Short version: A buyer persona is a research-based profile of a typical or ideal customer segment.
A useful persona gives a team a shared picture of the person they are trying to reach: goals, problems, motivations, objections, buying triggers, information sources, decision criteria, and context. It is often written as a fictional profile, but it should be built from real customer data, interviews, analytics, sales insight, support questions, and market research.
Buyer personas help shape copy, offers, content, product decisions, sales conversations, and user experience. They become weak when they are based only on stereotypes, guesses, or irrelevant demographic details. The best personas explain what changes the customer’s decision, not just how old they are or what job title they might have.
Related terms: customer journey, messaging, and segmentation.