Strategy is where many Go-To-Market (GTM) teams get bogged down. They bounce from one channel to another (inbound, outbound, paid, organic, podcasts, LinkedIn), hoping something will finally work. When it doesn’t, they usually blame execution. But as Mark Kilens, VP of Marketing at EasyLlama, shares in this episode of Metrics & Chill, that’s almost never the real issue. “They don’t have the fundamentals down of what we’re talking about here, which is ICP and strategy.” Watch the full episode The companies that grow predictably aren’t doing more things—they’re doing fewer things, much better, because they’ve nailed the foundation first. This playbook walks through how to build that foundation.
1. Start With the “Who” (Not the Channel)
Before you worry about channels, campaigns, or tactics, you need to be crystal clear on one thing: your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
“The first thing any great marketer, salesperson, any great Go-To-Market leader does is they deeply start to understand the who.”
Most teams gloss over this step or lean on gut feeling instead of real data. “You kind of know in your gut what should be the ICP, but let’s really validate it. And you might be surprised sometimes.”
How to do this well:
- Analyze your current customers (not just leads or prospects)
- Focus on retention, expansion, and product usage—not only acquisition
- Spot common traits and patterns among your best customers
- Bring in multiple functions (product, sales, marketing, ops)
Why it’s critical: Your ICP doesn’t just determine who you target with marketing. It shapes:
- What you build
- How you price
- How you position your product
- How you sell
If this…