HOW TO BUILD AN ICP (IDEAL CUSTOMER PROFILE)

If you still think any prospect is a good prospect, think again. There's a vital difference between your ideal target audience and your not-so-ideal ones. Focusing on your ICP can help you make better, more profitable use of your time and resources. Don't miss out on it!

THE ICP

Developing the ICP is one of the first steps B2B companies take to understand their target audiences and ultimately develop more buyer-centric marketing strategies. This needs to happen before you can even think about building personas and journeys. An Ideal Customer Profile describes the type of org. or account you should be selling to. You gain value from them, they gain value from you. Specifically, these are organizations that:

cost the least to acquire

stay with you for a long period

have a strong lifetime value

are less likely to churn

are most likely to promote your offerings

ICPs are particularly useful if you want to drive ABM (Account-Based Marketing) initiatives. And it's 2021, folks. If you're in B2B and you're not implementing ABM, it's high time you get with the program. The time for that was yesterday.LEARN MORE ABOUT ABM

Just because it's common to want to sell to everyone doesn't mean it's the best way. Focusing on your ICP is a far more efficient use of time.

HOW TO BUILD AN ICP

B2B sales cycles and targeting strategies are far too complex and nuanced to ever holistically fit into simple 1-2-3-step packages. We know that. But if you strip ICP building down to the studs, this is what you get. For an ICP deep dive, you know where to find us.

STEP 1 – GET DATA

Use historical data (e.g., website traffic, testimonials/case studies, financial data, etc.) to analyze your most successful customers.

STEP 2 – DEFINE

Conduct internal discussions with key reps (e.g., from marketing, sales, product development, etc.) to define what characteristics need to be reflected in your ICP. Multiple offerings may warrant multiple ICPs, but generally you're looking to leverage a range of firmographics and considerations:

No. of employees
Revenue and budget
Industry
Location
Customer base/segments

Other considerations can include:

Business objectives
Culture and values
Tech stack/current solutions
Market trends
Legalities/regulations

STEP 3 – DOCUMENT

Document your ICPs so that the information can be effectively distributed to wider teams.

Instead of counting the companies you reach, why not focus on reaching the companies that count?

WHAT'S YOUR ORG'S ICP STATUS?

Not in good shape.
We could do better!
Well documented and distributed!

Done right, an ICP can significantly help align your business offerings and operations with your buyers' needs and expectations.What's more, defining your ideal buyers from the not-so ideal ones will make the jobs of Marketing and Sales much easier.Because if you have the power to allocate and focus your teams' efforts on prospects that are the most likely to convert and advocate for you, then why wouldn't you do that?

If it's an extra pair of specialist hands you need, we've got enough to spare!