Lead generation
Ideal customer profile (ICP)
A description of the companies most likely to buy and succeed with a product, by industry, size, location and need.
What it is
The ICP describes accounts, not people. Buyer personas then describe the roles inside those accounts.
Why it matters
For lead generationIt steers targeting, lead scoring and messaging. Ads aimed outside the ICP produce leads sales cannot close.
In practice
Build it from the customers who closed fastest and stayed longest, then turn it into targeting and scoring rules.
A common mistake
Writing an ICP so broad that it excludes nobody, which makes it useless for targeting.