The People
Stay dialed in to the tune of your audience
"I am everyday people" - Sly and the Family Stone
Relevancy at scale starts with knowing exactly who you're trying to reach.
Your ideal customer profile is the foundation your machine runs on. Get this wrong and everything downstream drifts. Your signals won't map to the right sources. Your messaging will bend toward generic. You'll scale the motion without scaling meaning.
ICP work often gets treated as a one-time exercise – a slide that collects dust after a positioning project wraps. But markets are dynamic. Staying locked in is a continuous discipline. When you stay sharp on who matters most any why you matter, you can design messaging so the walk away feeling is "wow, I need this."
MENTAL MODEL
make definitions dynamic
Static documentation decays. Track real-time behaviors – what your audience is doing, saying, prioritizing. The ICP that worked last quarter might not hold today.
map to the initiatives
Profiles only matter if they connect to budget. Know what programs have executive attention and funding. If your targeted message doesn't ladder up to an active initiative, it won't land.
sense attention spans
When your audience tunes out, something's off. Either you're targeting the wrong people or the message isn't hitting. Both are signals. Pay attention and adjust.
MESSAGING TIPS
connect 'on the hook' to 'on the hunt'
Skip the surface-level profile characteristics. What matters is what they're accountable for and what they're actively searching to solve. Distill your messaging to that connection.
attention is not all you need
Getting noticed isn't the end goal. Being relevant is. A message that grabs attention but doesn't connect to their priorities will go in one ear and out the other.
make them the hero
Your audience doesn't just want to hear about your product. They want to see themselves winning. Frame the message around their outcomes, not your capabilities.
TROPES TO AVOID
letting the CRM dictate messaging
How you slice the market for coverage isn't how you message the market. Territory planning and messaging strategy are different disciplines. Don't let one bleed into the other.
placing the blame
As you diminish the status quo, be careful not to make people feel bad about it. No one wants to be told they've been doing it wrong. Set context, don't assign fault.
making assumptions
Don't tell people what they already know. Don't tell them what their problems are. Ask better questions and let them arrive at the conclusion themselves.
OPERATING MODEL
codify fit criteria
Document what makes someone worth messaging and what doesn't. Clear criteria keeps your machine focused on relevancy, not reach. The sharper the definition, the sharper the message.
build living profiles
Segments and personas aren't deck artifacts. They should evolve with the market. Revisit them regularly and update based on what you're learning from real conversations.
make messaging a discovery guide
Your ICP messaging should double as a compass for sales conversations. If the profile is right, the message opens doors and surfaces the right signals.
All Revenue Design Method Pillars
Design a Narrative
The Scenario
surface the forces reshaping your audience's reality
Design a Narrative
The Inflection
Reveal the turning point that makes acting now the only option
Design a Narrative
The Advantage
Own the market position only your unique approach can hold
Design a Movement
The Space
Shape the domain into a direction you can lead
Design a Movement
The Moments
Guide your audience on the path towards conviction
Design a Movement
The Reason
Convert true champions into industry advocates
Design a Machine
The People
Stay dialed in to the tune of your audience
Design a Machine
The Journey
Make the message in tune and in time
Design a Machine
The Proposition
Measure the message against realized value