Audience Segmentation
What Is Audience Segmentation?
Audience segmentation is the process of organizing and merely dividing the sample population into manageable segments to fit in your services and communication to the preferences of each group.
Most people talk about having an audience, but in reality, they have multiple audiences with diverse expectations and wants. These multiple audiences seek services for different reasons and have various behaviors. A great manager needs to be in a position to be able to identify and understand the distinct differences before they can respond to them. Audience segmentation allows this to be done in a coherent and organized manner. Here are some facts about audience segmentation by Guttulus.
Why Segment?
The chances of your event succeeding, for example, are heightened if you take your time to know about your audience. Segmentation helps in bringing all these variations to the table so that one can come up with strategies to thoroughly engage particular audiences supported by the appropriate characteristics and habits in which they share. Moreover, it is a guaranteed method for reaching more differentiated and wider audiences which increases accuracy in perhaps data collected and in some cases it’s cost effective.
What Makes A Functional Segment?
We all like to think of ourselves from of an individual point of view. However, it is quite hectic for any firm to treat each audience member as a separate segment from another individual. A few factors can be considered in order to make a functional segment.
• Sizeable: a reasonable size will help one understand the audience at an individual level hence more accurate.
• Relevant: an identifiable list of things that the firm in question can respond to.
• Distinguishable: with elements that are measurable distinctive from other segments.
• Locatable: the components of the segments have to be within reach for the organization to communicate directly.
Types Of Audience Segmentation
Behavioral
This type of segmentation entails on how people engage with your organization. It could be through studying the frequency of attendance of the individuals, levels of purchase, selected communication preferences and the type of activity engaged in.
Demographic
Grouping the individuals regarding their ages, gender, incomes, life phases or social grades will help understand the segments critically as you narrow down your audience needs.
Geographical
This groups the audience in terms of regional roots perhaps where they work or live.
Attitudinal
Information such as individual tastes and preferences, personal interests, lifestyle values and attitudes towards your organization will aid sync the audience into more sensible and understandable groups. This will help an organization understand what influences a client when making decisions on purchases.
Importance Of Audience Segmentation
Audience segmentation is a critical task for any business managers since most marketing efforts might fall into the wrong target client which eventually causes marketing failure. Creating a precise client profile aids one in planning the most efficient stages of product delivery services such as pricing strategies, product development which is discussed below.
- Product Development
An audience segmentation helps in developing a product or service that solves a problem they have or provides a benefit they are seeking. Segmentation further helps organizations to satisfy needs rather than taking the risk to create desires in the market.
- Pricing
Segmentation helps one understand what the end user feels about a product’s or service’s pricing policy. A few adjustments will determine your sales and profits in the long run.
- Promotion
Having the demographics of your audience allows you to choose the best advertising platform and promotional vehicles. With accurate promotion comes better feedback from your target audience.
- Distribution
Segmenting the audience helps one to narrow down your distribution choices and direct efforts on sales in regions that have the most significant number of target clients. You could stock your products in stores where your target client shops, only after you have first-hand information on audience experience and preference.
To segment or not to segment?
Pros
- Helps the organization to focus on their marketing efforts with accurate data and information.
- Helps in setting more accurate and specific goals
- It moves the sales process and prospects faster and more effectively
- Creates specific and more suitable calls to actions for each segment
Cons
- The process can be expensive as it takes in-depth research to survey clients and define contents of the segments.
- It could turn into a time-consuming process from developing clientele personas and profiles to collecting data and analyzing the trends.
- Important clients can slip through the process. A significant segment may be left out through ignorance or failure to target the secondary or tertiary clients while focusing on primary clients only.
Conclusion
Audience segmentation, when put into practice, is used as both a platform for deeper understanding of the firm’s target audience and as a tool to attract new clients. The process achieves best results if developed over time with topping up the information collected from the audiences. Moreover, understanding your clientele’s needs and wants helps your organization to offer what the customer exactly needs hence narrowing down the chances of making fewer sales or losses.