Bio
Adrienne Barnes's work is built on a damning statistic she uncovered through her own research: 85% of companies create buyer personas, but 77% never use them. Her diagnosis is that traditional buyer personas have become a "check the box" marketing practice because they are built on demographic scaffolding (Mary Marketer, 28, lives in this city, has a cat, wants to be Wonder Woman, loves ramen noodles) that gives a content marketer zero actionable information for creating content, developing products, or supporting customers.
Operating themes
- Operating thesis: If 85% of companies create buyer personas but 77% never use them, the problem is not that personas do not work; the problem is that traditional personas are built on demographics instead of Jobs to Be Done, producing documents that inform nothing and inspire no action.
- Customer Research For Ads
- Buyer Persona Development
- Customer Interview For Positioning
- Audience Segmentation
Cards
- Personas built on demographics inform nothing; rebuild around Jobs to Be Done — Personas built on demographics inform nothing; rebuild around Jobs to Be Done [Tier B]
- The exact words customers use should replace internal terminology in every piece of copy — The exact words customers use should replace internal terminology in every piece of copy [Tier B]
Sources captured
- 2026-04 —
saas-positioning-starts-with-talking-to-customers-saas-club.md(operator essay archive) - 2026-04 —
022-buyer-personas-dont-have-to-suck-with-adrienne-barnes-best-buyer-persona-omn.md(operator essay archive) - 2026-04 —
how-to-create-buyer-personas-youll-actually-use-omniscient-digital.md(operator essay archive) - 2026-04 —
the-4-rs-of-the-useful-buyer-personas-that-wins-more-business-marketing-powerups.md(operator essay archive)