When we built the early version of Lift Loop, we used AI to automatically generate personas based on content from a company’s website. It worked — maybe too well. Some reports came back with 6, 8, even 10 different personas. While accurate in spirit, they often overwhelmed users trying to make strategic content decisions.
So we made a choice: instead of just listing dozens of personas, we’re introducing Persona Clusters — a set of 5–7 strategic buyer role types that content marketers can work with to prioritize, plan, and identify content gaps more effectively.
Here’s the thinking behind that decision, the benefits, and the potential objections we’ve already heard (and thought through).
The Problem with Too Many Personas
Take a look at the image above. If you’ve ever worked in B2B content, you know the drill:
- Product Marketing wants different messaging for Product Managers vs. Engineering Managers.
- Sales wants separate content for Directors, VPs, and C-Suite.
- ABM wants vertical-specific personas like “CTO in Healthcare” and “CTO in Fintech.”
- RevOps wants data on persona engagement across the entire funnel.
Before you know it, you’re managing 15+ personas — and no one agrees on which matter most.
What you gain in specificity, you lose in clarity and usability. Most marketers can’t build tailored content for 15 personas — nor do they need to.
The Case for Persona Clusters
We believe the job of a content strategist is not just to reflect complexity — it’s to help teams simplify and act. That’s why we’re proposing a persona clustering model based on roles in the buying process, not job titles.
Here are the 5–7 clusters we recommend:
| Cluster | Role |
|---|---|
| Executive Champion | Budget holder, final decision-maker (e.g., CIO, VP Marketing) |
| Influencer | Shapes the conversation and vendor selection (e.g., Product Manager, Ops Lead) |
| End User | Interacts with the product regularly (e.g., SDR, Content Creator, Engineer) |
| Technical Evaluator | Validates feasibility and security (e.g., IT Admin, DevOps, Solutions Architect) |
| Procurement/Finance/Legal | Handles contracts, legal, pricing (e.g., CFO, Legal) |
| Internal Champion | Internal advocate who drives adoption (e.g., Innovation Lead, Power User) |
This model isn’t new — it’s aligned with how most sales, product, and marketing teams already talk about accounts. It’s how deals get done.
Why This Matters for Lift Loop Users
The Lift Loop platform analyzes your website content and maps it to personas and buyer journey stages. By consolidating personas into clusters, you get:
- Faster insights: It’s easier to spot gaps (e.g., “We have no BOFU content for Executive Champions”).
- Cleaner reporting: Instead of overwhelming charts with 12 persona types, you see the big picture.
- Actionable strategy: You can prioritize what to create next based on buying roles, not just job titles.
We’re not throwing out the nuance — we’re just letting you zoom out before you zoom in.
Objections We’ve Heard (And Why We’re Okay With Them)
Let’s be honest — not everyone loves the idea of clustering personas. Here’s what we’ve heard:
1. “But our personas are very specific — VP of Product is not the same as Engineering Manager.”
Absolutely. And we support that level of detail. But when it comes to auditing content, the real question is: are both of these roles Influencers in the buying process? If so, grouping them helps you assess content gaps more clearly — without losing the ability to go deeper later.
2. “This feels too generic — we’ve done a lot of persona research.”
And we respect that! Persona Clusters don’t replace your internal persona definitions — they complement them. Think of clusters as reporting categories, not messaging substitutes.
3. “We want vertical-specific personas.”
That’s valid, especially for ABM or industry-specific campaigns. In the future, Lift Loop may support Cluster x Industryviews (e.g., “Executive Champions in Manufacturing”). For now, we recommend focusing on buying roles first, then layering vertical nuance in execution.
Our Compromise: Cluster First, Expand Later
To strike a balance, we’re designing the Lift Loop experience to work like this:
- Auto-generate personas using AI from your site
- Cluster those personas into 5–7 buying roles (you can edit/merge)
- Drill down into full personas later for campaign-level execution
This way, you get strategic clarity and execution-level depth — without drowning in complexity.
Final Thought
Persona clustering is a lens — not a limitation. It helps marketing teams align with Sales, Product, and RevOps around the core roles that drive buying decisions.
We’ll keep refining the model based on your feedback, but this is our first step toward making Lift Loop not just a content audit tool — but a content intelligence platform for real go-to-market strategy.
If you want to suggest your own clusters or persona taxonomy, we’re listening →
