An ideal customer profile (ICP) and a buyer persona are often used interchangeably, but they answer different questions. The ICP describes the type of company that is the best fit for your product. The buyer persona describes the individual person inside that company who researches, influences or signs the deal.
What an ICP includes
- Industry and sub-segment.
- Company size, revenue or headcount.
- Geography and market maturity.
- Technology or process signals that show a need.
- The trigger events that make them ready to buy.
What a buyer persona includes
- Job title, seniority and role in the decision.
- Goals, pressures and how they are measured.
- The objections they raise.
- Where they look for information.
- What proof they need to feel safe deciding.
Which comes first?
The ICP comes first. It decides which accounts to target. Personas then shape the messaging for the people inside those accounts. Starting with personas before the ICP often leads to messaging that speaks well to the wrong companies.
How to use them together
Use the ICP to build target account lists, ad targeting and outbound filters. Use personas to write positioning, landing pages, emails and sales assets. In B2B there are usually several personas per account, such as the economic buyer, the user and the technical evaluator.
If you are unsure who your best-fit customers really are, our GTM Strategy work starts with exactly this: ICP, buyer research and positioning.