Market segmentation
Strategy and planning
Strategy and planning
Market segmentation splits a market into groups of buyers similar enough to serve with the same offer and message, and different enough to justify separate choices.
You can segment on characteristics (industry, company size, region, age), on behaviour (what they buy, how often, through which channel) or on the job someone is trying to get done. The last one usually produces the most useful segments because it says something about your offer directly.
A workable segment is big enough to earn from, reachable through a channel you can actually use, and recognisable enough that you know when someone belongs to it. Miss one of those three and you have a slide, not a segment.
Market segmentation is about choosing your market; list segmentation in email or CRM is about splitting the contacts you already have. See the segmentation entry as well.
In practice
Creating so many segments you can no longer serve them differently. Two segments you genuinely treat differently beat eight that all land on the same page.
Related terms
- SegmentationSegmentation splits your audience or email list into groups with similar characteristics or behaviour so you can communicate more precisely.
- Target audienceYour target audience is the group of people or companies you want to reach, described by characteristics, situation and buying behaviour.
- Buyer personaA buyer persona describes a typical buyer: their role, goals, doubts and the questions they ask before deciding.
- PositioningPositioning is the place you occupy in your audience's mind: who you're for, how you differ, and why that difference matters.