Segmentation of target audience: principles and methods
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 7:10 am
What is it about? Segmentation of the target audience (TA) is necessary to increase the effectiveness of advertising, reduce expenses on marketing activities, improve the product and communication with clients.
What to pay attention to? Segmentation is based on certain criteria: demo-, geo- and psychographic, behavioral and social. The importance of these factors varies depending on the business area.
In this article:
The essence of target audience segmentation
Target Audience Segmentation Criteria
Methods of target audience segmentation
Stages of target audience segmentation
Segmenting the target audience using Yandex.Metrica
What to do after segmenting your target audience
Mistakes in target audience segmentation
Frequently asked questions about target audience segmentation
In-Depth Guide: How to Cut Your Ad Costs by 25% with Artificial Intelligence
Download for free
The essence of target audience segmentation
It is carried out by distributing current and potential clients italy business mailing list into heterogeneous groups (segments) based on many similar features. When classifying the target audience, age, gender, individual characteristics, socio-economic status and other qualities of users are taken into account.
The essence of target audience segmentation
Source: shutterstock.com
What is th
Strengthening loyalty . The more detailed a company defines segments, the more accurately the needs of customers are taken into account and the more successful personalized interactions are set up. Users receive positive impressions and rate the company highly.
Effective advertising strategies . Breaking down the target audience into segments allows you to accurately determine the needs of the target audience. And at the same time, eliminate random actions when launching PR campaigns aimed at universality in order to try to guess the preferences of customers. With correctly defined segments, product promotion goes faster, because the business does not assume, but precisely provides the required product to the interested target audience.
Reduced marketing costs . Segmentation of the target audience brings economic benefits, as it reduces the costs of testing and the likelihood of errors in setting up advertising campaigns, as a result, the business saves its marketing budget.
Maximize revenue by carefully placing products at the right time to potential buyers who are ready to purchase them.
Improving product characteristics . Deliberate segmentation allows you to better tailor your product to your audience's needs.
Insights for development strategy . Systematic targeting is important for successful company growth. Customer research can lead to unexpected discoveries about their preferences and help identify areas for improvement. For example, one target group may make purchases regularly, while another may only do so when there are discounts. This allows you to consider whether it is worth spending money on additional mailings (which are not always free), when perhaps a promo code will be enough.
Increased competition . Those who have a deeper understanding of the audience's industry sectors are ahead of others in identifying their needs and hitting the target with millimetre precision, while others are guessing.
Selecting a variety of communication channels . If users of different segments end up on different platforms, marketers will need to add new communication schemes to achieve promotional goals after segmentation.
Read also!
"Company Marketing Plan: Short and Detailed Versions"
Read more
Target Audience Segmentation Criteria
The choice of the most appropriate method depends on the business industry, its strategy, and current goal:
Geographical approach . Focuses on determining the location of clients by their territory of residence, work, recreation, study. It is important that this method of division directly affects the choice of PR platforms and the setting of targeted advertising in marketing.
Demographic characteristics . It is possible to modify the demand for products and services in different industries depending on the gender, age and marital status of the consumer. Attracting male and female audiences requires an individual approach to creating advertising materials and forming a product range.
Socioeconomic characteristics . Consumers are grouped according to financial stability and social aspects such as profession, income, level of education, preferences in products of other companies, which indicates their material well-being. A simple segmentation method is used: dividing services into economic and premium levels.
Target Audience Segmentation Criteria
Source: shutterstock.com
Consumer characteristics . Various aspects of customer behavior during the purchase of goods are important: which products attract attention, which communication channels are preferred, whether the customer makes purchases online or offline.
Psychological features . Perhaps the personal characteristics of the consumer will also be valuable: worldview, emotional status, attitudes and lifestyle, self-esteem, ability to adapt to new things.
Classic segmentation for B2C.
Within the framework of the target audience grouping in the B2C market, the following criteria are influential:
Location : country, region, city, residence characteristics, population size, income level.
Client identification : age, gender, marital status, education, profession.
Interests and needs : hobbies, values, desired level of comfort, lifestyle.
Method of making purchases : their frequency and volume, interest in services and products similar to yours, type of decision-making - rational or emotional.
The motives that prompt the client to resort to you : what difficulties does he face? What troubles arise on his way?
The diversity of the audience of companies in the B2C sector is quite large - there is a whole spectrum of different consumer groups that require an individual approach.
Within the B2B target audience segmentation, there is a traditional approach to segmentation, which depends on various factors:
Location of the consumer and the company where he works : country, city, population density.
The client's company activity (or area of business owned): industry, size, sales volume, seasonality, internal organizational structure, number of employees. Also: presence of competitors, characteristics and scale of the target audience, brand values, success in the market.
Business process structure : purchasing, sales, personnel management, expansion and strategic planning. UIS, a company specializing in the development of virtual PBX to improve sales, is interested in studying the size of the commercial department of clients, their approach to interactions, the presence of a CRM system.
Factors that make people buy products from you : what difficulties bring them to you, why their income is not increasing or is decreasing, what areas of business development are of interest to them.
At the same time, it cannot be said that B2B is an absolutely strict, official direction that has no similarities with B2C. The portrait of a potential client is also important. For example, having identified that your B2B audience is young and has special preferences, you can use the recognized tone in communication in advertising materials.
Target Audience Segmentation Criteria
Source: shutterstock.com
To effectively interact with the target audience in the B2B sphere, it is necessary to take into account the unique features of communication channels. In this area, significant attention is paid to the placement of materials in specialized media, participation in specialized events - conferences, seminars, exhibitions. A deep analysis of all segments of the target audience will allow you to accurately determine how and where to interact with potential company manager
What to pay attention to? Segmentation is based on certain criteria: demo-, geo- and psychographic, behavioral and social. The importance of these factors varies depending on the business area.
In this article:
The essence of target audience segmentation
Target Audience Segmentation Criteria
Methods of target audience segmentation
Stages of target audience segmentation
Segmenting the target audience using Yandex.Metrica
What to do after segmenting your target audience
Mistakes in target audience segmentation
Frequently asked questions about target audience segmentation
In-Depth Guide: How to Cut Your Ad Costs by 25% with Artificial Intelligence
Download for free
The essence of target audience segmentation
It is carried out by distributing current and potential clients italy business mailing list into heterogeneous groups (segments) based on many similar features. When classifying the target audience, age, gender, individual characteristics, socio-economic status and other qualities of users are taken into account.
The essence of target audience segmentation
Source: shutterstock.com
What is th
Strengthening loyalty . The more detailed a company defines segments, the more accurately the needs of customers are taken into account and the more successful personalized interactions are set up. Users receive positive impressions and rate the company highly.
Effective advertising strategies . Breaking down the target audience into segments allows you to accurately determine the needs of the target audience. And at the same time, eliminate random actions when launching PR campaigns aimed at universality in order to try to guess the preferences of customers. With correctly defined segments, product promotion goes faster, because the business does not assume, but precisely provides the required product to the interested target audience.
Reduced marketing costs . Segmentation of the target audience brings economic benefits, as it reduces the costs of testing and the likelihood of errors in setting up advertising campaigns, as a result, the business saves its marketing budget.
Maximize revenue by carefully placing products at the right time to potential buyers who are ready to purchase them.
Improving product characteristics . Deliberate segmentation allows you to better tailor your product to your audience's needs.
Insights for development strategy . Systematic targeting is important for successful company growth. Customer research can lead to unexpected discoveries about their preferences and help identify areas for improvement. For example, one target group may make purchases regularly, while another may only do so when there are discounts. This allows you to consider whether it is worth spending money on additional mailings (which are not always free), when perhaps a promo code will be enough.
Increased competition . Those who have a deeper understanding of the audience's industry sectors are ahead of others in identifying their needs and hitting the target with millimetre precision, while others are guessing.
Selecting a variety of communication channels . If users of different segments end up on different platforms, marketers will need to add new communication schemes to achieve promotional goals after segmentation.
Read also!
"Company Marketing Plan: Short and Detailed Versions"
Read more
Target Audience Segmentation Criteria
The choice of the most appropriate method depends on the business industry, its strategy, and current goal:
Geographical approach . Focuses on determining the location of clients by their territory of residence, work, recreation, study. It is important that this method of division directly affects the choice of PR platforms and the setting of targeted advertising in marketing.
Demographic characteristics . It is possible to modify the demand for products and services in different industries depending on the gender, age and marital status of the consumer. Attracting male and female audiences requires an individual approach to creating advertising materials and forming a product range.
Socioeconomic characteristics . Consumers are grouped according to financial stability and social aspects such as profession, income, level of education, preferences in products of other companies, which indicates their material well-being. A simple segmentation method is used: dividing services into economic and premium levels.
Target Audience Segmentation Criteria
Source: shutterstock.com
Consumer characteristics . Various aspects of customer behavior during the purchase of goods are important: which products attract attention, which communication channels are preferred, whether the customer makes purchases online or offline.
Psychological features . Perhaps the personal characteristics of the consumer will also be valuable: worldview, emotional status, attitudes and lifestyle, self-esteem, ability to adapt to new things.
Classic segmentation for B2C.
Within the framework of the target audience grouping in the B2C market, the following criteria are influential:
Location : country, region, city, residence characteristics, population size, income level.
Client identification : age, gender, marital status, education, profession.
Interests and needs : hobbies, values, desired level of comfort, lifestyle.
Method of making purchases : their frequency and volume, interest in services and products similar to yours, type of decision-making - rational or emotional.
The motives that prompt the client to resort to you : what difficulties does he face? What troubles arise on his way?
The diversity of the audience of companies in the B2C sector is quite large - there is a whole spectrum of different consumer groups that require an individual approach.
Within the B2B target audience segmentation, there is a traditional approach to segmentation, which depends on various factors:
Location of the consumer and the company where he works : country, city, population density.
The client's company activity (or area of business owned): industry, size, sales volume, seasonality, internal organizational structure, number of employees. Also: presence of competitors, characteristics and scale of the target audience, brand values, success in the market.
Business process structure : purchasing, sales, personnel management, expansion and strategic planning. UIS, a company specializing in the development of virtual PBX to improve sales, is interested in studying the size of the commercial department of clients, their approach to interactions, the presence of a CRM system.
Factors that make people buy products from you : what difficulties bring them to you, why their income is not increasing or is decreasing, what areas of business development are of interest to them.
At the same time, it cannot be said that B2B is an absolutely strict, official direction that has no similarities with B2C. The portrait of a potential client is also important. For example, having identified that your B2B audience is young and has special preferences, you can use the recognized tone in communication in advertising materials.
Target Audience Segmentation Criteria
Source: shutterstock.com
To effectively interact with the target audience in the B2B sphere, it is necessary to take into account the unique features of communication channels. In this area, significant attention is paid to the placement of materials in specialized media, participation in specialized events - conferences, seminars, exhibitions. A deep analysis of all segments of the target audience will allow you to accurately determine how and where to interact with potential company manager