Making your ideal customer profile at the outset of your marketing campaign will provide you an advantage over rivals in the B2B industry. The ideal customer profile, often known as the ICP or simply the ICP, is simply a thorough description of the kind of organization you’re most likely to sell to. It’s a complete, well-considered picture of the client who will gain the most from the good or service you provide.(bizfile)
Despite the premise being very straightforward, the relevance of the ideal client profile cannot be overstated. There should be no short-cutting in the thorough research that goes into creating an ideal consumer profile. It involves learning their location, what sector they operate in, how many employees they have, who their rivals are, and who the decision-makers are inside the business. However, the best ICPs go even beyond, bordering on more in-depth buyer personas: What trade journals read the decision-makers? What groups on LinkedIn do they participate in? Nothing is insignificant or too small. A research project that is only partially completed might make or break a positive ROI. Even with the most successful content marketing strategy in the world, missing just one crucial component of the ICP could result in the waste of thousands of dollars (or more) on targeting potential customers who will never convert.
1. Have you actually recorded your ICP on paper?(bizfile)
Marketing and sales leaders should not just casually mention your desired consumer profile. You don’t just allude to it in general terms or in a flowery way. An ICP is not, “We’re targeting huge merchants in the culinary goods industry.” The ICP can be compared to a business plan: When you have your ideas down on paper, you can actually see what will work and what you’ll need to start a large-scale, effective marketing campaign. As the sales team possesses expertise that can assist fill in some of the gaps in the ICP, this also helps to foster good communication between the sales and marketing teams, which is a significant selling point for account-based marketing.
Worksheets are available to help B2B organizations specify exactly who and what constitutes their ideal customer profile for those who are new to the ICP game.
2. Is your ICP as narrow and precise as it can be?(bizfile)
Return to the initial inquiries you made of yourself. Consider the place as an example. Perhaps at first you intended to target major sellers of kitchenware in the northeastern United States. Would it be advantageous for you to be even more specific in that definition, say, significant merchants in the tri-state area who specialize in culinary items and have their corporate offices in mid- to large-sized cities? Keep in mind that your ICP should be dynamic but start out modest. As your company grows, you can always expand it; we’ll talk more about that later.
3. Do the businesses in your ICP have a pressing need you can address?(bizfile)
Not all urgency is marketing your goods today and selling it tomorrow. 75 percent of new customers’ average B2B sales cycles last at least four months. Urgency basically relates to the degree to which your product is actually needed while creating your ICP. These clients are conscious of their problems and understand that a solution is required. By knowing this about a target account, you may avoid spending marketing funds on businesses that might be a fantastic fit but have recently signed a two-year deal with one of your rivals. Additionally, because you don’t have to spend time persuading these accounts that they need you, it helps to shorten the total sales cycle, saving both your marketing team’s money and your sales team’s time.
4. What is the budget for your ICP?
Budgets are tight everywhere because of the current economic situation, as we all know. Even if your product would greatly help them, a CFO of a smaller firm won’t be even somewhat persuaded to sign your $75,000 yearly contract (more than half of the company’s marketing budget for the year). Once more, here is a situation where the ICP is relevant. Hubspot advises choosing “the lowest cost threshold that a customer would have to pay for your product or service” before working your way up from there when figuring out the precise range.
5. Do I require an ICP expansion?
Your team can begin putting the campaign into action once you’ve finished creating your initial ideal customer profile. They produced intent data offers account information, ad content, they created visuals, they selected email lists, and some of your prospects begin to advance to the funnel’s review step. It’s simple to sit back and enjoy the success of your marketing strategy right now. Why not stick to this game plan exactly next quarter? Just stop there. Companies who put forth the effort to review their ICPs three to four times annually will always be in a stronger position; continuing to grow and enhance an ICP results in larger, and frequently better, future sales prospects. Furthermore, you didn’t spend all that time and energy creating the initial ICP to let it lapse.
Source: customer profile , bizfile
