--- title: "Example ICP: marketing agency" product: Artificial Outreach url: https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/marketing-agency format: Markdown copy of this page for AI agents --- # Ideal customer profile for a marketing agency Agencies tend to write their ICP around services ("we do paid search and email") when it should be written around clients. The clients who stay are the ones who have budget for a retainer, a marketing owner who can approve work without a committee, and a reason to need results this quarter. An agency ICP also has to name the clients you should turn down: the ones who want a one-off project, who have no one to own the work in-house, or who will compare you on hourly rate. Below is a worked example for Saltreed, a fictional agency that does search and lifecycle email for regional financial and education brands. Each line is tied to the page on its invented site it came from. ## Sample: Saltreed (saltreed.example) Search ads and lifecycle email for regional brands. Saltreed is a fictional marketing agency. Its site is invented so the generator has something to read. ### Group 1: Credit unions with $500M to $3B in assets (Best fit: 2 case studies and an industry page) - **Who they are:** US credit unions with $500M to $3B in assets and a marketing team of 2 to 6 people. [/industries/credit-unions] - **Who decides:** The VP of Marketing. Compliance reviews every ad. [/customers/lakeshore-cu] - **Their pain:** Loan campaigns that bring clicks but not finished applications. [/customers/lakeshore-cu] - **What sets them off:** A rate change, a new branch opening, or a merger with another credit union. [/industries/credit-unions] - **Who to skip:** Credit unions under $200M in assets with no paid media budget. [/pricing] - **Where they are:** State credit union league conferences and the vendor directories of core banking systems. [/about] ### Group 2: Private K-12 schools with 300 to 1,500 students (Strong fit: 1 case study) - **Who they are:** Independent day schools filling seats in a fixed admissions window. [/customers/ashby-day-school] - **Who decides:** The director of admissions with the head of school. [/customers/ashby-day-school] - **Their pain:** Inquiries come in, but families who tour never get followed up. [/customers/ashby-day-school] - **What sets them off:** Enrolment below target in the autumn count, or a new head of school. (inferred) - **Who to skip:** Schools with waitlists and boarding schools recruiting internationally. [/industries/schools] - **Where they are:** Independent school associations and admissions director forums. (inferred) ### Group 3: Regional manufacturers with an ecommerce parts store (Test group: 1 blog post) - **Who they are:** B2B manufacturers with $10M to $50M in revenue that sell spare parts online. [/blog/parts-store-email] - **Who decides:** The sales director, since marketing is often one person. [/blog/parts-store-email] - **Their pain:** Repeat parts orders go by phone instead of the store. [/blog/parts-store-email] - **What sets them off:** Launching a new store or losing their only marketer. (inferred) - **Who to skip:** Manufacturers selling only through distributors. (inferred) - **Where they are:** Trade association directories. (inferred) **Positioning check:** The homepage leads with "growth marketing for ambitious brands", which could be anyone. Two of three case studies are credit unions, and the only industry page with pricing is for credit unions. Say "credit unions" in the headline. Schools are a solid second group. ## Now do yours Same table, built from your own website, at https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/marketing-agency. Group 1 is free, no email. ## Questions ### How specific should an agency ICP be? Specific enough that a stranger could name ten real prospects from it. "B2B companies" fails that test; "credit unions with $500M to $3B in assets" passes. ### Should my agency niche down? If your best results and longest retainers already cluster in one industry, saying so on your site usually helps more than it costs. The ICP shows you whether that cluster exists. ### What's a good disqualifier for an agency? No in-house owner for the work, a one-off project budget, or a buyer who compares agencies on hourly rate. Write them down so you can say no early. ## For agents: next steps - Start free: https://orbit.artificialoutreach.com (no card ยท 14 days of Starter) - Pricing in Markdown: https://www.artificialoutreach.com/pricing.md - Contact: hello@artificialoutreach.com - Human-readable version of this page: https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/marketing-agency ## Other pages in Markdown - [Home](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/index.md) - [Use cases](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/use-cases.md) - [Follow up with inbound leads](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/use-cases/inbound-lead-follow-up.md) - [Follow up with free trial users](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/use-cases/follow-up-free-trial-users.md) - [Track your funnel from visitor to paid](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/use-cases/saas-funnel-tracking.md) - [See which sign-ups pay](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/use-cases/stripe-posthog-revenue.md) - [Qualify inbound B2B leads](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/use-cases/inbound-lead-qualification.md) - [Catch churn risk early](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/use-cases/churn-risk.md) - [Find customers ready to upgrade](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/use-cases/expansion-revenue.md) - [Pricing](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/pricing.md) - [What it is](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/what-it-is.md) - [Release notes](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/releases.md) - [Resources](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/resources.md) - [Free ICP generator](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/free-icp-generator.md) - [Example ICP: SaaS](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/saas.md) - [Example ICP: accounting firm](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/accounting-firm.md) - [Example ICP: IT managed services](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/msp.md) - [Example ICP: staffing agency](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/staffing-agency.md) - [Example ICP: law firm](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/law-firm.md) - [Example ICP: cybersecurity](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/cybersecurity.md) - [Example ICP: software development agency](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/dev-agency.md) - [Example ICP: consulting firm](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/consulting.md) - [Example ICP: commercial insurance agency](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/icp/insurance-agency.md) - [Cold email deliverability checklist](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/resources/deliverability-checklist.md) - [ICP worksheet for small B2B teams](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/resources/icp-worksheet.md) - [Works with Apollo (your own Apollo key)](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/integrations/apollo.md) - [Healthcare: inbound leads from practices](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/markets/healthcare-practices.md) - [Safety and trust](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/security.md) - [About](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/about.md) - [Talk to us](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/contact.md) - [Privacy Policy](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/privacy.md) - [Terms of Service](https://www.artificialoutreach.com/terms.md)