Choosing the Right ICP

We don’t start with a broad audience.

We pick one specific customer type that gives us the best chance of actually driving revenue.

That means balancing:

• real need

• commercial value

• how easy they are to reach

• how well they fit the business

Step 1: We list all plausible ICPs

We start simple.

We write down every realistic customer type the business could serve. No filtering yet.

For each one, we note:

• job title or role

• industry

• company type

• level of decision-making power

• the core problem they’re trying to solve

• whether they’re the buyer, user, influencer, or gatekeeper

At this stage, we’re not trying to be clever.
We’re just getting the options out of your head and into one place.

Step 2: We score each ICP quickly

Next, we pressure-test each option using five factors:

1. Market size (TAM)
   Is this a big and growing group?

2. Available market (SOM)
   Can we realistically win attention here?

3. Customer value (LTV)
   Are these high-value customers over time?

4. Urgency of need
   Do they actually need this now, and often?

5. Ease of reach
   Can we find and target them through channels like:

   • search

   • LinkedIn

   • communities

   • newsletters

   • podcasts

We score each from 1–5 and add a short note.

This isn’t about being precise.
It’s about making trade-offs visible.

Step 3: We check this against real customer data

This is where most strategies go wrong — they rely on assumptions.

We go back to what’s actually happened in your business.

We look at:

• past customers

• CRM data

• closed deals

• lost deals

And we ask:

• Who is easiest to close?

• Who stays the longest?

• Who is easiest to deliver for?

• Who “gets it” quickly?

• Who causes friction later?

Then we look for patterns:

• repeated job titles

• repeated industries

• common pains

• common objections

• why deals close

• why deals stall

This step either strengthens the ICP… or breaks it.

What we’re really doing here

We’re not “defining the ICP” in one go.

We’re:

1. forming a hypothesis

2. scoring it

3. testing it against reality

If you skip this sequence:

• you either pick something that sounds good

• or you get lost in research with no commercial direction

Step 4: We size the reachable market

Once we have a strong candidate, we quantify it.

We use tools like:

• Apollo

• LinkedIn Sales Navigator

• your CRM

• founder input

We filter by:

• job title

• seniority

• geography

• industry

• company type/size

We’re not building a perfect market model.

We’re answering one practical question:

How many people can we realistically reach?

Step 5: We decide how we go to market

This depends on how big that reachable pool is.

If it’s small and high-value:

We go 1:1

• personalised content

• direct outreach

• tighter segmentation

• strong sales support

If it’s larger:

We go 1:many

• SEO and distribution

• educational content

• scalable nurture

• less personalisation

In most B2B cases, narrower is better.

Step 6: We commit to one primary ICP

Even if you serve multiple audiences, we focus the strategy on one.

Why:

• content gets vague when it tries to serve everyone

• funnels get messy

• messaging weakens

• distribution becomes inefficient

We can acknowledge secondary audiences — but they don’t drive the strategy.

What you end up with

By the end of this process, we have:

• one clearly defined ICP

• a short list of rejected options (and why)

• a simple scoring table

• a realistic estimate of reachable leads

• a clear decision: 1:1 or 1:many

• a short explanation of why this ICP wins