By MARK RIFFEY for the Flathead Beacon
Have you heard that you should “segment” your customers before marketing to them?
Ever wondered what that means, much less how you’d do that?
Today, we’re going to talk about segmenting in simple terms, but you might be wondering…
Why should I segment my customers?
Good question.
You want to segment your marketing is to achieve something called “Message-to-market match“.
Let me explain with an example. Let’s say your company sells women’s undergarments.
Would you advertise the same undergarments in the same way with the same photos and the same messaging to each of these groups?
- Single women
- Pregnant women
- Newlyweds
Moms of girls approaching adolescents- Dads of girls approaching adolescents
- 50-plus women
- 80-plus women
- Women under 5′ 6″ tall
- “Plus sized” women
- “Tiny” women
- Very curvy women
- Not-so-curvy women
- Women who have survived breast cancer
- Significant others
I’ll assume you answered “No”.
“Message-to-market match” means your message is refined for a specific group of recipients so that it’s welcome and in-context, rather than annoying and out of left field.
A lack of message-to-market match is why people tune out ads and pitch so much mail – the message isn’t truly for them. If it happens enough times, everything you send them is ignored. Ouch.
Like the recycling bin
When recycling different materials, the processes required to break down cardboard (shredding, pulping, etc) will differ from the process that prepares glass, plastic or animal manure for reuse.
Think of your messages in the same way. If the message a customer receives doesn’t make any sense because it’s out of context, it’s like recycling something with the wrong process. The money, time and energy invested in creating and delivering the wrong message will be wasted. Worse yet, the wrong message can alienate your customer and/or make your business look clueless.
Ever received an offer “for new customers only” from a business that you’ve worked with for months or years? How does that make you feel?
You might think a generic piece of news is received the same way by everyone – when in fact that news might excite some customers and annoy the rest. The time spent considering this and segmenting your announcement can save a lot of pain.
Your First Oil Change
Look at the groups listed for the undergarment business. That’s customer segmentation.
If you sent “The Single Dad’s guide to helping your daughter pick out her first bra” to the entire customer list, how many would think “This is exactly what I need”? Only the single dads group. Most others would hit delete, unsubscribe, click the “Spam” button or just think you’re not too swift.
The smart folks sending thepiece would break it down further by sending a different guide to the moms than they send to the dads.
Need a simpler version? Chevy vs. Ford vs. Dodge. Harley vs. every other bike. You shouldn’t have the same conversation with these groups, even if you sell something common to all of them, like motor oil.
Think that list is broken down too much? Don’t. I just scratched the surface.
Why you can’t segment
– You don’t have or “get” technology.
Whether you use a yellow pad or a fancy customer relationship management (CRM) system, you can make this work. If not, consider a better way to keep track of things.
Long before computers, savvy business people would sort customers into the “blue pile, red pile, yellow pile” before putting together a marketing piece. No technology is no excuse.
– Your media doesn’t offer segmenting.
What if your chosen media doesn’t provide a way to target a specific segment? They don’t deliver special Yellow Page books to single people, retired people, CPAs or car dealers – so how do you segment your message?
You can segment those media buys by message since many vendors are unable to deliver a different book, newspaper, magazine or radio/TV ad to different types of customer – which should also improve ad ROI.
You might be getting pressure from internet-savvy staff (or vendors) to drop old-school media. If it works now (do you know?), dropping them makes no sense.
– I don’t have a customer list
Start creating one today, even if it’s on a yellow pad. Figure out what differences are important to you and record them.
Want to learn more about Mark or ask him to write about a strategic, operations or marketing problem? See Mark’s site, contact him on Twitter, or email him atmriffey@flatheadbeacon.com.
*****