Every good B2B marketer knows that having a deep understanding of your customers is key to selling effectively. Nothing can replace the human-to-human connection when you’re trying to connect with your core audience.
However, a great amount of insight about your customers can be gained using data alone. Analysing and exploiting data delivers customer value by supercharging your content strategy.
Microsegmentation is the key word for marketers and data analysts here. It’s where customers are divided into segments based on traditional or broad groups, and mostly based on factors such as geography, company size and industry. Finding ways to further break down categories into micro segments based on demographics, buying behaviours, psychographic, and geographic factors is key to success in marketing.
In this article, we will discuss how micro segmentation can take your marketing strategy to the next level, proving to your clients and leads that you truly “get it” when it comes to their needs. We will also talk about how AI and data analysis are key to finding patterns and micro segments that allow you to create high-quality, targeted content for your prospects that will increase sales conversion.
How to break down customer segments
With advanced AI capabilities at our fingertips, analysing data has never been easier. Every marketing professional needs to be prepared for rapid advancements in data analysis led by AI.
It’s therefore essential that those in this industry keep abreast of the latest news and trends in their industry to ensure that their marketing strategy is always ahead of the game. Tons of information and research studies have revealed the best practices for how data can be collected and stored using machine learning and AI, as well as how such data can be processed on a large scale to help boost workflow processes and marketing. This also shows the rapidly growing need for data analysts across all industries.
Any marketing professional needs to fully understand the utmost importance of creating highly relevant, informative content catered to your audience. This can only be done by fully understanding your customers, breaking it down to the smallest details.
With that in mind, by gathering and analysing data utilising the rapid computation of AI, customer segments can be further broken down into the following microsegments:
Demographics
This category looks at numerous variables including gender, marital status, age, highest level of education attained, occupation, primary language, income level, religion, nationality, and socio-economic status.
Granted, some of these factors may seem irrelevant to the audience you are targeting. After all, when you are selling products, who cares what religion your customers are? However, understanding these intimate details about your consumers will make analysing the data you collect much easier, and is also key to creating content that your customers will actually read.
For example, if a large percentage of your prospects and leads are coming from a majority Muslim country, it might be a good idea to shift your content strategy during the month of Ramadan. By understanding that many Muslims purchase dates towards the end of Ramadan, Israeli date farmers have been able to increase their international eCommerce sales by staying informed of the moon-based Islamic calendar.
Similarly, if many of your B2B customers are small tech businesses led by executives fresh out of college, it’s important for your company to stay informed about all the latest developments and news in your industry so you can keep them informed via your content. This helps build trust and confidence in your brand, which converts leads into sales.
Buying behaviours
Fortunately, buying behaviours can be easily tracked online. Are your prospects loyal to a particular brand, and if so, why? And how can your company be more like the brand they are loyal to, all while delivering an additional value? How often do your leads make purchases in your industry, and what is the main driver behind their purchase-making decisions? For example, many businesses expect that a new software vendor provides them with at least a free month’s trial of their services to see if it’s a good fit.
Psychographic segmentation
This approach is harder to capture, but no less essential. Psychographic factors refer to beliefs, attitudes and values of your customer segments. What is the social status or perceived social status of your ideal customer? Do they make buying decisions entirely based on their budget and value provided, or are they more relationship-driven? What is the personality and lifestyle of your audience?
If your customer segments are very data-driven, it might be a good idea to include more graphics and charts in your content to prove the value your services provide. What political leanings do your prospects have? Having a deeper understanding of this question might help you avoid creating content that is perceived as being insensitive to their world view.
Geographical segmentation
Consider breaking down your B2B audience into categories beyond their physical location. What kind of commute do your prospects have – do they live in areas in California where long drives riddled with traffic is normal, or are they more rural?
For clients with long, car-based commutes, it might be a good idea to create podcasts and audio-based content that can be played on a long car ride home. What kind of weather do your clients have? SUV companies have had success running ads for their 4x4s to clients based in geographical areas that were experiencing snow. Similarly, fintech companies like Fidelity and Robinhood touting big returns often run targeted ads in areas that are experiencing high rates of unemployment.
How do businesses create engaging content?
The goal of micro segmenting your customer base is to create highly engaging and relevant content that is in front of your prospects when they need it.
A good email marketing service is paramount to keeping your leads connected with your high-quality content. That’s because email still remains the most effective way to stay in contact with leads. The only thing keeping your customers from hitting the “unsubscribe” button is consistently creating personalised content that is both informative and interesting. Furthermore, the biggest email marketing services such as Constant Contact, Mailchimp, or Aweber make it very easy to segment customers based on the above categories that we’ve covered.
Organisations that excel in personalisation will more often than not outsell companies that don’t. Segmentation is also a key step toward meeting consumers’ demands for more relevant experiences. By breaking down segments into smaller segments, especially with the help of AI, marketers can avoid data overwhelm and become more productive.
Conclusion
The only way companies can remain competitive is by truly understanding their customers through microsegmentation. Once this understanding is gained, high-quality content can be created and delivered to prospects via a solid email marketing service. Once these two elements are put into action, an increase in sales is almost inevitable.
