This is the second article in our series on Idea Client Profile (ICP).

If The Sims and pumpkin pie crust references sound foreign to you – take a look at the previous article before you continue reading this one. If you’ve already checked it out, let’s move on to the second and most anticipated stage called “What do I do with all that knowledge?”

How to use information you have about ICP?

After conducting in-depth research of your current and past clients, prospects, and employees, you should be able to craft an Ideal Client Profile with the categories relevant to your specific industry. Once your ICP is ready, you can apply the knowledge you have in action. Here are several examples of how to do it.

Focus your sales on the companies that best fit your ICP

When you are selling to people without having your ICP in mind, there is a risk of becoming a Phoebe Buffay calling from the Empire Office Supplies regarding toner needs…

On the contrary, in-depth knowledge of your Ideal Client Profile can help you better understand how to find the right clients and offer the product or service they actually need. Here are the steps you can take:

• Determine the most effective sales channels
• Adjust sales process
• Craft personalized sales messages
• Create a unique value proposition

Knowing the exact range of clients you target can save you time, increase conversation rates across your funnel, and lower advertising costs. It also can help you make more accurate assumptions about deals and improve the overall sales performance.

Adjust your copywriting and design to the audience

According to a new report by HubSpot, companies are investing in content creation more often than ever – 82% of marketers report actively using content marketing, up from 70% last year. Having the knowledge about your ideal client can bring your content strategy to a whole new level. If earlier all the materials, including blog posts, email newsletters, video scripts, sales pages, social media posts, presentations, were more of a throw of the dice, now you know exactly who you are in communication with.

Are the companies you work with located in Asia? It could be useful to consider the differences between low context and high context cultures because it may significantly contribute to the effectiveness of your content strategy. Are the companies you work with tech-oriented? You might want to catch up on the recent innovations and choose relevant updates for your next newsletter.

Just like with content, design choices should be adjusted as well. Adobe, for instance, left a few suggestions for those who market to young people, particularly Gen Z, who challenge established social clusters and are much more fluid in their identities. The Creative Cloud Team advises to keep this fluidity in mind, “Standard delineations — like blue for boys and pink for girls — no longer apply.”

Center Lead Generation campaign around ICP

When your ICP is clearly defined, you can create a list of potential leads that fit your criteria and, from there, start narrowing it down to high-value leads. Segmentation is an essential part of lead generation; therefore, demographics and other measures are at the very core of the process.

Your Ideal Client Profile knowledge is vital at every stage of the lead generation process, from looking at the list of strangers to designing surveys for your already existing clients.

Source HubSpot

A small tip from us: You can also go the other way around – use lead generation to build your Ideal Client Profile! To find out how –  take a look at our recent case study.

Align SEO strategy with Ideal Client Profile

As Google Search Central nicely states in their guide, “SEO is about helping search engines understand and present content.” The numerous modifications on your website can help your content get more noticeable and significantly increase organic search results. You might be thinking, “Why would I need to know my ICP when working with search engines?”

Source Search Engine Journal

The first step of any successful SEO strategy is keyword research. To identify which words to use, you first need to be very clear about your target audience. Therefore, ICP elements including industry, pain points, and business goals can play a key role in the process. The valuable content – another crucial part of SEO – also derives from a comprehensive understanding of the audience you write for. Hence, the backlinks – which you are encouraged to use – will also work if you have enough good and relevant content. The visuals also play a role in how much traffic you get on the website. As mentioned earlier, design choices can help or hurt your performance depending on how well you know the audience.

There are a great number of factors that impact how your site ranks and a well-built ICP can have a great impact on your SEO strategy. 

Keep your ICP fresh and relevant

Don’t let your ICP gather dust on the shelf! Remember that it’s a living document that constantly requires revisions and adjustment. As your company grows and the range of your services extends, your Ideal Client Profile will change accordingly. 

The icing on the cake ?

Now, when you know how to answer the question “What do I do with all that knowledge?” – it’s time to move from theory to practice. Use our downloadable ICP template that will help you to structure the information and put everything in one place. Depending on the industry, you should add more characteristics relevant to your company and the area of your expertise.

Do you want to run additional audience testing to make your ICP as precise as possible? Use the button on the right to schedule a call with our Managing Partner.