In 2017 I put together Econsultancy’s practical guide to account-based marketing (ABM). With many B2B marketers frustrated and exhausted by generating lots of leads for sales, ABM has emerged as an alternative approach.

While putting the guide together, one area I wanted to address is the need for marketers to ensure they match the right content with the right stage of the customer journey - including the post-purchase journey.

Having used a number of B2B marketing personas and templates in the past, I wanted to create a framework that was more than just a good-looking stock photo and details of hobbies. Even though detailed market research should be used when possible, I wanted to create a framework that would allow B2B marketers to get stuck in without the need for too much introspection.

I wanted to answer the following questions:

• What activities does the customer do in their day-to-day work?
• What pains do they experience?
• What gains are they looking for?
• Who do they influence in the customer journey?
• Who influences them at each stage of the customer journey?
• What are their key questions or concerns?
• What actions do they need to take to take to progress in the customer journey?
• What actions do you need to take to nudge them along the customer journey?
• What key messages do they need to receive?
• What formats or content types might they want?

The result was this on one page: