10 Fantastic Market Segmentation Strategy Examples

Segmenting a market is critical for a number of marketing strategies to be successful. By segmenting a market into different niche demographics, you’ll be able to better understand the values that your goods or services will be able to provide each segment. You’ll also be able to personalize the message to each market segment and this will help you be able to build better relationships. When you can do that, then you’ll be able to establish a series of repeat customers and better revenue streams.

It all begins with providing a product that has authentic value. There are no shortcuts available in the world of marketing through segmentation. Any misrepresentation will be immediately exposed and this will lower your reputation in all demographics. There really is no place to hide when you segment a market, so just be honest and straightforward. You’ll find a lot of success that way.

Great Market Segmentation Strategy Ideas

1. Demographic Segmentation Is Common
The most common form of market segmentation is to separate people into specific demographics. There are a wide range of demographics that you can use for marketing purposes. You might choose to focus on age. Some companies will focus on race or nationalities. Income levels are another common method of segmenting a market into a smaller group. Marital status, religion, job titles, and even a basic segmentation of gender are all widely used.

2. Where Do People Live?
Another form of segmentation that is commonly used for marketing is based on geography. Where a person lives can have a dramatic impact on the products or services that they order. Someone living in a wet climate, for example, will purchase more mold and mildew control products than someone living in a desert. Geographic segmentation can be on the national level, be broken down into regions, provinces, states, or counties. For targeted marketing, communities and even neighborhoods can be specifically used to market as well.

3. Lifestyle Segmentation Can’t Be Ignored
The types of things that people like to do are another method of market segmentation that can be quite effective. You can target a wider range of people when you focus on market segments that are based on activities, interests, and hobbies because people from every category have shared interests. Camping, baseball, hiking, or video games are all segments in this category that your marketing could affect when specifically targeted.

4. Behaviors Are an Important Segment
One of the most unique ways to segment a market is to focus on behavioral patterns. You could target people who are hesitant to spend money on products that cost more than $10. Maybe you want to focus on women who are against using Photoshop for altering photos. When you focus on the patterns of use, the loyalty of a brand, or even the sensitivity there is to a price point, you’ll be able to develop a strategy that can market to behaviors effectively.

5. Segmenting B2B Works Too
Many market segmentation strategies focus on the consumer, but you can’t afford to miss businesses for revenue opportunities either. B2B strategies can encompass all of these specific segments that have already been mentioned. You can also break it down into businesses of a certain size. You can focus on the amount of gross or net revenues. Even the nature of the business is an important segment because you’d likely market products to a bank differently than you’d market to a landscaper.

6. Family Structure Is Critical
The way a household is structured will be one of your most important marketing segments to consider, yet it is often the most overlooked. If there is a household that has four kids that are all under the age of 6, you’ve got a different dynamic in play than a household that has one child who is about to go to college. Think about what kind of value your goods or services can provide to each kind of family and then incorporate these other segments to specialize the message that is sent out.

7. Every Segment Has a Sub-Segment
You can specifically target a niche or you can send out a generalized marketing effort based on what your specific needs happen to be. If you are marketing to families that make more than $100k per year, you’ll need a fairly generalized message. On the other hand, if you’re marketing to a segment that is a family who makes $100k per year, attends church regularly, has children in preschool, lives in the Southern United States, and loves to go camping once per month, you’ve got a lot more information that can be used to develop relationships and more business opportunities.

8. Know Your Variables
Anything can become a market segment if the variables within that segment can be specifically identified. Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box when considering the various traits you’d expect to see in your customer base. The more specific that you can be with your segments, the better off your marketing messages will be received because they’ll feel personalized. There’s danger in this, however, because the wrong message to the right market segment will kill off a campaign extremely fast.

9. Find Your Value Ratio
Just because you can identify a specific market segment doesn’t mean you should market your goods or services to it. You must have a good value ratio. Your segment should be large enough so that the marketing resources that are required to access the segment will give you a good return on your investment. If the ratio doesn’t work out, maybe you’re being too specific… or maybe you’ve targeted the wrong segment altogether.

10. Here’s the Overlooked Demographic
The most overlooked market segment today is actually education. The amount of education someone has can absolutely influence their purchasing decisions. Degrees bring about specific skills while experience create different skills. Find out what makes your goods attractive to each level of the education segments and you’ll stand out from the crowd.