SKILL.md
- name:
- persona-mapping-framework
- description:
- Use this skill when mapping the buying committee inside ABM target accounts — identifying personas from closed-won data, their jobs-to-be-done and pain points, and how ad messaging and BDR outreach should differ by persona.
Persona Mapping - Framework
How to identify, segment, and target personas within ABM accounts. Mapping personas to their jobs-to-be-done (JTBDs), pain points, and messaging.
The Persona Mapping Principle
ABM targets accounts, but people buy - not companies. Persona mapping answers:
- Who at the target account should see your ads?
- What do they care about? (JTBDs, pain points)
- How should messaging differ by persona?
- When should BDRs reach out to which persona?
Identifying Personas
Step 1: Analyze Your Closed-Won Deals
Look at your CRM data for closed-won deals:
| Question | What You're Looking For | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Who was the primary contact on won deals? | Most common titles/roles | CRM deal contacts |
| Who initiated the buying process? | Champion persona | CRM first touch data |
| Who signed the contract? | Economic buyer persona | CRM deal owner notes |
| Who else was involved in evaluation? | Buying committee members | CRM activity log, call notes |
| What was their typical seniority? | IC vs Manager vs VP vs C-suite | CRM contact properties |
Step 2: Map the Buying Committee
Most B2B deals involve 6-10 stakeholders. Map the roles:
| Role | Definition | Example Titles | Engagement Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Champion | Internal advocate who drives the deal | Product Manager, Head of Ops, Director of Growth | Primary - warm them first |
| Economic Buyer | Controls budget, signs the contract | VP/C-suite, Finance | Engage after champion is warm |
| Technical Evaluator | Assesses product capabilities | Engineering Lead, Solutions Architect, IT | Engage during demo/trial stage |
| End User | Will use the product daily | Analyst, Designer, Specialist, IC | Engage with product-focused content |
| Blocker/Gatekeeper | Can slow or kill the deal | Legal, Procurement, IT Security | Address concerns proactively |
Step 3: Define Persona Attributes
For each persona, document:
| Attribute | What to Capture | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Title patterns | Common job titles | "Product Manager", "Head of Product", "VP Product" |
| Seniority | IC / Manager / Director / VP / C-suite | Manager - Director |
| Function | Department/team | Product, Engineering, Marketing |
| JTBD | Job to be done - what they're trying to accomplish | "Improve user onboarding to reduce churn" |
| Pain points | What's frustrating them today | "Can't see where users drop off", "Manual onboarding flows" |
| Success metrics | How their performance is measured | Activation rate, time-to-value, NPS |
| Content preferences | What content resonates | Case studies, data/benchmarks, peer recommendations |
| Buying role | Champion / Economic Buyer / Evaluator / User / Blocker | Champion |
Persona Enrichment with Clay
Custom Properties to Enrich
When building contact lists in Clay, enrich beyond standard fields:
| Property | How to Enrich | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Persona (custom) | Map from title using Clay AI/rules | Enables persona-specific campaigns |
| Seniority (custom) | Map from title (IC/Manager/Director/VP/C-Suite) | Different messaging by seniority |
| Function | Extract from LinkedIn profile | Department-specific JTBDs |
| LinkedIn URL | Apollo / Clay | For LinkedIn outreach + audience matching |
| Verified email | Email waterfall in Clay | For outreach sequences |
Persona Assignment Rules
Create rules in Clay to auto-assign personas:
IF title contains "Product Manager" OR "PM" OR "Head of Product" OR "VP Product" OR "CPO":
→ Persona = "Product"
IF title contains "UX" OR "UI" OR "Designer" OR "Design Lead":
→ Persona = "UX/Design"
IF title contains "Marketing" OR "Growth" OR "PMM" OR "Demand Gen":
→ Persona = "Marketing"
IF title contains "CTO" OR "VP Engineering" OR "Engineering Manager":
→ Persona = "Engineering"
IF title contains "CEO" OR "COO" OR "Founder" OR "General Manager":
→ Persona = "Executive"
IF title contains "Customer Success" OR "CX" OR "Support":
→ Persona = "Customer Success"
Persona-Based Messaging
Messaging Matrix
| Persona | Primary JTBD | Pain Point | Messaging Angle | Ad Content Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product | Improve user activation/retention | Can't see user behavior, manual processes | "See exactly where users drop off" | Product analytics screenshots, feature walkthrough |
| UX/Design | Create better user experiences | No data on user flows, guesswork | "Design based on real user behavior" | Session replay demo, heatmap visuals |
| Marketing | Drive pipeline, prove ROI | Can't attribute conversions, poor lead quality | "Know which campaigns actually drive revenue" | ROI dashboards, attribution data |
| Engineering | Ship faster, reduce tech debt | Too many tools, complex integrations | "One platform, simple integration" | API docs, integration showcase |
| Executive | Hit revenue/growth targets | Slow growth, high churn, team misalignment | "Companies like yours grew X% with us" | Case study with numbers, ROI calculator |
| Customer Success | Reduce churn, improve NPS | Can't identify at-risk users proactively | "Spot churn risk before it's too late" | Health score dashboards, alert demos |
Messaging by ABM Stage
| Stage | Product Persona | Executive Persona | UX Persona |
|---|---|---|---|
| Awareness | Industry trend / thought leadership about user analytics | "CEOs at top SaaS companies are investing in..." | Design community content, UX best practices |
| Interested | Feature comparison vs competitors | ROI data, business impact numbers | Session replay deep-dive, workflow demos |
| Considering | Product demo, free trial, technical walkthrough | Case study from peer company, executive briefing | Design-focused case study, UX workflow example |
LinkedIn Targeting by Persona
Two Approaches
Approach 1: Contact List Upload (More Precise, More Expensive)
- Find specific contacts at target accounts in Clay/Apollo
- Enrich with email
- Upload to HubSpot as marketing contacts
- Sync to LinkedIn via HubSpot Ad Audiences
- Create separate campaigns per persona list
Pros: Very precise targeting Cons: Expensive (Clay credits + HubSpot marketing contacts cost), complex to manage
Approach 2: Company List + LinkedIn Native Filters (Recommended)
- Upload company list to LinkedIn (via HubSpot company list sync)
- Use LinkedIn Campaign Manager's native filters to target personas:
- Job Function: Product Management, Design, Marketing, etc.
- Seniority: Director, VP, C-Suite
- Job Title keywords: specific titles
Pros: Cheaper, simpler, leverages LinkedIn's data Cons: Less precise (LinkedIn's job function mapping isn't perfect)
LinkedIn Persona Filters
| Persona | LinkedIn Job Function | LinkedIn Seniority | Title Keywords |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product | Product Management | Manager, Director, VP | Product Manager, Head of Product, CPO |
| UX/Design | Design, Arts and Design | Manager, Senior, Director | UX Designer, Design Lead, Head of Design |
| Marketing | Marketing | Manager, Director, VP | Growth, PMM, Demand Gen, Head of Marketing |
| Engineering | Engineering, IT | Manager, Director, VP, CTO | Engineering Manager, CTO, VP Engineering |
| Executive | General Management | VP, CXO | CEO, COO, Founder, GM |
| Customer Success | Support | Manager, Director | CS Manager, Head of CS, VP Customer Success |
Minimum Audience Rules
- Minimum matched audience: 300 LinkedIn members per campaign
- Smaller audiences = higher CPMs (more expensive)
- At later ABM stages (Interested, Considering): persona lists may be too small to run separately
- Solution: Combine personas at later stages, differentiate via ad content instead of targeting
Persona Prioritization
Which Personas to Target First
| Priority | Persona Type | Why | Budget Allocation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Champions | They drive the deal internally | 40-50% of budget |
| 2nd | Economic Buyers | They approve the purchase | 20-30% of budget |
| 3rd | End Users | They validate product fit | 15-20% of budget |
| 4th | Technical Evaluators | They assess during demo/trial | 5-10% of budget |
When Budget is Limited
With $10K/month (one campaign group effectively):
- Don't split by persona. Target all personas in one campaign group.
- Differentiate through content. Create ads that speak to different JTBDs within the same campaign.
- Use LinkedIn filters to exclude irrelevant roles (e.g., exclude HR, Finance, Legal from initial campaigns).
- Prioritize by JTBD/intent instead of persona.
Campaign Naming Convention (for Intent Tracking)
Structure
[Campaign Name] - [Persona] - [Ad Type] - [JTBD/Intent] - [ABM Stage]
Examples:
Q1-Analytics - PM - Image - User-Activation - AwarenessQ1-Analytics - UX - Video - Session-Replay - InterestedQ1-Analytics - All - TLA - Industry-Trends - Awareness
Why Naming Matters
When ZenABM/Fibbler pushes engagement data to HubSpot, the campaign name is how you extract:
- Which persona engaged (for outreach targeting)
- Which intent/JTBD they cared about (for message personalization)
- Which ABM stage content resonated (for campaign optimization)
Notion Database for Asset Management
Track all ad assets in a Notion database with properties:
- Persona
- Ad Type (Image, Video, TLA, Carousel, Text)
- Asset Description / JTBD
- ABM Stage (Awareness, Interested, Considering)
- ABM Campaign Name
- Status (Brief Done, Design In Progress, Ready, Launched)
- Owner
- Designer Assigned
- Performance Notes
Use formula fields to auto-generate campaign names from properties, ensuring clean naming that flows through to intent detection.
Project Management: Asset Creation Workflow
Process
1. ABM Manager defines campaign brief
→ Persona, intent, stage, messaging angle
2. Content owner writes ad copy brief
→ Headline, intro text, CTA, visual direction
3. Brief → Notion database (assigned to designer)
4. Designer creates visual assets
→ Follow LinkedIn's current image, headline, and intro-text specs for each ad format
5. ABM Manager reviews + approves
6. Assets uploaded to LinkedIn Campaign Manager
→ Correct campaign group, campaign, naming convention
7. Track in Notion: launched date, performance notes
Volume Expectations
| Campaign Scale | Ads Needed | Note |
|---|---|---|
| First campaign | ~100 ads across personas | Typical first ABM campaign |
| Mature program | 500+ ads over time | After 16 months |
| Per campaign cycle | 17-20 ads per intent group | Based on budget math |
Critical: Volume of ads must follow the budget math - each ad needs enough daily spend to generate 3-4 clicks, so don't create more ads than your budget can effectively serve.
Measuring Persona Effectiveness
Metrics by Persona
| Metric | What It Tells You |
|---|---|
| CTR by persona | Which personas engage most with ads |
| CPC by persona | Cost efficiency per persona |
| Interested-stage conversion by persona | Which personas move through the funnel |
| Meeting book rate by persona | Which personas are most receptive to outreach |
| Pipeline generated by persona | Which personas drive the most revenue |
What to Do with the Data
| Finding | Action |
|---|---|
| Product personas have 2x the CTR of Engineering | Shift more budget to Product persona campaigns |
| Executive personas rarely click but deals with exec engagement close faster | Keep exec campaigns for influence, don't optimize for clicks |
| One persona never progresses past Aware | Revisit messaging or drop from targeting |
| BDRs get higher reply rates from Champions than Economic Buyers | Focus BDR outreach on Champions first |
By Ivan Falco - Frontal