What is Marketing Segmentation? Digital Segmentation Benefits and Examples
This is where marketing segmentation can benefit your business. Marketing segmentation, also referred to as customer segmentation, or digital segmentation, allows companies to cater their advertisements and other marketing materials to better match the needs and desires of their target audience.
Call 888-601-5359 to speak with a strategist about marketing segmentation services from WebFX, or keep reading to learn “what is marketing segmentation?”, “what is a marketing segment?,” the types of digital segmentation in marketing, and an example of the strategy at work.
What is marketing segmentation?
Marketing segmentation is a strategy that allows you to identify precise groups of your audience, determine their preferences, and market your products to them in a way that resonates with them specifically.
Digital segmentation, allows you to be extremely targeted with your marketing — resulting in a more personalized experience for your audience, and consequently, selling more products.
Types of marketing segmentation
You can divide potential customers into groups based on their wants, needs, and interests. These divisions allow you to better understand your audience and cater to their needs.
You can segment your lead and customer data based on, but not limited to:
- Demographics: age, gender, and location
- Marital status
- Family status
- Interests
- Education level
- Spending habits
- And more
Example of marketing segmentation
For example, let’s say you’re creating a marketing campaign for diapers. Your audience could be described as almost anyone with an infant or toddler – but there are many segments within this audience.
One family within your audience might have two children, a relatively low household income, and reside in an urban location, while another could have four children, a high household income, and a home in a rural area. Though they share the common need of diapers for their small children, their decision-making process may be different when selecting a brand and product.
The lower-income family might care about getting decent diapers for a lower cost, while the higher-income family is comfortable spending more money, but want to know they’re getting high-quality diapers. With market segmentation, you could create marketing campaigns that cater to each of these audiences.
In one campaign, you could focus on the quality of your products, and in another, you could focus on their competitive pricing. This way, you can appeal to both segments, and show them that your products meet their needs.
What is a marketing segment?
When addressing the question “what is a marketing segment?,” the above example illustrates it perfectly.
The “segments” in the above example are the specific groups you’re addressing. So, the low-income family is one segment, and the high-income family is another segment. Both are marketed to in different ways to attract them to the brand.
4 marketing segmentation benefits
It can be a long process to break consumers down into groups by their wants and needs, and it takes time to narrow down your focus into specific groups that will buy your products. The benefits of doing this, however, marketing segmentation can have a significant impact on your campaign success.
1. Helps you cater to your potential customers
You can focus on the needs of a certain group when you use segmentation. In the case of the diapers, for example, there is a large segment of people who need diapers. You need to understanding the factors that influence what diapers they purchase. You can better understand how to advertise to potential customers if you know what factors contribute to their purchases.
Furthermore, you also make customers feel cared for when your company addresses their specific needs. When you create personalized content that meets the needs of each of your potential customers, you’ll be much more effective in showing them that your company is the right choice.
2. Helps you learn more about your audience
You can learn a lot when your audience is segmented. As you learn more about the individual groups within your audience, you’ll learn who you need to advertise to, how to do it, and what points will appeal to them.
You can also create targeted advertisements instead of blanket advertisements that don’t target any specific audience. Your business can tailor to the needs of different groups and utilize various platforms to get your message across to these groups.
3. Helps you identify gaps in your products
As you learn more about your audience, you may also be able to create new products to fit their needs and interests. The more you learn about your customers, the more effectively you’ll be able to gauge what other products they’re interested in – and if you don’t offer them already, you have the opportunity to expand your line.
As you research your segments, you may even find an overlapping need amongst groups that is not being fulfilled by any current products. Segmentation will help you find these gaps, create new products, and launch new campaigns with the confidence that there is a market need for what you’re offering.
This can lead to increased sales and revenue that you may have missed without segmentation. So if nothing else, this is reason alone to spend some time learning more about your audience.
4. Gives you insight on your marketing success
You can analyze where you stand with certain groups based on segmentation, and see which groups you’re reaching most effectively.
If your sales are high within a specific segment, this indicates that your advertising strategy is meeting the needs of that group. Then, you can use this information to inform your strategy for this segment moving forward, and create even more successful campaigns in the future.
On the other hand, you can also see which of your campaigns are less than successful. If your results are particularly low within one segment, this indicates that your campaigns aren’t effectively reaching this group. Then, you can work to improve your strategy, and do a better job of reaching that particular subset of your audience.
This benefits your company in the long run because it shows you where you’re falling short with your marketing strategy. And when you use this information to improve, you’ll be able to create better advertisements to reach more potential customers.
In some cases, you may find that a particular segment isn’t a great audience for your business. While this can be frustrating, it allows you to focus your marketing efforts (and budget) on reaching more qualified leads.
How marketing segmentation benefits consumers
It’s clear that digital segmentation in marketing helps businesses – but it’s beneficial for consumers, too. Consumers don’t want to be shown irrelevant content. They want to see information that’s interesting and relevant to their wants and needs.
When you use segmentation to deliver tailored content to consumers, you’ll be less likely to annoy them with irrelevant information and ads. If someone is already interested in a particular product or service, they’ll be much more likely to engage with your brand.
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