.png)
nderstanding your market is the difference between “marketing” and “spray and pray”.
At the end of this exercise, you will be clear on identifying the total market available to you, breaking it into logical segments, and defining which audiences are worth your time, budget, and energy.
Most businesses skip this step and end up targeting “everyone who might buy”. This translates to: nobody in particular.
Market Definition turns vague targeting into a strategic growth engine.
Why Market Definition Matters
Without a clear understanding of your market:
- Your marketing is too broad
- Your messaging becomes generic
- Your ad spend gets wasted
- Your campaigns underperform
- Sales wastes time on bad-fit leads
- You have no direction for personas or content
With proper market definition:
- You know exactly who you’re targeting
- You build campaigns around the right high-value groups
- You stop wasting money on low-fit audiences
- Your messaging becomes sharper and more relevant
- Sales and marketing work from the same targeting model
This is where your marketing strategy becomes intentional instead of hopeful.
What Success Looks Like
A strong market definition includes:
- Clear understanding of the total addressable market (TAM)
- Logical segmentation based on opportunity and fit
- A defined Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
- A prioritised Target Account List (TAL)
- Alignment across leadership, sales, and marketing on who we want as customers
When this is documented, targeting decisions become fast, consistent, and evidence-based.
Total Addressable Market (TAM)
What this is
Your TAM is the total market available to you - the full universe of companies that could realistically buy what you offer.
It’s not the number of people on the planet.
It’s not “everyone with money”.
It’s the realistic opportunity.
Why it’s important
TAM helps you understand:
- Market potential
- Scale of opportunity
- Where to prioritise
- Whether the business is in a niche, growth, or saturated market
- Which segments are big enough (or too small) to pursue
Success looks like
- TAM defined by industry, geography, or maturity
- Data-driven estimates (not guesswork)
- A breakdown showing where the biggest opportunities lie
Prompts
- What industries or verticals do we serve?
- What geographies do we operate in?
- What size/type of companies fit our solution?
- How many of these companies exist? (Estimate is fine.)
Segment Prioritisation
What this is
Segmentation is the process of breaking the total market into meaningful groups that share common characteristics, needs, or value potential.
Examples:
- Industry verticals
- Company size
- Operating model
- Maturity level
- Technographic profile
- Use case or problem type
Why it’s important
Not all segments are equal.
Some have higher revenue potential.
Some have shorter sales cycles.
Some are easier to penetrate.
Some are aligned to your strengths; others aren’t.
Segmentation lets you focus where you’ll win.
Success looks like
- Segments defined based on logic, not assumptions
- Clear criteria for why each segment matters
- A prioritised list (e.g., Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3)
- Agreement between sales, marketing, and leadership
Prompts
- Which segments currently deliver the most revenue?
- Which segments convert fastest?
- Which segments have the highest lifetime value?
- Which segments have the biggest pain that we solve best?
- Which segments are the easiest to reach?
Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
What this is
Your ICP describes the type of company that represents your best potential customer - the ones who:
- See value fastest
- Convert fastest
- Stay longest
- Are the most profitable
- Are the easiest to sell to
- Become your best case studies
This is not a persona (person). It’s the company-level definition.
Why it’s important
Your ICP guides:
- Targeting
- Segmentation
- Sales prioritisation
- Campaign design
- Persona development
- Budget allocation
- Messaging
When you know exactly who you want as a customer, everything becomes easier and more effective.
Success looks like
A clear set of firmographic + operational criteria such as:
- Industry
- Company size (revenue, headcount)
- Geography
- Tech stack
- Operational maturity
- Specific triggers or buying conditions
- Budget characteristics
Prompts
- Which customers do we love working with?
- Which customers deliver the biggest impact?
- Which companies churn or drag the process? Why?
- What characteristics do high-fit customers share?
- What characteristics disqualify a company immediately?
Target Account List (TAL)
What this is
A curated, high-priority list of companies that match your ICP and segmentation strategy.
This is where market definition turns into a practical, actionable list that sales and marketing can execute against.
Why it’s important
You can’t market to everyone.
A Target Account List ensures:
- Your outreach is intentional
- Campaigns can be highly targeted
- Sales efforts are focused where it matters
- Your CRM stays clean
- Your ads become more effective (ABM + targeting)
For many B2B companies, especially mid-market and enterprise, TAL is the backbone of all GTM execution.
Success looks like
- A list of accounts that match your ICP criteria
- Segmented or tiered based on potential (A/B/C or Tier 1/2/3)
- Enriched with key data (industry, size, contacts, etc.)
- Agreed upon by both sales and marketing
- Realistic enough that you can actually reach them
Prompts
- Which companies represent our “dream client” list?
- Who are our highest-fit prospects right now?
- Which accounts have high intent or strong signals?
- Which companies do we want to expand into this year?
Recommended Tools
- Clay / Lusha → to build and enrich account lists
- HubSpot CRM → to manage and segment target accounts
- Webflow (CMS) → for targeted landing pages if using ABM strategies
Disqualification Criteria
What this is
A list of characteristics that make a company not worth pursuing - no matter how interested they may seem.
Why it’s important
Disqualification saves time, budget, and energy.
It ensures sales and marketing stay focused on high-value opportunities.
Success looks like
- Clear, objective criteria
- Aligned across sales + marketing
- Based on fit, not gut feel
Prompts
- What industries or company types are an immediate “no”?
- What company sizes don’t work for us?
- What tech stacks are incompatible?
- What red flags indicate a long, unproductive process?
Market Opportunity Summary
What this is
A simple one-page summary that pulls everything together:
- TAM
- Segments
- ICP
- TAL
- Prioritisation tiers
Why it’s important
This becomes the strategic anchor for:
- Campaign planning
- Content strategy
- Persona development
- Budget allocation
- Outreach strategy
- Sales prioritisation
It is the “who” behind everything you will do.
Success looks like
A clearly structured summary that helps the business make strategic decisions fast.
