Viper Marketing & Communications Group

Do You Really Only Have One Message?

Author: Neil Wilkins

Neil learnt his marketing with the likes of Orange, NatWest, BP Castrol and Ordnance Survey and now helps individuals and businesses to communicate more effectively. He trains and mentors marketers on professional Chartered Institute of Marketing qualifications through to post-graduate level.

If you, like most organisations, think you have one flavour of message to give 'customers' then it really could be time to think again and here's why:

When you start to delve into all the different styles, shapes, colours, tones and needs of all the different customers you have it becomes very clear, very quickly, that one size won't fit all.

Just take a look at this real life example from a strategy we are currently working on with a social marketing client. Instead of them having one message to put out through social media and relying on it hitting the mark, this client is focusing a different style and tone of that same message towards each different customer type.

We call this customer segmentation. The process is logical and simple. Break down all of your customers, and others you'd like to engage with, into groups where each group behaves, communicates and engages with you in a similar way. Try to find similar characteristics like age, need and location but don't let it get too technical. You don't need lots of socioeconomic data to make this fly. All you need is a name. 

Give each segment a name, a real name. In your minds' eye, everyone in your team will probably see the same or a similar person and that's the power of the name.

With the name in mind everytime you write something in a social network or post a blog or send a newsletter, you'll be ensuring you are writing for someone and not just yourself. Writing in a language they'll understand and on their terms will guarantee you are more relevant and engaging and that's the essence of the starting point of their customer journey with you.

So remember, you might have one message, but how you say it to different people to make it more meaningful is how you get your marketing and communications really working.

- Posted on Thursday 08 Dec 2011 at 13:49 by Neil Wilkins

Tags: segmentation (6)