Who are your dream B2B clients? Which accounts have created the most sales opportunities for your business? Which have long-term success? Which segment in your customer pool drive the most revenue? This is your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
Your Ideal Customer Profile is a benchmark used for your entire corporate strategy from product development to sales & marketing strategy. Defining clearly a company ICP aligns the effort of every department for a very efficient & positive impact on customers experience and brand image. Marketing uses ICP for their advertisement, content management and social management. Sales uses the ICP to proactively handle customers pain points and objections during the selling process. Product developers as well should always refer to ICP while building new features
Companies that target multiple industries with various products might be obliged to create few ICPs. As you gain analytics about your target audience, your ICP will evolve accordingly.
Discussion
NEW 7 years ago
NEW 7 years ago
trevorhatfield
7 years ago
@kevincons @katykatztx t's always interesting hearing everyones opinions on this, as all have good points.
Our ICP is a living document and can change as the biz grows, as it has to. We had always followed Lincon Murphy's post here for the most part http://sixteenventures.com/ideal-customer-profile
I can see both sides but here is his opinion in the post, just for adding some debate to the mix: "Persona development has to come after ICP development because you simply cannot know what the personas look like – let alone what Marketing Channels, Pitch, Pricing, or Messaging to use – until you are clear on your Ideal Customer Profile."
NEW 7 years ago
@kevincons @katykatztx t's always interesting hearing everyones opinions on this, as all have good points.
Our ICP is a living document and can change as the biz grows, as it has to. We had always followed Lincon Murphy's post here for the most part http://sixteenventures.com/ideal-customer-profile
I can see both sides but here is his opinion in the post, just for adding some debate to the mix: "Persona development has to come after ICP development because you simply cannot know what the personas look like – let alone what Marketing Channels, Pitch, Pricing, or Messaging to use – until you are clear on your Ideal Customer Profile."
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