← Glossary Marketing

ICP (Ideal Customer Profile)

A precise description of the company or person you most want as a customer.

Explained simply.

The ICP is who you sell to, ideally. For B2B: industry, company size, role of the buyer, tech stack, signals that suggest they need you. For B2C: demographics, psychographics, behaviors, life stage. A good ICP is specific enough that you can look at any account and say 'in ICP' or 'out of ICP.' A vague ICP is a sign you haven't figured out who you sell to.

An example.

B2B ICP: 'SaaS companies, 20-200 employees, engineering-led, using Jira + GitHub, VP of Engineering is the buyer.' That's specific. You can target LinkedIn campaigns against it, score inbound leads against it, train your sales team against it.

Why it matters.

Every hour spent marketing to non-ICP customers is wasted. Narrowing your ICP feels scary ('we'll miss people!'), but it focuses your spend, sharpens your messaging, and shortens your sales cycle. Bigger target isn't better; more-right target is better.