Marketing to Go: Market Segmentation Variables The Checkerboard Design and Marketing Podcast

The following audio is from a blog post and video in our Marketing-to-Go series. Marketing to Go: Market Segmentation Variables

Conceptualizing and building a profile of a target customer can help you more effectively market to them. Market Segmentation Variables are characteristics you can use to build that customer profile or persona. Begin by thinking of your customer as a stick person. From there, add characteristics until you build a comprehensive individual.

Here are some of elements you can use:

Demographics

These include age, gender, income, ethnicity, or family life cycle.

Geographics

These can include a geographic location such as a city, state or region.

Psychographics

These are how people think, such as rock stars thinking differently than librarians.

Geodemographics

This category combines the psychographic and geographic categories. For example, New York business people think differently than Montana ranchers.

Benefit Sought

Such as low price, high quality, quick delivery or best color.

Usage Rate

Is your consumer a frequent buyer, one-time buyer, sporadic buyer, or possibly a moderate buyer?

You can also use Market Segmentation Variables to create compelling examples in your marketing. For example, if you determine the average age of your typical customer and know whether your product appeals more to a male or female, you can research common names for people of that age and gender. Using those names will help you build believable characters with whom your customers in that market segment can more easily identify. Moms who were born in the late 1970s may identify with other women named Amy or Jennifer, whereas their grandmothers may relate to women named Estelle or Dorothy.

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