Interests > Identity: The Power of Psychographic Segmentation

As mentioned in my previous blog, getting closer to your target audience is vital for every brand. Slicing and dicing your target audience based solely on criteria like age, location, industry or job title won’t help you stand-out in a crowded, noisy market. You’ll likely get lost in a sea of sameness with your competitors doing the same. To be more interesting and appealing in market, an imaginative segmentation strategy is a strong place to start.

Segmentation 101: A spectrum of popular segmentation strategies

Across 10-ish years in the industry, I’ve seen several ways businesses segment their audiences. Some use solely one strategy, others a blend. Below are the most popular I’ve come across…

Demographic Segmentation

The OG of audience segmentation. Demographic data includes age, gender, income, education, and other tangible attributes. While it provides a basic understanding of an audience, it risks grouping very different people under the same segment. For example, King Charles and Ozzy Osbourne – demographically – are the same.

Firmographic Segmentation

B2B marketers swear by this one. It’s all about slicing the pie based on company size, industry, revenue, and other business-specific criteria. Usually resulting in top-level segments such as Enterprise, SME, SMB etc. A necessary strategy for B2B brands, but surface-level at best.

Psychographic Segmentation

Psychographic segmentation delves deeper into the personality of the recipient, tapping into users’ attitudes, hobbies, interests, values, personality traits and more. The result? Usually a much more appealing and relatable experience for those on the receiving end of comms and content.

Other segmentation strategies, but one’s I’ve seen less of, include…

Geographic Segmentation

From “city slickers” to “country dwellers” (and other amusing names), geographic segmentation divides audiences based on their location. Great for local businesses targeting specific regions, but again, very broad for the nuances of modern consumers.

Buyer-Behaviour Segmentation

Behavioural segmentation zooms in on how customers behave with the business. What they buy, when they buy, how often they buy, and why they buy. Very useful data, but possibly the broadest of them all.

In my experience, the best in the business use a blended combination of the above that is tailor-made to their unique audiences and business model.

A blended approach, bespoke to your business

While Demographic and Firmographic Segmentation have been the go-to for many brands and businesses, in today’s world they’re too broad and basic when used alone. You might reach your target customer, but will you be distinctive and relatable when you do?

Psychographic Segmentation, built around attitudes, hobbies, interests, and values, offers a chance to appeal to your audience on a more human level. And in places they may never expect to see your brand.

Using a blended approach helps brands and business do 4 important things:

1. Appeal to the real person, not the ‘on-paper’ data.

When you build on demographic data with behavioural or attitudinal insight, it’s like finally putting on glasses after years of squinting.
Suddenly, your audience aren’t just a series of statistics. They’re real people with unique attitudes, genuine hobbies, and motivating values. Aligning to these helps you appeal to them on a much deeper level.

2. Find common grounds and new tribes to grow into.

Demographics will always have their place, but in the real world, what brings people together are shared interests, passions, and beliefs. By segmenting your audience based on these behaviours and attitudes, you have an opportunity to align your brand to new communities and ‘tribes’. This could open-up previously untapped communities and markets for growth.

3. Craft valued and personalised experiences.

Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all marketing. Attitudinal segmentation allows you to craft messaging, offers and communication to fit the unique preferences of different customer segments. From content and channels to influencers and partnerships, all can be made-to-measure.

4. Foster brand loyalty and repeat business.

When customers feel understood and valued, they’re more likely to stick around and keep coming back. By connecting with your audience on a personal level, you’re building trust, loyalty, and advocacy.

Not sure where to start? 5 practical steps to get started today.

Conduct in-depth research.

Start by digging deep into your current audiences of today, and target audiences of tomorrow. Beyond demographics, what are their interests and hobbies, behaviours and beliefs, preferences and pain points. Use surveys, interviews, and social listening tools to help understand this.

Define new, clear, unique segments.

Once you have a treasure trove of data, it’s time to scribble down what could be realistic segments for your business. The output could be as simple as a more in-depth, highly personable persona guide to help direct your future marketing plans.

Implement robust tracking and analytics tools to see what works.

Invest in analytics tools that allow you to track and analyse if these new segments are taking notice of your brand across various (and hopefully new) touchpoints. This data will be invaluable in refining your segmentation strategy over time.

Test and iterate.

Your segmentation strategy should never be set and forget. Continuously test and iterate based on real-time feedback and performance metrics. Audiences and markets are always changing, and you should be ready to also.

By starting small with the above, you may soon appeal to more people in your existing market or unlock new markets and segments that are ripe for your brand.

In summary…

Better, deeper, more attitudinal audience insight and segmentation isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s a must-have for today’s marketing teams.

By building a tailor-made, bespoke segmentation strategy for your business, you can unlock new opportunities for growth by aligning to who your customers really are. Not who they are on paper.

If you’d like to understand what a new audience segmentation strategy could look like for your business, I’d love to chat. Send me an email at mark.brighton@saintnicks.uk.com, or contact saintnicks here.