Your Guide to Market Segmentation

Consumers today demand personalisation.  From personalised trainers to our names on our specially made Starbucks,  it has to be made just for us.  If a business’s marketing doesn’t speak directly to us then we switch off and we aren’t interested.  There are just too many marketing messages to deal with in any given day and this filtering is necessary for consumers.  This is a problem for you as a business owner, if you don’t get the marketing message spot on you’re going to be ignored.  I know, frightening isn’t it.

Being personal is easy when you have one niche audience but what about when you have two, three or multiple niche markets. For example, in my business I can work worth anything from a small business owners to a corporate business woman that wants to go freelance. When it comes to creating a marketing message how do we know where to pitch it for both ends of the spectrum?  You can’t.  You can’t be everything to all people and that’s where market segmentation comes in.

What is market segmentation?

Market segmentation is effectively identifying all the various groups that make up your entire target audience.  Once you’ve done this you can start profiling each audience and create offers and marketing messages that are designed especially for them.

What are the benefits of market segmentation?

Being able to tailor your marketing messages means you’re more likely to ‘speak’ directly to your target market and capture their attention.  It will be easier to build desire as you can focus on the benefits that are important to that particular market segment.  For example, for me, I can ensure that my marketing is jargon free and that I focus on simplicity and accessibility to make new business owners feel supported whereas when I’m targeting experienced entrepreneurs I want to demonstrate expertise and advanced knowledge.

The ultimate prize for good market segmentation is more sales, and at the end of the day that’s what all business owners want, isn’t it?

How can I start segmenting my market?

Begin by establishing the various groups within your target market.  Group customers by experience level, desires, interests, age – whatever makes sense in your business. 

You can segment your email list so you can send certain offers to particular segments of your market and not others.  Big companies like Tesco and Amazon have very advanced market segmentation strategies, look at how they do it and consider how you might translate some of their tactics into your business.

Once you’ve successfully segmented your market you can learn more about each of your segments and continue to refine what you do.   It’s also much easier to spot under-serviced markets and demand for new products.