ICP (ideal customer profile)
A definition of who a message, page, and motion is for — operationalized in GTM30 as shared schema fields used across content, community, and systems.
Last updated: December 12, 2025
Definition
A definition of who a message, page, and motion is for — operationalized in GTM30 as shared schema fields used across content, community, and systems.
In practice
- Use ICP language in pages and community answers; let real buyer language refine the definition over time.
- Tie ICP to entities and intent so routing and prioritization are consistent.
Common mistakes
- Using ICP as a marketing slide only (not encoded into tags, traits, or content structure).
- Changing ICP definitions without updating the shared schema and glossary.
Related terms
- Shared schema — The cross-functional contract: a shared set of fields and definitions that represent reality consistently across GTM30, without team-specific terminology or parallel tagging systems.
- Persona — A role-based slice of the ICP (e.g. PM, engineer, operator, buyer) used consistently across the schema to keep narrative, routing, and assets aligned.
- Lifecycle stage — Where a customer is in their journey (e.g. awareness → evaluation → activation → retention), used as a shared field to align content, sales plays, and support responses.
- Intent level — A shared signal of how close someone is to action (low/medium/high), inferred from patterns like page types viewed, depth, and CTA behavior — used for routing and prioritization.