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A Guide to Understanding ICPs and Buyer Personas

Picture of Benjamin Rogers By   ·  2 minute read

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Introduction

Understanding your customers is the key to successful marketing. Two tools that can help you achieve this are Buyer Personas and Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs).

These are not just marketing jargon - they help you target your marketing efforts more effectively. This article will explain what these terms mean, how they differ, and how you can use them within HubSpot for better results.

What is a Buyer Persona?

A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and accurate data about your existing customers. Businesses typically have multiple Buyer Personas, each representing different subsets of your Ideal Customer. 

It includes customer demographics, behaviour patterns, motivations, and goals. Generally, it should be quite detailed, but ensure you base it on fact rather than opinion.

HubSpot allows you to create detailed buyer personas to guide your marketing strategies.

What is an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)?

An ICP describes a company or organization that gets significant value from using your product or service and provides significant value to your company. In B2B businesses, Ideal Customer Profiles focus on the business.

The Difference Between Buyer Personas and ICPs

While buyer personas and ICPs help you understand your customers, they serve different purposes. A buyer persona helps you understand who makes the buying decision and why, while an ICP helps you understand which companies are a good fit for your product or service.

The difference between Buyer Personas and Ideal Customer Profiles. 
  Buyer Personas Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs)
Includes
  • Demographics
  • Goals
  • Motivations
  • Challenges
  • Communication Preferences
  • Characteristics that must be met for the customer or business to be an ideal customer. 
Purpose
  • Provide structure and context throughout the organisation
  • Help tailor marketing, sales and service approach to the preferences and needs of each persona
  • Help define the main problems you are solving for
  • Help identify your target market
Focus
  • On the individual; their challenges and how they consume information
  • The fit of the business (B2B) or type of customer (B2C).
  • Doesn't dive too deep into the individuals you will encounter

Using Buyer Personas and ICPs in HubSpot

HubSpot provides tools for creating and using both Buyer Personas and ICPs.

Here are some examples of how you can use them:

  1. Content Personalisation: You can use buyer personas to personalise your content and make it more relevant to your audience. For example, if you have a buyer persona for "Marketing Mary," you can create content that addresses Mary's specific challenges and needs.

  2. Targeting: You can use ICPs to target Paid Ads. For example, you can create an audience in Facebook Ads of your ICP and then target Ads to this list.

  3. Lead Scoring: You can use buyer personas and ICPs to score leads in HubSpot. For example, you can give higher scores to leads that match your ICP or a specific buyer persona.

  4. Sales Enablement: Sales teams can use buyer personas and ICPs to understand potential customers better and tailor their sales pitches accordingly.

Looking for help setting researching and defining your ICP or Buyer Personas?