ICP Is Dead. Meet ICP Segmentation

August 27, 2025
4 min read

The B2B go-to-market playbook is changing.

For years, companies relied on an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) to guide targeting, campaigns, and sales motions.

But here’s the truth: a broad ICP is too blunt to win in today’s market.

Your marketing team wastes budget on audiences that never engage.
Your sales team spends hours chasing low-potential leads.
Your messaging ends up generic because it’s aimed at “an industry,” not a precise market type.

It’s time to get sharper.

The Problem With an ICP

A traditional ICP might say:

  • Industry: SaaS
  • Size: 200–500 employees
  • Tech stack: Salesforce, HubSpot, Slack
  • Persona: VP of Marketing

That’s neat in a slide deck — but in practice, it lumps thousands of different businesses into one bucket.

Not every SaaS company has the same priorities.
Not every VP of Marketing faces the same problems.
Some are ready to buy today; some will never be a fit.

Result: your GTM team spreads effort too thin.

What ICP Segmentation Really Means

ICP Segmentation is the process of breaking down your big, broad ICP into progressively narrower levels until you reach clearly defined segments you can target with precision.

It’s not about picking one account — it’s about defining types of accounts with shared characteristics.

The structure looks like this:

  1. Industry → broad market category.
  2. Sub-sector → a narrower category within that industry.
  3. Segment → a very specific type of company in that sub-sector, often defined by business model, GTM motion, or product focus.

Example:

  • Industry: IT
  • Sub-sector: B2B SaaS
  • Segment: SaaS marketplaces with a PLG motion

Now you’re speaking to a smaller, more homogeneous group — which means your message can be hyper-relevant.

What’s Inside a Segment: The Segment 360™ Framework

Once you’ve narrowed your ICP down to a specific segment, the real magic happens.
This is where we go beyond simply naming the segment to actually understanding it in depth.

We call this deep dive a Segment 360™ — a complete, 360-degree profile of that market type.

Here’s what goes into it:

1. Profile

The factual snapshot of the segment:

  • Average company size (employees, revenue range)
  • Geographic footprint
  • Typical product/service scope
  • Key markets served

Think of this as the “business card” of the segment — the who and what.

2. Attributes

The defining characteristics that make this segment attractive to you.
Examples:

  • Sales motion (self-serve, PLG, outbound-heavy)
  • Liability exposure (low vs. high risk industries)
  • Workforce distribution (remote-first vs. centralized)
  • Revenue mix (subscription vs. transactional)

These are the factors that separate high-fit segments from the noise.

3. Matched Needs

The pain points your solution can directly address for this segment.
Maybe it’s:

  • Slow customer onboarding
  • Compliance headaches in multi-region operations
  • Scaling challenges in a PLG model

This is where you connect their world to your value.

4. Need Importance

Not all needs are created equal.
We rate them using criteria like:

  • Criticality (How urgent is it?)
  • Breadth (How many companies in the segment have it?)
  • Depth (How severe is it?)
  • Frequency (How often does it arise?)
  • Prevalence (Is it widespread or niche?)

This helps you prioritize messaging and outreach.

5. Stakeholder Maps

Who’s involved in the buying process — and what they care about.
We identify:

  • Users (day-to-day operators)
  • Decision-makers (budget owners)
  • Influencers (exec sponsors, board members, IT gatekeepers)

And we map how each stakeholder is impacted by the problem (and your solution).

6. Custom Signals

The unique signs that tell you when a segment account is ready to buy.
For example:

  • New regional office opening
  • Key leadership hires
  • Announcements about product expansion

These are your real-time alerts for sales and marketing activation.

7. Segment Trends

Where the segment is heading:

  • Growth rate and investment trends
  • Market focus shifts
  • Risks and headwinds (regulatory, economic, competitive)

Trends help you decide if this is a segment to double down on — or exit.

With Segment 360s, you’re not just saying “We sell to SaaS marketplaces with PLG motion.”
You’re saying:

“We know exactly who they are, what they need, how important those needs are, who to talk to, when they’re ready, and where they’re headed.”

That’s the level of precision your GTM strategy needs in 2025.

Why ICP Segmentation Wins

When you have Segment 360s for each priority segment, your GTM motions become sharper and more predictable.

  1. Laser-focused market coverage
    You’re no longer chasing “SaaS companies” in general — you’re targeting SaaS marketplaces with a PLG motion or vertical SaaS tools for healthcare, backed by complete intelligence.
  2. Hyper-relevant messaging
    Because you’ve mapped needs, priorities, and stakeholders, every campaign, sales call, and outbound sequence speaks directly to what matters most for that segment.
  3. Cleaner, faster pipelines
    Custom signals tell you exactly when an account is likely to buy, so you focus effort where momentum already exists.
  4. Better long-term positioning
    By tracking segment trends, you can anticipate shifts in demand and adapt your GTM before competitors even see them coming.

August 27, 2025
4 min read