Targeting and Segmentation Strategies

With more and more people hopping online to discover brands, compare products, and make purchasing decisions, it’s no wonder businesses are constantly on the lookout for digital marketing strategies.  

Running ads is one of the most effective strategies marketers use to attract and engage potential customers. However, we’re not talking about campaigns that target everyone and anyone. We’re talking about those that are intended for folks who would actually be interested in what you’re offering.  

This is where targeting and segmentation come in.  

Zooming In

Targeting and segmentation have long been the Robin Hood of digital marketing strategies, shooting their arrows straight into the heart of the customer base. They’re there to help you slice and dice the behemoth of a market into digestible chunks.

The Lowdown on Segmentation

Segmentation is the process of dividing your audience into categories, or segments, based on various criteria. These could be demographic factors (age, gender, and location), psychographic traits (interests, attitudes, and lifestyles), behavior (purchasing history, brand interactions), or even geographical areas.  

Whatever the criteria, the goal remains the same: to create a more detailed picture of your audience so that you can tailor your message and medium accordingly.

Aiming Your Arrows Right with Targeting

Once you've segmented your audience, it's time to pick up your marketing bow and get ready to aim. That's where you turn to targeting.  

This strategy involves selecting a segment (or more) and designing a tailored marketing campaign to engage them. The secret is to know your target audience inside out – their likes, dislikes, habits, preferences, you name it!

By developing a deep understanding of each segment, you can then craft messages and campaigns that will hit the mark. We're talking about click-worthy emails, engaging social media posts, and compelling online ads that your audience will love.

If "one size fits all" is the tired old hat of yesterday, then targeted and segmented marketing is the tailor-made suit of the digital age. What's more appealing: a random, generic advert that could apply to anyone, or a targeted, personalized message that speaks directly to you? We bet you’d go for the latter in a snap!

Targeting & Segmentation Strategies  

Now, let’s dive into the various strategies that will make your ads effective:

1. Demographic Segmentation

The bread and butter of segmentation, demographic segmentation involves grouping your audience based on basic details like age, gender, income, job type, marital status, and educational attainment.  

Suppose you're marketing luxury cars. You’d want to target your campaign towards men and women aged 40-60 with high income levels. You could also consider factors like occupation, aiming at careers that offer higher salaries, such as doctors or lawyers. The assumption here is that this group has the purchasing power and possible interest in high-end vehicles.

2. Geographic Segmentation

Here, you categorize your audience based on where they live. It could be as wide as which country they live in or as narrow as their neighborhood.  

Let's think about a clothing brand that specializes in winter gear. They might specifically target customers living in colder climates where the demand for their products would naturally be higher. This could mean focusing their efforts on states like Alaska, Minnesota, or countries like Canada and Norway where winter conditions are more severe.  

Geographic segmentation is especially handy for local marketing campaigns. For instance, a local eatery might do exceptionally well if they aim their social media ads at folks living within a quick drive.

3. Psychographic Segmentation

With this strategy, you're lumping customers together based on what makes them tick – their attitudes, hobbies, values, lifestyle, and even personality traits.  

Picture an outdoor gear company wanting to connect with those who care deeply about the environment and love staying active. This kind of segmentation is a powerhouse because it gets to the heart of what drives people to buy.

4. Behavioral Segmentation

This is where you divide your audience based on how they act, what they use, and the choices they make. This could be stuff like how they interact with your brand, their buying history, how often they use certain products, and how they've responded to your previous marketing efforts.  

Consider a streaming service like Netflix. They may segment their audience based on viewing habits, including the types of shows or movies a user frequently watches. For subscribers who often watch romantic comedies, the streaming service might target them with personalized recommendations for new rom-com releases.

5. Technographic Segmentation

Technographic segmentation is all about sorting customers based on their tech habits. This covers the kinds of digital devices they use, their go-to social media platforms, and other digital behaviors.

Let’s say you discovered that most of your customers primarily use Apple devices. In this case, you could create a marketing campaign specifically for them, highlighting features of your app that are unique to the iOS version or showing how the app integrates seamlessly with Apple Health.

6. Retargeting

Retargeting is a digital marketing strategy where you target users who have previously interacted with your brand or website. They’re the ones who have visited your website, viewed specific products, or abandoned their shopping cart before making a purchase.

Using retargeting ads, you’ll be able to remind them of their previous interest and encourage them to take your desired action – be it to buy an item, sign up to your newsletter, or download your latest eBook.  The goal is to turn those “almost buys” into actual sales.  

Here’s a scenario: you run a travel booking website. A visitor spends some time searching for flights and accommodation in Paris but ends up not making any bookings at all. You could retarget them with ads featuring deals for Parisian hotels or discounted flights, capitalizing on their demonstrated interest.

7. Lookalike Audiences

Imagine having the ability to clone your best customers – the ones who engage the most, make frequent purchases, or have a high lifetime value. What if you could find more people who look like them, act like them, and have the same interests?  

That's the power of Lookalike Audiences.

Platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn have developed impressive algorithms that do just this. They analyze the profiles of your existing customers and identify the common characteristics, interests, behaviors, and demographics. Once the platform has an “image” of your typical customer, it goes out and finds other users who match this profile.  

But why is this so powerful? Well, if a user shares a lot of characteristics with your existing customers, there's a good chance they may also be interested in your products or services. By targeting Lookalike Audiences, you're reaching out to people who are likely to have a genuine interest in what you offer.

Rev Up Your Business with DR!

We've had quite a ride through the fascinating world of targeting and segmentation. We've dissected demographics, navigated through geography, delved into psychographics and behaviors, mastered the world of tech, and even reeled back in potential customers who slipped through the net.

And, guess what? That's only the tip of the iceberg! If you're thinking, "This sounds awesome, but it also seems like a ton of work..." you're not wrong! Don't fret, though, there's help at hand.

Enter Digital Resource. We're an internet marketing agency that's not just on top of these strategies, but continues to blaze trails in the industry. We live and breathe digital marketing, and we’d be more than happy to bring your brand to the forefront of your target audience's minds.

If you’re ready to elevate your business and make your goals a reality, all you gotta do is book a free consultation with us! We can’t wait to turn you into our next success story!