> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.snowdoughnut.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Define a customer profile

> How to build a customer profile once, name it, save it to the library, and export it to each ad platform, so every brief points at the same profile instead of redescribing it.

A customer profile is written once and referenced by name from every brief that targets it. This is setup stage 5 in [get started](/overview), and it repeats whenever you add a new profile.

## The path

<Steps>
  <Step title="1. Pick the right brief">
    [Customer profile brief](/customer-profile-brief) for B2B. [B2C customer profiles](/b2-c-customer-profiles) for consumer. They ask different questions because the buying situations differ.
  </Step>

  <Step title="2. Fill it in">
    Work through the brief. The part most often skipped is the insight: what this person currently believes, doubts, or has been burned by. A description places someone in a bucket. An insight gives a writer something to push against.
  </Step>

  <Step title="3. Name it">
    Use [customer profile naming conventions](/customer-profile-naming-conventions). The name is what every brief and audience export will refer to, so it has to be stable.
  </Step>

  <Step title="4. Save it to the library">
    File the finished profile in the [customer profile library](/customer-profile-library-overview). This is the step that makes it reusable. A profile living in one campaign brief gets rewritten slightly differently in the next.
  </Step>

  <Step title="5. Export to the platforms you'll target">
    Build the audience file from the matching template: [Meta](/customer-profile-csv-template-meta), [Google](/customer-profile-csv-template-google), [LinkedIn](/customer-profile-csv-template-linkedin), [TikTok](/customer-profile-csv-template-tiktok). For account-based targeting on LinkedIn, use the [company list template](/linkedin-company-list-csv-template).

    Name the exported file with [file naming conventions](/file-naming-conventions) so the version in the platform can be traced back to the profile.
  </Step>

  <Step title="6. Reference it, don't repeat it">
    From now on, briefs name the profile and link to the library entry. See the customer profile section of the [marketing campaign brief](/marketing-campaign-brief) and the [copy brief](/ad-copy-standards).
  </Step>
</Steps>

## What links to a profile

| Document                                              | Uses the profile for                                  |
| :---------------------------------------------------- | :---------------------------------------------------- |
| [Marketing campaign brief](/marketing-campaign-brief) | Who the campaign targets                              |
| [Copy brief](/ad-copy-standards)                      | Who the writing addresses, and the insight to push on |
| [Creative brief](/creative-brief)                     | Who the concept has to land with                      |
| [Messaging](/messaging)                               | The audience rows in the variation matrix             |
| Platform audiences                                    | The exported CSV                                      |

## Keeping profiles honest

A profile written from assumption reads exactly like one written from research. Record where each claim came from as you fill it in, the same way [positioning](/positioning) records evidence for its reasons to believe. Set a review date, because the profile that was accurate at launch describes a different buyer two years later.

## Related resources

* [**Customer profile brief**](/customer-profile-brief) The B2B workbook.
* [**B2C customer profiles**](/b2-c-customer-profiles) The consumer workbook.
* [**Customer profile library**](/customer-profile-library-overview) Where finished profiles live.
* [**Customer profile naming conventions**](/customer-profile-naming-conventions) The naming pattern for step 3.
* [**Make a campaign**](/make-a-campaign) Where a profile gets used.