,23.htm
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/chief-marketing-officer-at-large-technology-company-2827699943/
3. Goals and motivations:
- Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2019/09/04/12-objectives-every-marketing-leader-should-focus-on/?sh=2e6425a77db5
- Gartner: https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/how-cmos-can-use-market-research-to-drive-growth/
4. Challenges and pain points:
- Marketing Dive: https://www.marketingdive.com/news/6-challenges-facing-cmos-in-2021-and-beyond/597932/
- Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2018/01/why-cmos-never-last
5. Preferred channels of communication:
- MarketingProfs: https://www.marketingprofs.com/chirp/2018/34696/the-most-effective-communication-channels-for-different-personas-infographic
- CMO Council: https://www.cmocouncil.org/insights/articles/the-connected-marketer-in-the-always-on-age
6. Influencers:
- Marketing Week: https://www.marketingweek.com/marketing-leadership-how-to-influence-c-suite/
- Harvard Business Review: https://hbr.org/2019/09/how-cmos-can-influence-the-ceos-strategic-agenda
7. Values and personality traits:
- Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2021/03/22/14-essential-skills-for-cmos-in-the-next-normal/?sh=48f9c2dc2ff1
- Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescommunicationscouncil/2017/11/06/10-personality-traits-of-outstanding-cmos/?sh=51c4f4a1624b
Both the buyer persona and the citations were produced in under 3 minutes.
Providing the citations gave me assurances that the work was grounded in facts. And I can link to the resources to pick up additional insights or correct misinterpreted information.
Let’s talk about what this means to you and the limitations of the results.
Jump-Start Buyer Persona Development
One of the most common problems with developing buyer personas is getting started. Conceptually, buyer personas are understood, but the practice of developing and maintaining them is an afterthought.
Using Chat GPT is a quick way to jump-start buyer persona development. I fear that it’s so easy that it would be easy to get carried away and create more buyer personas than necessary.
Recognize the Limitations of Chat GPT
The quality of the result is only as good as the learning system of Chat GPT, relevant data availability, and your request’s quality.
While the buyer persona creation of Sarah Lee is compelling, it lacks the depth to build empathy. Someone deeply familiar with Sarah Lee can fill the gaps between what exists in the buyer persona and what is reality. To that end, remember that a tool like Chat GPT can function as a research assistant but still requires further investigation and validation of the information.
To put it bluntly, don’t take Chat GPT’s information at face value. Apply critical thinking to be comfortable with the data before proceeding.
Crystal Knows — Another Buyer Persona Shortcut
Another buyer persona development shortcut I picked up in the last few years is using Crystal Knows. Crystal Knows delivers a surprisingly accurate personality profile from a LinkedIn profile. I don’t proclaim to know how it works, and frankly, I don’t care. All I know is it produced terrifyingly accurate results.
The value to buyer persona creation is Crystal Knows can give you personality trait attributes. Find 3 or 4 representative LinkedIn profiles and run Crystal Knows to learn the personality attributes. Identify the patterns in the group and update your buyer persona.
And now you are one step closer to a fully formed buyer persona.
