How to segment your audience for maximum impact

Are your ads not landing? Or maybe you want to get a little more targeted with your marketing? Segmenting your audience is what you need! Not only do you get to break down your audience into smaller chunks, but you can address the specific needs of your customers. 

To get started, you’ll need a basic understanding of what market segmentation is and why it’s so important for your business. Then, you’ll be able to start segmenting your audiences and creating more targeted campaigns for each group.

What is market segmentation? 

When it comes to marketing, segmentation is the practice of dividing your audience into smaller, more approachable groups. 

These groups generally share characteristics such as age, interests, location or buying habits. The idea is that by grouping and then understanding these segments, you can tailor your marketing to appeal to the needs of these groups. 

e.g. If you're an electrician, you could break up your customers into three bases - homeowners, landlords and businesses. By segmenting your audience you can create targeted messages that resonate with each audience. 

Benefits of Audience Segmentation

For us, we find 3 major benefits to segmenting your audience out:

1. Avoid vague, generic messaging.

Having broken up your audience into groups with shared characteristics, you can then tailor your messaging and campaigns to address the individual needs of these groups. 

2. Unlock the right channels.

Knowing who makes up your audience and what methods of communication they prefer, their purchase behaviour and demographics, you can choose the right channels to reach them on. For example, if you're trying to reach new customers on social media and your segment is mostly Gen Z, then running ads or posting on TikTok would be your best bet. If you were trying to appeal to baby boomers, then Facebook would be better suited. 

3. Purchase Intent.

With segmentation, you can target part of your audience who are more likely to purchase, such as those who have purchased similar products or services from you in the past. On this note, you can also target new markets to grow your database and discover new customers and clients when it's time to grow your brand. For this group, you might focus on branding and awareness-led campaigns, rather than putting your customers off with generic, vague sales messages. Depending on where your customers are in the buyer's journey, you can adapt your messaging to them. For example, if they're closer to buying than a customer who's just discovered your services or products, you can send a hard-hitting offer to get them over the line to conversion. 

How to segment your audiences. 

While there are many ways to divide up your audience, there are four main segmentation types.

1. Targeting by demographics.

By segmenting by demographics, you're grouping your audience based on facts about who they are. This can include: 

• Age
• Income
• Education
• Religion
• Job/career
• Gender

e.g. You might target your high-income audience segment for a premium product or service.

2. Audience targeting by psychographics.

Dividing your audience up by psychographics is to separate them based on their life choices and preferences. This includes:

• Hobbies and interests
• Values and beliefs
• Lifestyle
• Personality traits

For example, you might target those with a genuine interest in helping the environment with an eco-friendly product.

3. Audience targeting by behaviour.

Behavioural segmentation is a valuable way to approach audience targeting, as it separates your audiences based on their typical acts and behaviours. This includes:

• Previous purchases with your brand
• Previous purchases with similar brands or products
• Browsing behaviour
• Purchasing and spending habits
• Brand loyalty

e.g. When creating retargeting ads, focus on customers who have visited your website before and target them with ads based on the services or products they previously viewed.

4. Audience targeting by geography.

Geographic segmentation divides audiences based on their physical location. This can be on a small or grand scale, such as:

• Suburb
• Postcode
• City
• Region
• Country

e.g. A carpenter might target audiences based in the general area where they work. The carpenter could focus on specific suburbs near their home to avoid picking up clients from all across the city.

Need help with segmenting your audience?

Market segmentation is a handy tool to have in your back pocket, especially in the hands of a pro. The team at Yellow can help you uncover the most valuable segments of your market and build targeted Display, Search or Facebook ads to reach your audiences. 

Book a callback to see how we can help you today!