The buyer persona gap that's costing you customers and making your marketing less authentic [+ the fix]

"Even though buyer personas are highly effective, they often miss the helpful context that marketers need to effectively serve the various identities their ideal customers possess. As a result, personas aren't converting certain consumers at the rates that they could be. In this post, I'll share where traditional buyer personas miss the mark and how to fix it. Table of ContentsThe Gap in Most Buyer Personas"

"As an inclusive marketing strategist and consultant, I work with my clients to audit various components of their customer experience. This often includes reviewing and providing feedback on their creative briefs as they work on creating campaigns. It also involves getting consumer feedback on what they make. Whenever I flag materials that can be improved regarding consumers with specific identities, brands have included specific buyer personas in their creative brief."

Buyer personas function as blueprints for marketing campaigns, customer journeys, and product development. Many personas lack depth about consumers' intersecting identities, which reduces marketing relevance. When personas omit identity details such as body size, ethnicity, or accessibility needs, creative execution and campaign performance suffer. Gaps in representation produce materials that fail to engage underrepresented and underserved communities who match target profiles. Examples include magazine covers without plus-sized representation, general market ads excluding Hispanic consumers, and website pages missing accessibility considerations. Enhancing personas with specific identity-based context increases feelings of belonging and improves conversion potential.

Read at Hubspot