40+ ICP marketing plays
Because anything that could build ICP pipeline is fair game
Welcome back to the The Gist by Growth Unhinged where I give you a specific action item to grow faster.
Think: surprising lessons to improve website conversion, how Clay stopped fake accounts and why you should consider a usage paywall.
Today I’m sharing 40+ GTM plays to reach and influence your target customers. Because anything that could build ICP pipeline is fair game. Let’s dive in.
The Gist
Marketing, sales, CS, product and even ops all play a role in building pipeline. The magic happens when we combine these plays in coordinated campaigns aimed at our best target customers.
Or, as Adam Schoenfeld at Keyplay calls it, doing ICP marketing.
Why you should care
There might have been a time when marketing generated pipeline and sales closed it. And there might've been a time when marketing could be spray-and-pray — hoping it reached the right people (#MQLs).
But that's also not the world we live in now. What matters is that we ultimately reach the right people and efficiently turn them into customers.
The good news: next generation GTM tools (paired with next generation GTM hires) offer us new ways to do this at scale. Imagine the personalization of good old fashioned account-based marketing (ABM) but with far better account research, better intent signals, 1:many automation and AI-enabled content creation.
(But we won’t unlock this opportunity if we’re stuck with MQL targets and channel-specific attribution fights 😉)
Tell me more
I pulled together 40+ ICP marketing plays for building pipeline with the right target accounts. These span across the account-based buying journey from identifying the right people at the right accounts to getting those people aware and interested in your product to converting them into pipeline.
Identified plays
You know exactly how many accounts are in your ICP, you’ve identified the buyers at those accounts and you can market to them. Don’t skip this step!
Define your ideal customer profile (ICP). The best ICP definitions go beyond industry and company size to incorporate tech signals, hiring signals, growth/funding signals, existing roles/titles and other indicators they’re ready for your product.
Back-test past closed won and closed lost accounts. Your best fit accounts tend to convert at 2-3x higher rates compared to everyone else. Things can quickly shift so plan to re-test every 6-12 months.
Set up manual account reviews with sales. This brings new hypotheses that you can test with data. And, more importantly, it helps ensure buy-in.
Find accounts via third party data providers. The options today are nearly endless: Keyplay, Clay, Apollo, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, ZoomInfo, Lusha, Harmonic (great for startups), Seamless, etc.
Find accounts via web scraping/APIs. This step may be necessary if you’re selling to SMBs outside of tech/eCommerce.
Find contacts at those accounts (see the data providers mentioned above).
Find and validate contact information.
Enrich with third party intent signals (see tools like 6sense, ZoomInfo, LinkedIn Sales Navigator, Pocus, Demandbase, G2).
Enrich with firmographic and other data such as industry, company size, location, etc. This will help you segment your lists for greater relevance.
Aware plays
When asked, your target buyers know who you are. Useful proxies for this might include: they visit your website, consistently open your emails, engage with an ad, or receive direct mail.
Send an automated email. Bonus points if this is part of a micro-campaign aimed at a small, highly targeted list (shoutout to
).Send an automated LinkedIn message. Orchestrated in connection with email (see tools like Salesflow or LaGrowthMachine).
Send a LinkedIn connection request (see tools like LinkedElf or lemlist, or check out this case study).
Run a targeted display ad (see targeted paid media tools including LinkedIn Ads or ABM advertising products like N.Rich or Metadata).
Run a LinkedIn thought leader ad. These have been seeing surprisingly high click-through rates lately.
Call on the phone (#throwback).
Leave a voicemail.
Send direct mail. This can be automated, too.
Put up a local billboard.
Ask for a referral or introduction.
Interested plays
Your target buyers are self-educating on your value proposition and opting into ongoing communication. A subset of example signals: they watch an interactive demo, sign up for a free account, attend a webinar or view a high-intent website page (ex: pricing page, integrations, advanced features).
Offer a newsletter subscription.
Set up a virtual event.
Re-promote past virtual events.
Set up an in-person event.
Be present at a conference or trade show. Increasingly, I’m hearing about folks attending without a booth and pre-setting meetings instead.
Offer an on-demand demo option. These have shown a nice lift in website conversion of late.
Offer to be featured in original content. Productivity hack: record the interview, transcribe it, then run the transcription through GenAI for a first draft.
Offer to be interviewed on a podcast. This gives you intel on the account, too.
Invite to your community (see Parabola example).
Chat while on your website. But don’t make it creepy.
Offer free trial on your website.
Send personalized video. These could be 1:1 or personalized at scale with AI tools (ex: Sendspark).
Considering plays
Your target buyers are actively considering you for a purchase (#ICPpipeline).
Run warm outbound after seeing intent (see tools that de-anonymize website traffic like Warmly, RB2B, Unify, etc.).
Optimize forms/CTAs on the website. This had a surprisingly large impact at Calendly according to CRO Jessica Gilmartin.
Optimize forms/CTAs in product.
Introduce sales touchpoints for product qualified leads (PQLs).
Use a scheduling link to improve demo conversion rate.
Follow-up with leads via phone.
Follow-up with leads via email.
Remarket to demo no-shows.
Offer gift card for completing a demo. Not my favorite play, but it’s still popular!
Offer 1:1 call with an executive or founder.
Introduce to a certified partner (ex: an agency partner or consultant).
What else you should know
🎙️ To join. Want to go deeper into ICP marketing plays? Come join next week’s webinar with Founderpath.
📚 To read. Tomorrow’s next hot GTM hire won’t be an AE, SDR or content marketer. My prediction: it’ll be a growth engineer.
🎧 To listen. I joined Scott Barker on the GTM podcast to talk about five must-try PLG tactics.
📺 To watch. The Franchise. Think Veep with superheroes, minus the politics.
Personalized video is such a good option. That’s why I use Videco.io for launching automated campaigns. It’s a golden opportunity ❤️
This is a fantastic compilation of GTM plays! I particularly appreciate the emphasis on integrating marketing, sales, and product efforts to build a robust pipeline. One area that could further enhance these strategies is the use of customer feedback loops. Actively soliciting and analyzing feedback from both prospects and existing customers can provide invaluable insights into refining your ICP and improving your messaging.