Segmentation

So, last week was 105 degrees in Phoenix, Arizona.  Tonight, Matthew, I'm in Finland (colder, but not bad), comfortably settled in a hotel in the middle of nowhere. I should be preparing for my presentation tomorrow morning, but sadly I find myself drawn to this blog. Is there such a thing as blog addiction??

Yesterday I presented the results of Melcrum's research on segmentation to the strategic research forum members in the US.  We found that lots of companies are segmenting by division, grade, location etc., but hardly any have yet attempted to use the more sophisticated techniques used by people in marketing.

The segmentation session always seems to get the highest ratings of module one on Black Belt, so I guess it's a subject people are interested in.  We often see people coming out of the syndicate exercise saying 'great - we'd really like to split people into these different segments ... but then what do we do?  What happens if you don't have channels that can target the different segments?'

Well, one option is to target segments with specific channels where you can. Your other alternative is to use a form of self-segmentation - i.e. make different options available, let people know they are there, and then let them choose the option they find interesting. This could mean something as simple as sending out an e-mail communication that's very short, with bullet point key facts, and including an intranet link for those that want more detail.  At a more sophisticated level it could involve using RSS (really simple segmentation) technology.  That's still on the 'we don't quite know how to use this yet' list, but fast forward 5 years or so and I suspect we'll see much more of an element of audience choice in our communication offerings.

Are any of you doing anything interesting on the segmentation front?  Black Belter Jane Williams did a fantastic piece of work on segmentation around flexible benefits for Lloyds TSB. So fantastic, in fact, that it won an IABC award. She has some great tips about working with marketing and interestingly ended up reducing her print costs despite producing multiple versions of the communication for different segments . Anyway, I won't steal her thunder - let's hope we can entice her to tell you herself.  No pressure, Jane ...!

Sue