Free template - Audience segmentation

How to categorise your customers

You've got your product or service ready and now you're set to deliver those important comms and marketing messages. But before you get those creative juices flowing, think about how you are going to segment your consumers into different categories.

Sure, it's tempting and might save time to distribute uniform messages across the board to all stakeholders. However, segmenting groups is a much more refined approach that helps you to fine tune output to resonate with their needs.

For example, imagine you're selling some lipstick. Close your eyes and imagine the marcoms if you're targeting all women... Pretty basic isn't it?

Now let's picture you promoting it to 15 year old girls who live in western suburbs and have counter culture values. The messaging and packaging would have a tailored design to pack a bigger punch. That's because the approach is designed to help end-users identify with what you're telling them.

Segmenting your audience helps to...	Not segmenting your audiences causes...
Attract the right customers Focus messaging to client needs and preferences Discover new opportunities	Untargeted generic info Flat and mediocre content Missed opportunities to resonate with buyers

Example of how audience segmentation works

As you know, the video games industry is rife with products targeting adolescent and young males. However, this is not the only demographic that invests money and time into these gadgets. Gaming giants Nintendo have self evidently recognised this and have created products  and marcoms more friendly to families. While they could have played it safe and stood-toe-to-toe with Sony or Microsoft, they carved out their relevance in the market place by focussing on a separate demographic.

Let's view how this is effective in the real world. Compare the advertisements below on X. It's loosely the same product, but designed to speak to different end users.

Above: Notice the colours and the design of the Nintendo Switch are more friendly to families and children. There is a mix demographic of the hands including a child, and adult males and females.

Above: The image stye here appears to be more bold and futuristic compared to the Nintendo Switch. The price points and packaging suggests a more intense gaming experience as opposed to casual. Historically, this brand has been very popular with adult and teenage males.

How do I segment my audience?

Think of your target market and separate them into subgroups. These should be based on demographics, behaviour and psychiatrics. Factors such as the following should help you brainstorm:

Demographics	Behaviour	Psychographics
Location Gender / gender identity Age Ethnicity Income Education level	Purchase history User journeys Readiness to change	Values Attitudes Beliefs

When considering the above information, recognise your consumers' lifestyle. For example, are they family orientated Vs single and independent? Or perhaps busy labour worker Vs city professional? Download the free template below, fill in the blanks and enter it into your marketing strategy.

Download your free audience segmentation template

What next?

Once you've categorised your cliental, start tailoring your comms to match the desires of your established segments. Examine what social media channels they use, how they access news or any other channels you can use to reach them. From there, tailor your output accordingly. Remember to monitor metrics and tweak future marcoms activities once you've got a better idea of they tick.