5 Multi-Segment Marketing Strategies
1. Choose Key Demographics to Target
The first step in creating a marketing campaign that is tailored to multiple groups is to identify target audiences. Consider variables such as demographics, geographic location, and habits and interests. You’ll discover that customers are motivated to purchase a product for different reasons. Analyze audience demographics through tools such as Google Analytics. It will give you insight as you strategize on how best to present an appealing message to your key audience. Build an understanding of how a customer’s environment impacts purchasing decisions. Define how local environments may influence buyer choices. Segmentation involves identifying components such as behaviors, attitudes and product interests that affect how successful selling points are in a particular market. When you create segments, consider how substantial a group is based on the number of members. Are there enough people in a specific group to impact revenue? Can the group be differentiated? You want separate groups to have characteristics that allow them to stand apart from counterparts. Will your actions resonate with the group? You don’t want to waste your time marketing to a group that will not respond to your message.
2. Develop a Plan for Differentiated Marketing
Once you have identified groups that clearly differ from one another, exploit their differences. Develop separate marketing strategies for each group. While your sales volume may go up, the technique does involve more work when it comes to promotional materials and product design. Before jumping into multi-segment marketing strategies, a company should weigh the benefits against the costs. A company with limited resources that stands to benefit from narrowing their target audience should opt for concentrated targeting. This is the practice of focusing on just one segment with one strategy in mind.
3. Positioning Outputs
With any marketing strategy you decide to follow, you should go through the process of positioning your outputs in a way that sparks interest among customers. Positioning entails how you market your brand, product or service expressing the benefits to customers. The goal is to gain their support and to trump the competition with your sales efforts. For example, a company such as Sony must compete with other companies such as Vizio as it markets its products. Sony has to construct its position to communicate value to outpace the competition. For your positioning to be effective, all of your marketing materials must be consistent in what they express. After you have a clear understanding of what makes your product different from the competition, you can start to come up with a strategic plan. Your positioning tactics should involve details on your target audience, information on your product, a list of competitors, and your unique qualities. Equipping yourself with this information will allow you to better appeal to segmented audiences. Feature the qualities of your product in your domain name. It should somehow represent your brand image in order to encourage repeat visitors.
4. Segmentation Methods
Segmenting an audience can be approached in a variety of ways. The following are a few factors used to differentiate groups of potential customers.
4.1 Geographic Segmentation
Geographic location based on zip codes, states and counties can define a target audience. This strategy combines demographic information with geographic information. This allows for businesses to form more specific profiles of customers. This is an ideal approach for companies that sell products such as clothing which can be designed for certain regions.
4.2 Demographic Segmentation
If you want to focus more on age, gender, and income, the demographic route is the one you should follow. Since sites such as Google Analytics makes it easy to identify details about individual backgrounds, this is a popular way to gear targeted campaigns. In addition, customer interests are closely bound to their backgrounds.
4.3 Psychographic and Behavioral Segmentation
Psychographic segmentation involves dividing people based on their lifestyle, values, and personality. Interviews, surveys and customer data can be used to separate people into groups. Behavioral segmentation identifies how customers react to products and their different attitudes. This is a good route to pursue in order to gauge how a product resonates with a specific group of people.
5. Pinpointing Usage Rate
Multi-segment marketing could also be implemented by evaluating usage ratings. Aiming marketing campaigns at those who frequent certain sites can drive up sales. Develop an approach for heavy users and light users to appeal to both groups. Multi-segment marketing can help you hone in on your audience through the development of unique campaigns. Tailoring your message to fit audience needs will help drive up revenue. It also encourages repeat customers as many are supporters of customized content.
