One of the most challenging challenges that marketers have is figuring out tactical marketing who is in their database, how their contacts differ, and then deciding how to effectively promote them. Begin by grouping your contacts into categories based on similar characteristics, and then create a strategy for each group.
Determining these distinct categories in tactical marketing is the art of segmentation, and doing it successfully is no easy undertaking. To do it successfully, you’ll need a framework as well as the tools to put your segments to work.
If you’re just getting started with segmenting your marketing database in tactical marketing(or evaluating how you’ve been segmenting for a while), this post is for you.
We’ll look at a tried-and-true approach to developing a successful segmentation strategy based on personas and lifecycle stages. Ready? Let’s get this party started.
First And Foremost, What Exactly Do We Mean By “Segmentation?”
You’re probably aware of the concept of segmentation in tactical marketing, which comprises categorizing your audience into like-minded individuals. However, it’s crucial to take a step back and consider all of the benefits of segmentation. The following duties should be assigned to your portions:
Set the tone and themes for your communications. (For example, if you segment your database by industry, the way you engage with leads in different industries may differ considerably.)
Make a plan for your material in tactical marketing. (For example, if a valuable segment of your current database is under-represented, you may create more blog content that appeals to that segment to attract more people to your website.)
Make the messaging on your website more specific. (For example, give the most compelling call-to-action for each segment.)
These are just a few examples for marketers to think about. You may utilize segmentation to boost your outcomes in a variety of ways.
“How should I segment my audience?” is the natural follow-up inquiry. While there are numerous successful ways to segment, we’ll focus on a tried-and-true method: lifecycle stage and persona segmentation, which is built right into HubSpot’s tools.
The First Segmentation Dimension Is Buyer Personas.
What is a buyer persona, exactly? Wikipedia expresses it clearly as follows:
“Fictional characters designed to represent the many consumer types within a targeted demographic, attitude, and/or behavior set who may interact with a site, brand, or product in a similar way.”
Buyer personas in tactical marketing, in a nutshell, are groups of people you build to represent the many sorts of customers you encounter across the marketing and sales process. Your buyer persona may be determined by factors such as industry, organization size, area, and others. It’s up to you to decide what’s most important.
Related: What is a buyer persona?
The Second Dimension Of Segmentation Is The Lifecycle Stage.
The lifecycle stage of a lead or contact refers to where they are in the buying process right now. Because how you communicate with different contacts should be highly impacted by their position in the life cycle, it’s a fantastic place to start segmenting your audience. For instance, the sort of conversation you should have with a new lead about whom you know nothing should be very different from the type of conversation you should have with an experienced sales prospect who is considering making a buy soon.
If you’re new to segmentation but have some knowledge about your leads’ lifecycle stages in tactical marketing, using lifecycle stages to segment is a great place to start. We’ll talk about how each stage of the lifecycle ties into the wider picture in a minute.
Related: Lead Generation: Can It Be Useful For Your Products?
Buyer Personas And Lifecycle Stages Might Help You Define Your Segments.
After experimenting with a variety of approaches on our own and with our customers in tactical marketing, we’ve determined that combining these two factors is the most effective way to segment. To put it another way, we categorize people into groups based on their age and personality. This approach takes into account who a lead or contact is (their goals, interests, and demographics), as well as how they expect to interact with your firm (through lifecycle stage).
It’s something to think about for your own database. What are the names of your various organizations? Keep a record of it. Let us now discuss how to put this into practice.
Related: What is PR Leverage?
It’s Finally Time To Put Your Personas To Use.
After you’ve built your personas and classified your leads in tactical marketing, putting your new segmentation plan into action is straightforward. You may do a lot with your personality, such as:
- Create methods for nurturing the leads of a certain persona.
- Create Smart CTAs or Smart Content to target which personas and lifecycle phases visit your website.
- Create blog content for various personas and stages of the lifecycle.
- Keep a list of contacts with certain personalities and lifecycle phases on social media.
Personas may also be utilized to create a bigger marketing strategy in tactical marketing. After you’ve set up your personas, you’ll be able to look at the makeup of your whole contact database at a high level on your dashboard. Consider this: where do the majority of your leads fit into the personal buckets? What are the different stages of a life cycle? This information might help you prioritize your marketing efforts.
If you have a lot of early stage leads, you might want to focus on nurturing methods to assist them advance to MQLs in tactical marketing. If you have a large number of MQLs but only a few early stage leads, you might want to concentrate on blog content and an educational offer.
Related: What Is Lead Nurturing And What Are The Right Tactics?
