Why Every Thought Leader Needs an Ideal Client Profile (ICP) – And How to Create One

You say you’re serious about becoming a thought leader because you know that it will help your company outgun companies with bigger budgets than you AND thought leadership is the best form of job security you can create. It makes you the "crème de la crème" and can give you the option of going out on your own as a consultant if push comes to shove or if you just damn well want to.

So, let me ask you this: Who are you actually talking to?

If you cannot give an answer in terms of title and company ARR, then let me stop you right there. You’re talking to everyone, which means you’re talking to no one.?

You’re just another profile shouting at the sun.?

Here's Your Starting Point

Your Ideal Client Profile (ICP) is the North Star of your content strategy. It keeps you from churning out generic, surface-level posts that don’t attract the right people. Instead, it ensures every word you write speaks directly to your target audience—the people who will benefit most from your insights, engage with your content, and eventually want to work with you.

Without an ICP, you’re just throwing content into the void, hoping something sticks. And that’s not a strategy.

How to Build Your Thought Leadership ICP

The good news? You don’t need a full-blown marketing department to do this. But you do need to be precise. Here’s what your ICP should include:

1. Company Characteristics

Get specific about the type of companies your thought leadership is designed to influence. You should define:

Industry Focus – Are you speaking to fintech startups? AI-driven SaaS companies? Legacy enterprises navigating digital transformation?

Company Size – Are you targeting mid-market firms ($50M–$500M ARR) or enterprise giants ($1B+ ARR)?

Geographic Considerations – Do you focus on a particular region, or are you addressing a global audience?

For example, I focus on tech executives at companies between $120M and $250M ARR—because that’s where my expertise delivers the most value.

2. Job Titles and Departments

Thought leadership isn’t just about industries—it’s about people. Who exactly are you trying to reach within these companies? Be specific.

Job Titles – Are you speaking to CEOs? CMOs? VPs of Sales?

Departments – Are you targeting product teams, marketing leaders, or IT decision-makers?

Understanding this ensures that your content directly speaks to the challenges and responsibilities of the right audience.

3. Their Pain Points—In Their Words

This part is non-negotiable. You cannot assume you know your audience’s struggles. You need to talk to them.

Interview people in your target audience and ask:

What are the biggest challenges they face in their role?

What obstacles keep them from hitting their goals?

What information do they wish they had access to?

The answers will shape your content. You won’t be guessing—you’ll be addressing real issues, in their language.

4. Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP)

Now that you know what they struggle with, why should they listen to you?

Your UVP should answer three core questions:

What do you bring to the table that others don’t?

How do you solve their pain points better than anyone else?

What is the core message that defines your expertise?

Your UVP differentiates you from every other thought leader in your space. It’s why people will engage with your content instead of scrolling past it.

5. Your Specialized Expertise

This is where you narrow your focus. Thought leaders don’t cover everything—they carve out a niche.

Think about the unique combination of skills, experiences, and insights you bring to the table. Are you the go-to person for AI-driven sales strategies? A champion of data sovereignty in #fintech? A leader in product-led growth?

Your expertise should be clear, compelling, and impossible to ignore.

The ICP Is Your Blueprint

If you’re serious about building a house, you start with a blueprint. That's a non-negotiable. It keeps the project moving forward and everyone on the same page. And with thought leadership, you begin with an ICP. It keeps all those brilliant ideas moving in the same direction.

I've worked with a lot of executives, and once they begin seeing the content we end up creating, it invariably brings on more ideas. Which is natural. And it's great. It's the "energy spent creates more energy" principle of exercise at work in content creating. But all those ideas have the ability to send executives off on tangents and confuse their audience in the process. The ICP keeps you speaking to your target audience in their language.

The point? Start wisely. Define your company focus, target audience, their pain points, your value proposition, and your expertise. When you do this right, your content will start attracting the right people—not just more people. Otherwise, you’ll waste time creating content that doesn’t resonate.

And that’s how you begin moving from being just another LinkedIn poster to an industry authority.