Marketing has always been and will continue to be about communication. You communicate a need or a desire to an audience and they respond to it by following your call to action. The problem arises when you deliver this message to the wrong audience. This is where audience segmentation steps in.
Audience segmentation is a much over-looked, yet extremely valuable communication tool. In fact, in a research study conducted by Melcrum Publishing in 2006, it was found that of the 1,149 communication professionals surveyed, 58% said that audience segmentation was a higher priority for them, than it would have been 18 months prior to the survey.
How to segment your audience
Why this change? Because of the realization that if mastered correctly, audience segmentation can provide tested tools and techniques that can be immediately implemented and become a practical way with which to communicate directly to the right audience at the right time.
It is precisely because we are dealing with individuals that we need to understand that audience segmentation can come in a variety of shapes and sizes –something to suit every person’s gender, mood, purse, and interest. The models can be based on some of the following:
- Market segmentation, where the model is based on a group of people who share one or more characteristics which cause them to have similar needs.
- Mood, where the audience’s feel for a particular product may differ even within a wider umbrella; for example insurance on funeral services which may differ from insurance on a wedding event.
- Capability, which works well when a product has different levels, like a gaming system, and the audience can increase their expertise over time.
- Purchase power, which varies from person to person.
- Customer experience, where the end goal is to capture the different needs the customer experiences over a period of time and throughout the lifecycle of the product and service.
There are some basic categories when it comes to targeting your audience. Because of the multitude of data available, it is tempting to over-extend your categories, but in most industries, the standardized questions do work:
- What does my target audience need?
- How do they go about meeting this need?
- What will deliver a good ROI for the company producing this product or service?
Within these broad categories, there are a number of sub-categories and questions to be asked. In the gaming industry for example, questions could be: is the prospect financially able to afford the product? Can they understand its complexities? If so, do you need to move to a higher level?
For a social media campaign the questions could be: who are the people most open to change? And who are the people critical to the success of the program?
Apart from this, there is also the question of who your audience will be. Will your audience be comprised of current customers who are loyal to the brand? Potential customers who will try your products or services? Big spenders? Infrequent spenders? This data can be invaluable in moving to the next step in segmenting your audience.
There are many more categories you can apply:
- Geographical boundaries you might need to set
- Demographical segmentation which can cover age, gender, level of education, income, marital status etc.
- Psychographics which refers to the personality and emotional behavior that influences purchases
- Beliefs and lifestyle, which can cover religious, political, and cultural values that can influence a purchase.
How to accumulate data for audience segmentation
There are plenty of ways to accumulate data. Established businesses will already have their customer list to begin working off. New business owners might want to purchase lists of their appropriate target audience. You can also build house lists through campaigns that revolve around email marketing, telemarketing, and social media marketing. The amount of data collected might determine if you want to invest in a good CRM tool.
- One excellent way of capturing data onsite can be by offering something free and of value, like a free report, eBook, white paper, or seminar.
- ‘Buy now’ landing pages can work well to compel the audience to take action.
- Segmentation enhancement techniques can further narrow your target in order to tailor-make your existing marketing plans and capture new leads.
How to apply this data gathered
Once you’ve effectively targeted your audience and collected data from them, the next step is to use this data productively. Audience segmentation leaves you with reliable information that can help you undertake the following:
- Better messaging: because you have segmented your audience, the message you send out to them can deliver a greater impact and result in a more effective response.
- Efficient prospecting: knowing who your audience is will help you generate suitable lead lists, comprising of prospects who convert better into sales.
- A detailed database: Generating a database which can be updated, shared, and maintained easily will save you time and effort and helps you avoid duplication, reassign dropped leads, and pursue potential customers.
Ongoing insights into behavioral buying patterns: Customer buying patterns may change over time –individuals get married, get promoted, grow their family, move countries, get divorced –and all these have a serious impact on their purchasing power. Ongoing data gathered helps you track these changes and establish a traceable pattern over time.
