How To Establish Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

A Step-by-Step Guide to Establishing your Ideal Customer Profile (and with a secret weapon at the end!).

First of all you must ask: Do I already have an established set of customers?

If no, then follow Part 1, for those just starting out.

If yes, then follow Part 2, to make sense of your data.

Part 1 - I don't have any customers yet (or very few).

Starting from scratch with no established customers changes the game a bit, but it’s far from impossible to nail down your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). Without a customer base to analyze, you’re essentially building a hypothesis; a best guess based on research, intuition, and experimentation.

Here’s how to tackle it, blending the well-known and lesser-known approaches adapted for a fresh start.

Well-Known Methods for Startups with No Customers

Study Your Competitors’ Customers

If you don’t have customers, your competitors do.

Dig into who they’re targeting.
Check their websites, social media, ads and customer reviews (e.g., on G2, Yelp, or Amazon).
What kinds of people or businesses are they serving?

Look for patterns in job titles, industries, or demographics. You’re not copying—just using their trail to inform your starting point.

Define Your Value Proposition First

Ask yourself: What problem am I solving, and who’s most likely to have that problem? Be specific. If you’re selling productivity software, is it for freelancers juggling gigs or mid-level managers drowning in meetings? Narrow it down to a hypothetical “who” based on the pain your product addresses.

Tap Into Market Research

Use free or affordable tools like Google Trends, industry reports (e.g., from Pew Research or trade associations), or even keyword research (via Google Ads or Ubersuggest) to see who’s searching for solutions like yours. This gives you a broad sense of the market and potential customer segments.

Build a Strawman Persona

Without data, create a rough buyer persona based on logic and assumptions. Give them a name, a role, and a need tied to your offering.

Example: “Startup Steve, 28, founder of a 5-person team, needs affordable CRM to track leads.” It’s a placeholder you’ll refine later, but it keeps you focused.

Leverage Your Network

Talk to friends, colleagues, or industry contacts who might resemble your target customer. Ask: “Would this help you?

Why or (just as importantly) why not?”

Even informal chats can reveal who’s likely to care about your solution and why.

Lesser-Known (and Possibly Deviant) Ways for Start-ups

Lurk in Online Communities

Join X conversations, Reddit threads, Quora groups, or niche forums where your potential customers might hang out. Search for pain points related to your product (e.g., “hate managing spreadsheets” if you’re selling a tool). Note who’s posting; freelancers, small biz owners, corporate types? It’s raw, unfiltered intel.

Run Micro-Ads to Test Interest

Throw a small budget (even $50) at targeted ads on X, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

Test different audiences, age groups, job titles, interests, and see who clicks or engages.

You’re not selling yet, just fishing for signals.

Tweak your ICP based on who bites.

Pretend You’re Already in Business

Set up a basic landing page with a “Coming Soon” sign-up form.

Describe your product vaguely enough to attract interest but not overpromise.

Promote it in relevant groups or via cheap ads.

The people who sign up are your early ICP clues; analyze their emails (e.g., @smallco.com vs. @bigcorp.com) for patterns.

Borrow an Audience

Find a complementary start-up or influencer in your space and offer a guest post, co-branded content, or a shoutout swap.

See who responds to your message.

It’s a sneaky way to piggyback on someone else’s crowd and spot your potential fans.

Spy on Job Boards

Check sites like Indeed or LinkedIn for job postings related to the problem you solve.

If you’re selling HR software, look at HR manager listings; what skills, tools, or challenges do they mention?

The companies posting and the roles described, can hint at your B2B ICP.

Cold Outreach with a Twist

Make a list of 20-50 people or businesses you think fit your ICP (based on guesses or minimal research).

Email or DM them with a quick, “Hey, I’m building X—would this solve a problem for you?” Track who replies and why.

It’s bold, a little cheeky, but it’s direct feedback from the source.

How to Pull It Together

Since you’re starting with zero customers, your ICP will be a working draft.

Pick 2-3 of these methods; say, competitor research, a micro-ad test, and lurking on X, to triangulate your first guess.

Then, as you get traction (sign-ups, replies, clicks), refine it. The key is to stay lean and curious: test fast, learn faster.

Your cream-of-the-crop will emerge once you start interacting with real humans, even if they’re not paying you yet.

Part 2 - I have customers, but I need to focus on the cream.

Well-Known Methods to Establish Your ICP

Analyze Existing Customer Data

Look at your current customer base; especially the ones who are happiest, most profitable, and stick around longest.
Pull data from your CRM, sales records, or analytics tools to spot patterns.
What industries are they in?
What’s their company size, revenue, or job title?
For B2C, check demographics like age, location, or spending habits.

The goal? Find the common traits of your “best” customers and build a profile from there.

Conduct Surveys and Interviews

Ask your top customers directly:

Why do they buy from you?
What problems do you solve for them?
Use short surveys (think 5-10 questions) or hop on a quick call.

For B2B, target decision-makers; for B2C, focus on frequent buyers.

This qualitative goldmine helps you understand their motivations, not just their stats.

Leverage Market Research

Study your industry and competitors.

Who are they targeting?
What gaps are they missing?

Tools like Statista, IBISWorld, or even competitor websites can reveal market trends and customer segments you might not have considered.

Combine this with your own data to refine your ICP.

Create Buyer Personas

Take all that data and craft a semi-fictional character.

Give them a name, a job, a pain point, and a goal.

For example: “Marketing Mary, 35, CMO at a mid-sized tech firm, struggles with ROI tracking, wants scalable campaigns.” This makes your ICP tangible and actionable for you and your team.

Use the Jobs-to-be-Done Framework

Focus on what your customer is “hiring” your product to do. Instead of demographics, zoom in on their functional, emotional or social needs.

Example: Are they buying your software to save time (functional) or to look good to their boss (emotional)? This shifts the lens to outcomes, not just traits.

Collaborate with Sales and Customer Support

Your frontline teams know who’s a dream client and who’s a nightmare. Sales can tell you who closes fast and spends big; support can flag who’s easy to please.

Combine their insights with your data for a 360-degree view.

Lesser-Known (and Possibly Deviant) Ways to Establish Your ICP

Stalk Social Media Conversations (Ethically)

Dive into platforms like X, Reddit, or niche forums where your potential customers hang out.
Search keywords related to your product or their pain points.
See who’s complaining, who’s praising alternatives, and what they’re really after.

You’re not creeping; just observing public chatter to spot patterns.

Reverse-Engineer Competitor Reviews

Scour reviews of your competitors’ products on sites like G2, Capterra, or Amazon.
Look for the 5-star raves and the 1-star rants.
Who loves them? Who hates them?

Build your ICP from the fans of what you do better and the detractors of what they do worse.

Run a “Fake Door” Test

Put up a landing page for a product or feature you don’t even offer yet.
Drive traffic via ads or organic channels and see who bites.
Collect their info (email, job title, etc.) and analyze the takers.

Ok, it’s a bit sneaky, but it shows you who’s hungry for your solution before you build it.

Hijack Adjacent Audiences

Partner with a non-competing brand that already serves your suspected ICP.
Piggyback on their email list or co-host a webinar, then watch who engages.
You’re borrowing their audience to test your hunch.

Devious yes, but effective if you play nice.

Profile Your “Anti-ICP” First

Flip the script and think of the opposite: Identify who you DON'T want as a customer.

The time-wasters, the penny-pinchers, the chronic complainers.
Once you’ve got their traits, invert them.

It’s a backdoor-way to spotlight the cream-of-the-crop by weeding out the dregs.

Go Full 'Sherlock Holmes' with Public Records

For B2B, dig into SEC filings, business registries, or even LinkedIn Sales Navigator to profile companies that match your hunch.
For B2C, use census data or neighborhood stats (via tools like Claritas) to map out lifestyle clusters.

It’s a little invasive-feeling, but it’s all public info if you’ve got the patience.

Closing Thoughts (and a Secret Weapon!)

The well-known methods are your bread and butter; data-driven, reliable, and safe. They’ll get you a solid ICP that keeps your team aligned. The lesser-known ones? They’re riskier, sometimes quirkier, but they can uncover gems the standard playbook misses. Mix and match based on your resources and appetite for experimentation.

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