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Stop Playing Safe: Why Marketing Needs Personas, Archetypes - and a Backbone
By Matt Wilkinson
Most life science marketers are still stuck in a safe zone: feature lists, spec sheets, clinical claims. It's not wrong, but it's not enough.
The assumption? That logic will win. That data alone will convert. That being technically correct is the same as being emotionally compelling.
It isn't. And never was.
Today's audiences, researchers, clinicians, buyers, aren't looking for more PDFs. They're craving relevance, resonance, and belief. But many companies try to jump from specs to "personalisation at scale" without first building any connection worth scaling.
Worse? They try to do it all while sounding like someone else's press release.
Let's Name the Real Problem
You're not lacking segmentation. You're lacking soul.
You're not short on compliance. You're short on courage.
What's missing isn't just better messaging. It's a better identity. One that connects, not just complies. Because no one remembers the most accurate voice in the room. They remember the one that emotionally moved them.
Personas and Archetypes (Let's Be Honest About Them)
This isn't a primer. You already know what a persona is. You've probably got too many. Trim the fluff. Keep the ones with evidence.
Personas are behavioural X-rays of your customer: roles, tensions, triggers, channels.
Archetypes are your brand's emotional spine. Are you a Sage? A Hero? A Rebel with a lab coat?
You need both:
Personas = relevance (what you say and to whom)
Archetypes = coherence (how it feels and why it sticks)
Without personas, you're shouting into the void. Without an archetype, you're just forgettable noise.
The Dirty Secret About Models
Most marketers treat frameworks like religion. Let's not do that.
Archetypes aren't sacred. Personas aren't gospel. They're tools. Scalpel, not shield. When they help, great. When they don't, move on.
Mark Ritson calls archetypes "total bollocks." Donald Miller says the customer is the hero. They're both right.
The point is never the model. It's the connection. Don't get precious. Get persuasive.
Marketing Is Chemistry. Use the Right Formula.
In chemistry, you switch models based on what level of precision you need:
Use hybridisation for speed
Use quantum mechanics for depth
Same in marketing:
Use archetypes for fast team alignment
Layer in personas and empathy maps where the nuance matters
Trying to personalise everything without knowing who you are first? That's marketing malpractice.
Empathy Mapping, Decision Roles and B2B Truth Bombs
Job titles in B2B are often smoke and mirrors.
"Scientist" could mean:
The Champion chasing impact
The Skeptic scanning for gaps
The Budget-holder with no time for fluff
The Doer who just needs it to work
Empathy maps reveal the real internal narrative: fear, hope, inertia. Then tailor proof and framing to the decision role, without ever betraying your brand voice.
A Sage can mentor the Champion and reassure the Skeptic. That's how strategic humanity works.
Two Brands That Actually Do This
Nike doesn't sell shoes. It sells belief. Every persona, whether a runner, lifter, or weekend warrior, gets different proof, but the same emotional promise: you can do hard things and win.
Slack is a Jester that never breaks character. Personalisation is precise. Voice is unmistakable. The targeting flexes, but the identity holds firm.
Lesson: Personalise the what and where. Protect the who.
The 6-Step Framework (No Fluff)
-
Choose one archetype.
Not a mix. One. Write ten lines that bring your brand's tone to life. -
Clean up your personas.
Only keep the ones based on real data. Merge or delete the rest. -
Empathy map each persona
. Capture what they think, feel, fear and hope for. -
Add decision roles
. Champion, Skeptic, Budget-holder, Doer. Adjust proof and framing accordingly. -
Build the matrix
. Persona × Role × Stage = Message, Proof, CTA, and Tone Cue. -
Personalise media and sequencing first
. Then copy. Never change tone in ways that contradict your archetype.
Final Thought
If your message could come from any other company in your category, it means nothing.
Personas help you stay relevant. Archetypes help you stay remembered. Use them both, but never hide behind them.
Because in a field full of lookalike brands and lifeless decks:
The clearest promise connects.
The boldest voice cuts through.
And the brand brave enough to sound like itself is the one people actually feel.
Q: I'm the only marketer. How do I find time for personas and archetypes when I'm already drowning? ▼
Right now, you're probably rewriting every message from scratch because you have no consistent voice to lean on. You're second-guessing tone in every email, every post, every piece of content. That's the real time drain.
Start brutal and small:
Week one: Pick one archetype. Just one. Sage, Hero, Rebel - whatever fits your brand truth. Write ten sentences in that voice. That's your North Star. Done.
Week two: Take your three most important customer types. Not ten personas. Three. Write one paragraph each: their fear, their hope, their trigger to buy. Evidence only - no fiction.
Week three: Build one simple matrix: Customer type × Message stage × Proof point. That's your messaging skeleton.
Total time investment? Four hours spread over three weeks. But the ROI? Every piece of content you write from that point forward takes half the time because you're not starting from zero. You're starting from strategy.
The marketers who say they don't have time for this are the same ones spending three hours perfecting a LinkedIn post that still sounds like everyone else. Stop optimising the wrong thing.
Q: Our competitors all sound the same. How do we stand out without sounding unprofessional or losing scientific credibility? ▼
A: This is the fear that keeps life science marketing beige.
Here's the truth: being memorable and being credible are not opposites. They're partners.
Your competitors sound identical because they're all hiding behind the same defence - technical correctness as a substitute for personality. They think sounding scientific means sounding soulless. It doesn't.
The mistake isn't being technical. The mistake is being nobody.
Look at what Nike does. A runner gets different proof than a weightlifter, but the emotional promise never changes. Same with you. A principal investigator and a lab manager need different evidence, but your brand voice should be unmistakable across both.
Here's your litmus test: Show your messaging to three customers without your logo. If they can't tell it's you, you haven't got a voice yet. You've got corporate ventriloquism.
Archetypes give you permission to have a personality while personas ensure you stay relevant. Use them together. A Sage archetype can be authoritative without being boring. A Hero can be inspiring without being frivolous.
The brands that win aren't the safest. They're the clearest. And right now, being clear in life science marketing is the most differentiated thing you can do.
Q: We're launching a new product. Should we nail the persona work first or just get content out and iterate? ▼
A: Neither. Do the minimum viable identity work first, then move fast.
Launching without a persona is guessing. Launching without an archetype is shouting. But over-engineering both before you've got market feedback? That's procrastination masquerading as a strategy.
Here's the sequence that actually works:
Before launch:
One archetype. Locked. Non-negotiable. This is your voice for everything.
Two personas max. The champion who'll buy and the sceptic who'll block. That's it.
Three core messages per persona. Pain, promise, proof.
Time needed: Two days if you're honest about what you know and what you don't.
During launch:
Every piece of content, every conversation, every objection you hear - log it against your personas. Were you right? Were you wrong? What surprised you?
After 90 days:
Refine your personas based on evidence, not ego.
Keep your archetype identical. The voice doesn't change. The targeting gets sharper.
The companies that fail do one of two things: they either launch blind and waste six months learning what one good persona workshop would have taught them, or they spend six months perfecting personas and miss the market window entirely.
Do just enough strategy to move with confidence, then let the market teach you the rest. But never launch without knowing who you are. Because once you're inconsistent in market, you can't take it back.
