A research-based profile of an individual buyer: their role, goals, problems, objections, language and how they decide. Popularized by Alan Cooper in software design. Where an ICP defines which accounts fit, a persona defines the person you are talking to.
When writing copy, planning content, building nurture sequences and briefing creative; in B2B, alongside the ICP to cover each person in the buying group.
'Operations Olivia,' a plant manager who cares about downtime and reads trade forums; separate personas for the CFO who signs and the IT lead who vets; persona-specific landing pages.
Strong when built from interviews and real data, weak when invented in a workshop. Flagged when personas are fiction with stock photos and nobody uses them.
