Psychographic Segmentation

Far too often, entrepreneurs tell me, “Everyone is my customer.”

The reality is that they are NOT, and that is why I’ve been focused on Market Segmentation for the last few weeks.

Every marketing guru in the world will tell you: The more targeted you are with your marketing, the more engagements you will have with prospects and customers.

Likewise, the more you know about your prospects and customers the more detailed your marketing can become. This involves segmentation, and today I’m focused on Psychographic Segments.

This is just another way to reach your customers. I hope I can spark interest in you to look at different ways to segment your customers and engage with them in multiple ways to get them to love your brand even more.

The question here is: WHY are they buying or considering your product or service?

Let’s say you are selling furniture. The WHY would be very different for these distinct groups:

1. Individuals buying for their own home

2. Individuals buying for a vacation home

3. Individuals buying as a gift to someone else

4. Individuals or businesses buying to furnish rental properties

When you start thinking about psychographic segments, you actually may be able to reach each potential customer multiple times.

You may have already sent them a flyer because of their demographics — they live or do business in a specific zip code. Now you might approach them from a different angle because you know they own and operate several rental cottages. When you’ve reached them two or three times from different angles or with a different approach, it brings them greater awareness of your product or service.

As we all know, the more they connect with your product or service, the more they become attached to your brand.

Psychographics: WHY are they buying? It doesn’t matter whether you are selling a service or a product. What matters is WHY they are buying.

Consider cell phones. A business may buy phones for its employees. Their WHY could be to assure connectivity and the ability to track usage. That’s completely different than if the employee is buying a phone and choosing a particular brand because their best friend recommended it. Your approach to the CEO on why your phone is the best option would probably be quite different than the way you would approach the individual buyer.

BEFORE YOU GO

We see our blogs as opportunities for dialogue. Please share your thoughts as comments.

1. Why are customers buying from you?

2. What other psychographics might be useful in your marketing efforts?

3. What other categories have you used to market to your customers?

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