I used to avoid recommending personas.

Too often, they were a box-ticking exercise - vague, bloated, and forgotten as soon as the “marketing work” was done. Lost in a folder somewhere, gathering digital dust.

But recently, I changed my mind.

A client and I were deep in a positioning session. We’d already defined their ideal client. Their role, team size, and sector. But the messaging still wasn’t landing. Something wasn’t clicking.

Then it hit me: we weren’t talking to one person.

We were trying to speak to everyone in the same way, even though they were all at different stages of the transformation that this consultancy delivers.

That realisation unlocked everything.

The P.A.I.N. framework for consultancy personas

If you want to use personas to actually improve your marketing, sales, and service, this four-step process will help you do it right.

P — Pinpoint your ideal client

Start with the basics:

• What role are they in?
  

• What’s the size and shape of their company or team?
  

• What sector or industry are they in (if that matters)?
  

• What mindset or worldview do they hold?
  

This is your outer filter, the boundary that separates potential clients from distractions.

A — Analyse the transformation

This is where most personas fall apart, and where my own thinking shifted.

Your audience isn’t one persona. It’s a set of people at different stages of the journey you help them through.

In that client conversation, we realised that while everyone we were targeting looked the same on paper, they were in radically different states of readiness.

Some were stuck in the early pain phase. Some were already started on the transformation, looking for specific solutions. Some were trying to scale what they’d already built.

We needed to speak to each one differently.

That’s when we started mapping the transformation like this:

• Pre-transformation – Aware of the pain but unsure what they need.
  

• Mid-transformation – Seeking the right solution or partner.
  

• Post-transformation – Looking to optimise, scale, or elevate.
  

Suddenly, everything made sense. The message, the offer, the funnel, it all got sharper.

You don’t need 17 personas. But three, maybe four personas aligned to your transformation journey? That’s gold.

I — Identify common challenges and desired outcomes

Once you know where they are in the journey, drill into:

• What outcome are they trying to achieve?
  

• What challenge is getting in the way?
  

• What pain would make them take action right now?

This is where marketing clarity lives. You’re not just describing who they are - you’re connecting to where they are, what they want and why they’re stuck.

N — Nail the messaging by focusing on what matters

It’s tempting to add colour: what shows they watch, what car they drive, what hobbies they have.

This can come later. Start with your need to know, and fill in the nice to know when you’ve built momentum.

In consultancy, speak to business outcomes and shared frustrations. That’s the need to know which moves a prospect from passive to paying.

Bottom line: A good persona sharpens your growth strategy

Done well, personas don’t sit in a slide deck. They guide decisions - what to say, who to say it to, and what to offer next.

If you’ve created personas before but they haven’t made an impact, it might be time to rebuild them using this lens.