Segmentation articles by the best and brightest in the field

• Four Parts to Valuable Personasby Angela Quail
  Recent buzz about personas has created some confusion. If you've tried to develop and deploy personas, you may have experienced resistance from other departments because they don't grasp the value that personas purportedly provide. The reason may be that personas (in the form of customer profiles) by themselves don't offer all that much. But personas are not just customer profiles; rather, "personas" is the title for a complex tool that has four components. more
• How to Use Scenarios to Create Buyer Segmentsby Laura Patterson
  What if we thought about using scenarios as a creative way to segment the market? After all, different customer sets face different scenarios that trigger their response. By understanding the various scenarios that different customers face, you can take a unique marketing approach to each scenario. more
• She's Waiting: Five Ways to Reach Women via Sustainable Business Practicesby Andrea Learned
  An authentic and established sustainable commitment resonates with women. Here's how companies can work toward more sustainable operations, offer products that reflect that intention, and (in doing so) create good business with a double whammy. more
• Achieving Relevance in Direct Digital Marketing: An Introductionby Bryce Marshall
  There are five keys to making a relevance-centered approach a reality in your direct digital marketing programs(such as email, websites, mobile, and so on). more
• Boost Your Business With Seven Easy Digital Marketing Techniques for Lead Generationby Yael K. Penn
  Growing your in-house database should be at the top of every marketers list. Why? When done correctly, it will house your most-qualified and responsive prospects. Though organic list growth may take time and effort, you will love the rewards. Consider the following techniques to acquire new leads and grow your list with success. more
• In a Tough Economy, Go to Battle for Your Customersby Karl Gustafson and J. Mark Carr
  Decision-makers who are worried over the stability of their company's finances should remember one simple truth: The source of your business's cash flow is your customer base. What all of this boils down to is the need to make smart, informed investment and cost-cutting decisions that have both a short-term and a long term perspective. more
• Improve Your Email Marketing Through Segmentationby Michael Clark
  Not all customers are alike, and what appeals to one may not interest another. Therefore, it is important that you connect the message you are sending to your customers' differing interests. Email messages that are segmented, targeted, and relevant to the recipient are much more likely to be opened and acted upon. more
• How Hyundai Uses Behavioral Segmentation to Take the Bull by the Horns and Send the Bear Packingby Michael Barr
  Hyundai took the bull by the horns in this bear market and scored big. It used behavioral segmentation to identify what was keeping prospects from buying and then developed a strategy that made it easier for customers to part with their hard-earned dollars. What can you learn from its example? In every market change, even a downturn, there is an opportunity to use the power of behavioral segmentation to make your product or service stand out. more
• Most Super Bowl Ads Aimed at Males; Most Money Spent by Femalesby Gerry Myers
  A few basic thoughts advertisers should consider for the 2010 Super Bowl: • Who watches the Super Bowl? Approximately 100 million viewers, with more than 40 percent of them women. • Who spends the most money as a consumer? Women spend approximately 85 percent; men spend only 15 percent. • Who focuses more on the game—and who on the commercials? Though many women love football, and a lot of men enjoy seeing the new commercials, women focus more on the commercials... and men more on the game. The 2009 Super Bowl commercials were far below my expectations. more
• Special Report: How the 'Obama for America' Campaign Used Digital Media to Turn Ordinary Citizens Into Campaign Evangelistsby Kimberly Smith
  How did the Obama for America campaign do it? By its adherence to several game-changing strategies. more
• How to Target Your Prospects With Military Precisionby J. Woody Meachum
  Predicting where your prospects are online is tricky—and often expensive. And it's not always about where they are but also what are the best ways to reach them. How should you decide where to start? The military has utilized a system called CARVER, a mnemonic term for the weighting factors used to identify and prioritize targets. CARVER helps to discover the greatest opportunities to inflict the most damage while employing the lowest amount of available assets. CARVER stands for... Criticality Accessibility Recuperability (return-on-investment) Vulnerability Effect Recognizability For marketing purposes, CARVER can be applied to help determine which digital marketing tactics would work the best to target your prospects with a proper budgetary assignment. more
• Boost Email Marketing Response With List Segmenting and Triggered Emailsby Neil Anuskiewickz
  If you are an email marketer who is doing traditional "batch and blast" email marketing, now's a good time to start segmenting and sending triggered emails. Doing so allows you to send more relevant emails and achieves better response from your subscribers. more
• The Luxury Catch-22by Martin Lindstrom
  In the luxury brand business, stretching brands too thinly across market segments may gain short-term revenue increases, but it also almost guarantees long-term loss to the shareholders, brand owners, and, well, consumers. So, set your limits for how much you really want to stretch your brand before you open your doors to the public. more
• How to Win the Hearts and Minds of Hispanic Customersby Jorge Aguilar and Andrew Pierce
  With the Hispanic population in the US expected to surpass white non-Hispanic inhabitants by 2030, marketers are scrambling for ways to tap into growing spending power while generating loyalty to their brands. Strong, enduring brand loyalty can be built among Hispanics, but not by using tactics that work for white, Middle America. more
• Five B2B Email Marketing Tipsby Stephanie Miller
  Email marketers are perpetually caught in the middle. On the one hand, we are celebrated for being the go-to resource for generating short-term revenue results. On the other hand, the applause dies down when the budget talk comes around and we continue to be handicapped by limited investment and strained resources. What's an email marketer to do? Here are five ideas. more
• Identity PR: Reaching the Minds (and Wallets) of Today's Diverse Consumersby Gail Martin
  Today's diverse consumers are looking for more than just talk. They want companies to be an authentic part of their niche community. They are savvy and skeptical. They are watching to see how sincere you are in including them—as employees, senior managers, board members, media partners, vendors, and so on... more
• Getting Started With Segmentation: It's Not Just RFMby Anna Billstrom
  You may or may not be using the basic segmentation strategy of RFM (recency, frequency, monetary): dividing your email mailing list into a few buckets based on recency in ordering or visitation to the site, the number of times they've ordered or visited the site, and the lifetime spend. But here's a better approach to segmentation. more
• How to Make Your Email Program More Productive in 2008by Reggie Brady
  If you haven't done it yet, now is the perfect time to map out plans for your email program. Any changes you might make in the first few months of the year will stand you in good stead; any plans or changes that you implement in the first quarter should pay dividends for the balance of the year. Here are several actionable ideas. more
• Five Keys to Using Innovation to Acquire and Retain Customers (Part 3 of 3)by Leland D. Shaeffer
  In Part One and Part Two of this series, the author discussed using "voice of the customer" (VOC) in defining innovative core products and services. The focus was on breakthroughs in the basic product, on hitting the home runs. Here, we take a different perspective—using innovation to acquire and retain customers once the core product or service is defined. more
• How to Expand Your Vision to Include Marketing's New 4 Ps: Pearls, Pumps, Purses & Powerby Gerry Myers
  The traditional marketing mix focused on the 4 Ps of Product, Price, Place and Promotion. Today, marketers need to expand their vision to include the new 4 Ps of Pearls, Pumps, Purses, and Power. To capture the $0.85 that women spend out of every dollar, it is time to rethink how marketers are approaching their jobs. more

Segmentation: See all 118 marketing articles

Segmentation case studies, deconstructing real life examples and illustrating lessons learned

• Reviving the Dead List to Grow Email RevenuesPerricone MD
  CASE STUDY: All your opt-ins won't stay loyal forever: Interests change, as do expectations about messaging and frequency. Even as your list grows, so will the number of unopened emails. So you should cut off the "dead weight," right? Not so fast, there might still be money to be made. more
• How a Women's Clothing Retailer Bucked the 2008 Downturn, Upped Revenues via EmailIntermix
  CASE STUDY: Today's economy has earnest marketers scrambling for consumer attention. As inboxes become inundated with yet more marketing messages, the bar continues to inch higher for those attempting to stand out from the clutter. Here's how one retailer tweaked its email program to grow revenue, even in this market. more
• How a Targeted Lead-Development Program Earned an IT Company 34% Yearly Growth for Five Years (and Counting)CenterBeam
  CASE STUDY: For IT company CenterBeam, sales is indeed a numbers game, but not in the traditional sense. Rather than trying to engage as many leads as possible, the company's sales force instead nurtures a smaller quantity of well-qualified prospects. more
• How Intrigue and Personalization Helped a Marketing Firm Connect With Handpicked LeadsBabcock & Jenkins
  CASE STUDY: Relationship-marketing firm Babcock & Jenkins didn't tell prospects what it could do, it gave them a taste. Its campaign, launched with a package of brownies from a mystery source, showed how it uses intrigue, personalization, humor, and the soft-sell to establish and advance client relationships. Results: A tasty 50% response rate. more
• How a Young Company's History-Making Soccer-Jersey Sponsorship Increased Sales, Brand Recognition and MoreXanGo, LLC
  CASE STUDY - Here's how a unique Major League Soccer sponsorship helped a new beverage product score big in both sales and brand recognition. What's more, here are three lessons you can apply to your own sponsorship efforts. more
• How One Whitepaper Generated 500 Leads and Significant PR for a B2B ManufacturerJER Envirotech
  JER Envirotech, a manufacturer of environmentally friendly thermoplastic biocomposite materials, needed to stand out in the green manufacturing industry. Its solution: create a white paper to both explain and build credibility for its offerings. Here's how that led to 500 new leads over 60 days. more
• How a Consumer Electronics Company Leveraged the Power of Community to Uncover Market Preferences and Build Excitement for a New Product LineEastman Kodak Company
  When it chose to enter the saturated inkjet market 20 years late, Eastman Kodak had a few surprises up its sleeve. Still, the company found it also needed a little marketing ingenuity if it was to gain market share. more
• How a University Embraced Social Media and Scored Millions in YouTube ViewsCarnegie Mellon University
  How does a university up its visibility with an increasingly wired target market of both students of alumni? By orchestrating a Web 2.0-focused Web site redesign that set the foundation for an ongoing social media campaign. more
• How a Web-based Company Increased Leads 90%—and Sales 23%—via PPC-Visitor Profiling, Landing Page PersonalizationCompany: Continental Warranty
  Continental Warranty used pay-per-click ads to generate leads by providing free quotes for extended-warranty coverage. But lead volume had plateaued. So it began to profile its web visitors, then direct them to microsites matching their profiles—and nearly doubled leads. more
• How MyFax Upped Customer Engagement, Achieved a 79% NetPromoter ScoreMyFax
  Internt fax service provider MyFax wanted to tap into the power of word-of-mouth referrals by improving the customer experience and maintaining highly personalized customer interactions. But as an online company, it faced the issue of how to individually engage customers to ensure long-term relationships. Here's what it did. more
• How an Online Software Biz Doubled Its Sales Leads, Increased Site Traffic 75%Makana Solutions
  Makana Solutions needed an inexpensive way to reach the elusive small business market. Rather than chase small businesses, it hired an online "inbound marketing system" to help small businesses find Makana. The results: Web site traffic climbed 75%, and sales leads have doubled. more
• How Major League Baseball Doubled Fan Research Without Increasing CostsMajor League Baseball
  Each year, when MLB's postseason culminates with the World Series, all eyes are on baseball—or are they? With most teams out of the running, do those fans continue to watch? Are the resources invested in marketing worthwhile, or in tune with fans' true passions? more
• How a B2C Web Site's Landing-Page Tests Resulted in a 67% Jump in ConversionsBabyCenter
  The landing page for a top Web site's most popular search term converted about 30 percent less frequently than the company's general landing page. By simultaneously testing four new versions of the landing page, the site was able to ensure relevance, increasing conversions 67%—and decreasing abandonment rates. more
• How the Kimpton Hotel Group's Affinity-Based Email Program Boosted Bookings Revenue FivefoldKimpton Hotels
  Kimpton Hotels had successfully created a loyalty program, but its email program was lagging. By implementing an email strategy that focused on segmentation and targeting individual preferences, and by adding a corporate branding strategy, the company increased email bookings fivefold. more
• How Garden Fresh Realized a Huge Gain in Web Traffic and Longer-Term Loyalty via EmailGarden Fresh Restaurant Corp.
  Garden Fresh Restaurants sought to increase customer engagement with its "Club Veg" loyalty club, totaling more than half a million opt-in members. Its two interactive email campaigns worked like a charm -- leading to huge increases in site traffic and boosting customer loyalty. more
• How a State Agency's Anti-Smoking Campaign Effectively Reached Teens via the Web, TV and Live EventsColorado State Tobacco Education & Prevention Partnership (STEPP), a division of the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment
  One of the more successful tobacco control programs is the "Own Your C" campaign commissioned by the state of Colorado, which has effectively found ways to resonate with this hard-to-reach demographic. more
• How a Hearing Aid Company Doubled the Percentage of Sales to Valuable First-Time BuyersOticon, Inc.
  The hearing aid industry has suffered from an image problem, because the devices were perceived as ugly and just for the elderly. As a result, just 23% of those who needed hearing aids actually bought them. But based on extensive market research, Oticon, Inc. built a cool hearing aid that appeals to first-time users. In just 18 months, it has achieved nearly double the industry average in the proportion of first-time hearing-aid buyers. more
• How a Software Firm's Soft-Sell, Educational Webcasts Helped Double SalesSoftrax Corp.
  Softrax Corp.'s enterprise software automates a company's entire revenue cycle. With the advantages of automation not always apparent to potential customers, Softrax based its marketing strategy on educating the market, while competitors relied mostly on advertising. Webcasts featuring government and industry experts—with only an indirect connection to Softrax apparent—formed the core of the new strategy, and within four years helped double revenues. more
• How a Manufacturer's Sales Team Found the Secret to Efficiently Service a Low-Tech Customer BaseFabcon
  The manufacturing sector is more traditional than most. Many of its customers aren't high tech—some don't even have Internet access. Fabcon, a Minnesota builder of precast wall panels, struggled with marrying its desire for high-tech operational efficiency and its need to service customers in the method that they preferred. more
• How an ISP Used Online Chat to Lower Customer Service Costs and Achieve an 80% Customer Satisfaction RateEarthlink, Inc.
  Earthlink, one of the country's smaller Internet service providers, serves just over 5 million customers. To differentiate itself, it has decided to provide superior customer service. An early adopter of chat technology, it has sought to actively offer efficient online customer service via chat—both shifting customer support away from the less-efficient phone channel and increasing customer satisfaction while dramatically reducing expenses. more

Segmentation: See all 40 case studies

Segmentation online seminar broadcasts from the best minds in marketing

• Identity Marketing: Using PR to Reach the Minds (and Wallets) of Today's Diverse ConsumersAttendee rating:  - Apr 24, 2008
• Using e-Metrics to Optimize Your All-Around Marketing StrategyAttendee rating:  - Apr 3, 2008
• Tighten Up Your Marketing Plan: The Nuts and Bolts of Market SegmentationAttendee rating:  - Aug 2, 2007
• Ten Cravings of Generation X and Y: Satisfying This Young and Lucrative MarketAttendee rating:  - Jul 26, 2007
• How Connected People and Companies Are Winning Big in the Tech-Savvy Consumer PlaygroundAttendee rating:  - Jul 25, 2007
• Segmenting the Hispanic Market: What the Numbers Really MeanAttendee rating:  - Jul 12, 2007
• Personas 2: Using Mental Images of Customers for Better Product Planning, Branding and MessagingAttendee rating:  - Mar 8, 2007
• Personas 1: Breakthrough Customer Insight for Product, Website Design and MoreAttendee rating:  - Mar 7, 2007
• Hispanic Marketing EssentialsAttendee rating:  - Nov 16, 2006
• BOOM: Marketing to the Ultimate Power Consumer — The Baby Boomer WomanAttendee rating:  - Oct 26, 2006
• Hispanic Marketing: Effective Strategic Planning ProcessesAttendee rating:  - Mar 30, 2006
• Reach the Big Spenders: How to Market to Women from 50 to 75Attendee rating:  - Dec 1, 2005

Segmentation: See all 12 seminars

Segmentation mini articles distilling bite-sized advice (from our Get to the Point newsletters)

• Mom Probably Knows BestEmail Marketing
  In a post at the Deliverability.com blog, Dennis Dayman presents a short series of off-the-cuff emails that his wife wrote in response to his question about video in email marketing ...
• Hey! Over Here! We're Buying!Customer Insight
  Good news for retailers! There is one consumer segment that apparently remains ready and willing to buy: Hispanic shoppers. "According to a new study conducted by Experian Simmons for Univision ...
• Latest List-Growing StrategiesEmail Marketing
  In cooperation with Ball State University and the Email Marketers Club, ExactTarget studied 18 methods used by marketers to build an email list. Among the results published in its 2009 ...
• Get Them to Give a HootEmail Marketing
  "Very few executives give a hoot about opens and clicks," says Stephanie Miller in a post at the Daily Fix blog. "In fact, very few marketers even look at their ...
• You Talkin' to Me?Interactive Marketing
  Once in a while, a digital ad grabs you just like that. And one thing that really boosts its impact is if the person featured in it is—you. Read on:  Last year, to sell tickets ...
• Where Did They Go?!Email Marketing
  If you've noticed an unusual drop in open rates for messages sent to Gmail accounts—and for B2C companies, this could represent a large percentage of subscribers—it's probably not your fault. ...
• You Too Can Tweet, Part IIInteractive Marketing
  In last week's installment, we offered step-by-step tips to get you tweeting on Twitter. This week, we offer a few more advanced steps to take, based on Jim Sterne's advice ...
• Easy There, Mr. PopularMarketing Inspiration
  "Social media is cool!" proclaims Chris Brogan in a premium article at MarketingProfs. "Blogging and podcasts are cool! We're so cutting edge! Twitter is like the future here today, and ...
• That Is So YesterdayCustomer Insight
  Important Notice: Your Customer Behavior newsletter will continue to bring you the kinds of articles you've come to expect and enjoy—but now, with a new name! Beginning with this edition, ...
• The Easy Way to Slice and DiceEmail Marketing
  Even a small company can benefit from email messages tailored to a recipient's specific wants and needs. "Using segmentation," says Michael Clark in an article at MarketingProfs, "customers only get ...
• This Space For RentEmail Marketing
  Your e-newsletter is an excellent tool for maintaining customer relationships. But it can also generate income if you offer cool ad space in it.  In a recent article at MarketingProfs, Drew Adams ...
• Como Se Dice 'Brand Loyalty'?Small Business
  According to Jorge Aguilar and Andrew Pierce, the Hispanic population in the United States will surpass that of their white non-Hispanic compatriots by 2030. And, argue the pair in ...
• Boost That ROI Right Now!Email Marketing
  "The news regarding investment in marketing is not good, with many firms cutting their marketing budgets left and right," reports Neil Anuskiewicz in an article at MarketingProfs. Before taking such ...
• This is Only a TestEmail Marketing
  "A great way to capitalize on the democratic medium of email is to put your burning questions, late-night hunches, and out-of-the-box ideas to the test with an A/B split test," ...
• Just Send Me the Dry Red OnesEmail Marketing
  Back in the days of the Model T, Henry Ford could get away with offering customers any color they wanted—as long as it was black. Ridiculous as that mentality sounds ...
• Scratch That NicheSmall Business
  Reaching a niche audience—and only those people—can be tricky. But in a post at his eponymous blog, Seth Godin proposes the inventive approach of piggybacking onto a product that your ...
• Target Jim and MaryCustomer Insight
  Research has uncovered quite an interesting effect that guides customer brand choices. They call it the "name letter branding effect." The NLB effect shows that customers are more likely to ...
• When Less is MoreEmail Marketing
  You've crossed all your marketing t's and dotted all your best practices i's with a relevant, enticing offer sent only to subscribers who opted in to your campaigns. You're anxious ...
• Can You Do a Split?Email Marketing
  If you don't use A/B-split testing to analyze the results of your email campaigns, you probably aren't getting the full picture. According to a whitepaper from L-Soft, "Results can show ...
• Oh, Behave.Interactive Marketing
  It's knowing where prospects are—and how they behave—that's paying off for today's New Media marketers. Their advertising dollars are in hot pursuit of a fragmented audience that now receives thousands of channels ...

Segmentation: See all 38 quick reads

Segmentation marketing downloads for the busy professional

• Paid Search Advertising Template
  If you're a little intimidated by the prospect of Paid Search Advertising, seriously, join the crowd. Here it is though -- a guiding light through the complex waters of Paid Search Advertising. We assembled a 30-page template to make learning and implementing a successful paid search advertising campaign for your firm as easy as possible.

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