As a startup, you’ve probably got big goals and a clear vision of where you want to see yourself in 12 months’ time. Achieving those goals starts with careful planning, including seriously considering exactly to whom you will sell your products or services. Picking out the perfect customer is essential because, otherwise, your marketing campaigns have no focus and are unlikely to be worth the investment you put into them. Creating a customer profile empowers businesses to develop digital and physical marketing materials with genuine impact.

Ideal Customer Profile (ICP): The Basics

As a foundational concept, your ICP is an imaginary person or organization that wants your product or service. They know your offering has value and will help them improve their bottom line. This could be by saving them time, increasing their efficiencies, or connecting them to a range of resources — you know your product best, so consider the features and benefits it brings to your potential B2B audience.

This starts with addressing existing pain points that exist within the relevant industry. Being able to specify what problem you’re providing a solution for is a primary step toward identifying your ICP. The fourth most cited barrier to sales is disagreement over product capabilities, so you must be able to present something that actually fixes a relevant issue for your target audience.

Your ICP may eventually encompass several different types of ideal customers, which are often called customer personas. Your initial ICP research will give you the tools to create these personas and a clear direction in which to steer your sales and marketing.

Getting Started with an ICP

So, how to create an ideal customer profile? There’s an additional challenge for startups in that the data you’re working with is largely hypothetical. You don’t have access to months’ worth of sales data or customer engagements — in some ways, you’re working from a blank slate.

This is why research is so critical. Look at businesses using similar products or services to yours and learn all you can about them. Examine which types of companies within your target industry experience the pain points you hope to alleviate. In particular, you’ll want to know:

• Their budget for apps, SaaS, or other digital tools

• Location

• Company size

• Revenue

• Job title of the decision-maker

• What products they use already — this helps you to differentiate yourself from the competition

• Their needs — what do they really want from an additional service provider? How will it improve their day-to-day working life?

• Their fears and concerns — are they concerned about falling behind as their industry advances? Are they worried their traditional skillset doesn’t equip them for busines growth in a digital landscape?

• If you’re in the market to sell to public companies, you have the advantage of being able to read their investor documents to get a deeper understanding of the business’s priorities.

Getting into the mindset of potential clients is vital. While they will have differences, there will always be some crossover — something all your clients have in common. These are the core aspects of your ICP. Once you have clients, or if you already do, schedule voice of client (VoC) sessions to really understand the value they get from your products and any remaining pain points or concerns.

Prior to having clients, consider taking a look at your network and seeing who you can have a conversation with to understand current pain points, needs, and goals. This will help you understand if your offering is a good fit for your target industry/ You can also use these conversations to build awareness of your company and forge those all-important relationships that could benefit you further down the road. 

Benefits of Creating an Ideal Customer Profile

Why should you create an ICP? It’s simple: if you don’t, you’re trying to market to everyone all at once, which is exhausting and often fruitless. You may gain a little traction from a broad spread of marketing efforts, but if you create a targeted focus on your ICP, you’ll see better success, faster.

Measurable benefits of an ICP include:

•          Better budgeting by focusing resources and budget where they’ll have the most  impact

•          Increased sales by targeting leads more likely to convert

•          More likelihood of referrals from satisfied customers

•          Increased client lifetime and loyalty

•          Improved brand reputation

If you consistently attract businesses that gain significant value from your services, you’re far more likely to be able to position yourself as an expert in your industry. This is precisely what you need when you’re trying to attract investors who want to put their money into companies that provide solutions that keep their buyers coming back for more.

Final Word

You cannot appeal to everyone, and that’s okay. Figure out who your product is for and use that to drive your sales conversations and direct marketing campaigns. If you want more help creating an ICP or with any aspect of startup marketing, book a 15-minute introductory call with our experienced team, who can advise you on the best proposition to help your growing business succeed.

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