Should I create buyer personas that target the company I would like to work with or should I be targeting the decision-makers of these companies?
For example:
ABC company struggles with website design and spends time searching for marketing agencies via Google Search and LinkedIn.
or
Jane Doe, Marketing Director of ABC Company identifies a lack of talent amongst her marketing team specifically in SEO. Jane spends time hiring new talent from LinkedIn or Indeed but hasn’t found an individual worth justifying the expense of onboarding a full-time employee.
The majority of individuals frequently confuse a buyer persona with an ideal customer profile. Understanding the differences is crucial because it gives you the knowledge you need to produce engaging content that will draw in new clients.
Let us first define the terms before deciding which to target.
Ideal Customer Profile
An ideal customer profile is a business description that meets all requirements to be considered a client or customer. According to HubSpot, an ideal customer profile (ICP), also known as an ideal buyer profile, defines the ideal customer for what your company fulfils. This is a fictitious company with all of the characteristics that would make it the best fit for the solutions you offer.
Buyer Persona
A buyer persona is a semi-fictitious, generalised representation of your customers that takes into account their demographics, goals, motivators, and challenges. Buyer personas give your company structure and context. It includes information about their decision-making process. A great buyer persona doesn’t just help you set your sights on the ideal customer, it also shows you where to find your ideal customer, how to get their attention, and ultimately, how to persuade them.
Differences between an Ideal Customer Profile and a buyer persona
Understanding your Ideal Customer Profile and your customer persona is crucial because it enables you to create content that will appeal to your intended audience.
An Ideal Customer Profile and a buyer persona differ in the following ways:
- An Ideal Customer profile is a descriptive profile of a company best fit to use your services while a buyer persona is a person that needs your services. For instance, a company that tends to be very busy with administrative work is your ICP while medical students between 20 and 35 are your buyer persona.
- An Ideal Customer Profile tells you whom you should sell to while a buyer persona is used to craft a more targeted campaign in regards to the medium used.
- your ideal customer profile is a description of the type of company you should try to sell to and your buyer persona is a detailed analysis of the people who buy from you.
- Buyer personas define the different buying patterns of companies within your ideal customer profile.
Creating your ICP and buyer personas can be mutually beneficial. Your buyer personas inform your teams about the types of people they are creating content for, prospecting for, and the kinds of questions they should be prepared to answer. On the other hand, you want to make sure that your ICP is advising your company on the businesses they should be targeting by defining the qualities that are needed.
Consider this in terms of a funnel.
Your TOF lead generation ads will use broad messaging to target buckets of businesses based on industry verticals. This is your search, display, and social content; it’s broad, branded, and speaks to a large audience, here Reach is the primary goal, at least at first.
Your MOF lead generation will use messaging that is a little more specific, but still primarily speaking to those companies. You should demonstrate experience, authority, or a portfolio to validate their initial interaction with your advertising. Web content, retargeting ads, or responsive display ads are examples of this.
When you begin speaking directly to decision-makers, you are generating BOF leads. This can be web content at the bottom of pages or to the right of the nav bar (so closer to conversion points or further along the user journey), or it can be an email/outreach drip.
In essence, creating company personas is like casting a wide net, whereas creating buyer personas is like casting a hook and lure. Both are necessary, but you should only use them when necessary.
Final thoughts
Imagine a persona as a person and ICP as a company. When producing content, it is beneficial to use a buyer persona because a person is easier to target than a company. ICPs and buyer personas can both be used in a plan, but it’s vital to remember that businesses don’t read blogs or social media; rather, their employees do. As a result, when developing content, it is more prudent to target buyer personas.
ABC Company is your ICP (Ideal Customer Profile), and it’s a company. The ICP tells you whom you sell to.
Jane Doe is an actual persona. The persona tells you how you should sell (what content to create, which channels, etc)
You can use both in a strategy, but for content creation, you need to use personas. Companies don’t read blog posts; they don’t sign contracts, and they don’t use social media. People who work for these companies do.
