Buyer Persona Canvas
A single-persona canvas covering goals, fears, information sources, and decision criteria. Output: a printable persona you can attach to a positioning brief.
Who it’s for: PMM and demand-gen leaders who want a persona that fits on one page, reads like a real human, and tells a writer exactly which word to use next.
1 · Identity
Who this persona is. Name them like a real person — first name only — so writers stop hiding behind “the buyer.”
2 · Goals
What they’re trying to accomplish this quarter. The goal that touches their bonus, not the one on the all-hands slide.
3 · Fears
The things that keep them up at night. Name them honestly — in their words.
Why a good buyer still drags their feet on a clearly good tool.
4 · Information sources
Where they actually learn about tools like yours. Publications, Slack groups, conferences, specific podcasts.
5 · Decision criteria
How they’ll actually choose between you and an alternative. Not stated criteria — real ones.
What would actually make them pick you on the call with their CFO?
6 · Vocabulary
The phrases this persona uses — and the phrases that signal you don’t speak their language.
Read it honestly, not charitably.
A persona works when a writer can look at it and make a concrete decision. Test yours: can you pick between two headlines using this page alone? If you’re still guessing, the persona is too generic.
The real criteria field does the most work. Stated criteria appear on every RFP; real criteria shape the buyer’s gut call. Writers who understand the real criteria write pages that convert; writers who only see stated criteria write feature tables.
Three moves you can make this week.
- Show this page to one current customer who fits the persona. Ask them to mark anything that doesn’t sound like them. The edits are more valuable than the original answers.
- Pin it in the brand’s shared writing space. Every blog post, every landing page, every ad should pass through this page before it ships.
- Revisit in six months. Personas drift. If Fiona’s goals now include “AI-enabled planning,” either the market moved or your product did. Either way, update.
Why these questions, in this order.
Most persona documents are empty because they start with demographics. Age, gender, income, and favourite TV show tell a B2B writer nothing. This canvas skips demographics entirely and goes straight to goals, fears, and real criteria — the decision-shaped inputs.
The vocabulary section looks soft and does heavy lifting. The single fastest way to signal “this page wasn’t written for me” is the wrong noun. A VP of FP&A says “rolling forecast”; someone impersonating one says “forward-looking budget cycles.”
Named personas — “Finance Lead Fiona” rather than “the finance leader” — are faintly embarrassing and completely effective. They force writers to use the page; abstract personas get ignored.
Run the full Strategic Context.
The shared memory that makes every other tool smarter over time.
- One-Page Positioning WorksheetFill in audience, category, differentiator, proof, and emotional response in one page.
- Competitor Battle Card TemplateBuild one battle card: claims, reality, your response, with coverage score built in.
- Messaging Hierarchy BuilderCategory, pillars, proof. Build a three-level messaging pyramid you can print.