Principles of segmentation for arts marketing and audience development
This article is an attempt to demystify segmentation and show you that you’re probably already doing it, but may not know it. It was first published in JAM (issue 37 / January 2010).
Article snippet
What is segmentation?
Segmentation involves splitting customers or potential customers into groups (or segments) within which customers are likely to share a similar level of interest in your product or service. This is either to offer them a different offering, or to communicate with them about the same offering in a different way.
Why do we segment?
There are two main reasons that organisations segment the market and their customer base: cost and effectiveness.
- Cost: most organisations don’t have the resources to tell the whole world about what they do, and even the big global corporations would segment the market before undertaking any promotion.
- Effectiveness: by understanding more about your customers and talking to different segments in the most relevant way (possibly with different product offerings) it is more likely that they will respond and make a purchase. This means that your small marketing budget can go a lot further, as you’re increasing the ‘hit’ rate of the people you are talking to.
To read the full article download Principles of segmentation for arts marketing and audience development.