The companies that know their customers well: their pains, problems and nes, make the most sales. Market segmentation is a tool that allows you to identify the most promising audience, describe and study it. In this article, we talk about how to segment customers correctly, what criteria to use and where to get information.
What is Market Segmentation
Market segmentation is the division of all potential buyers into groups with similar requests, nes, behavior and other characteristics.
The company divides the market into segments in c level contact list order to select its target audience and focus on it: release suitable products, advertise in the right channels, develop a sales strategy. This approach significantly increases the effectiveness of the marketing and sales system.
The market can be segment at any stage:
- when starting a business – to select a priority audience;
- in an already operating company – to find growth points and adjust strategy.
The most common criteria for segmentation are 4 types of blogs that thrive across industries gender, age, income level, marital status, and place of work or study. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg. The market can be segment by many other features: they depend on the tasks and specifics of the business.
Types of segmentationThere are several types of segmentation: they differ in the criteria by which consumers are divid into groups. For B2C and B2B markets, the set of these characteristics is different.
Segmentation in the B2C market
Companies that offer goods and services to the end zn business directory customer segment their audience according to the following parameters:
- Who is our client – demographic and socio-economic characteristics.
- Where it is locat – geographical criteria.
- What he loves are psychographic factors that reveal the lifestyle, values and interests of customers.
- What are his nes and how does he buy – behavioral criteria.
Segmentation in the B2B market
Businesses that work with corporate clients divide their audiences by other parameters:
- Where the company is locat and operates. This includes the country, city, logistics and communications features, sales geography.
- What it does. The type of activity and specifics of the business – the area, size of the company, including the number of employees and branches, the volume of production and sales, the type of ownership, what end consumers it is focus on, the stage of its life cycle.
There are companies that operate simultaneously in the B2C and B2B markets. For example, a clothing manufacturer can sell wholesale to large chains and at the same time sell retail on marketplaces and in direct sales stores. In this case, market segmentation is carri out separately for each direction.