Segmentation is a bespoke strategy for effective influence. In a previous micro-masterclass we identified 5 core personalities. It is well worth considering that these personalities can be broken down even further. Here we look at segmentation as a bespoke strategy for effective influence.
Whether you are an open person conscientious person, extraverted person, agreeable person, or neurotic person – all 5 of these types of people may very all be from the same neighbourhood, all Caucasian, of have a similar income and at first glance may look similar on the surface, however in fact very often they may want and respond to two completely different stimuli. Let’s imagine a brand new vegan chocolate bar has been brought to market. Let’s also assume the marketing company have decided that the target audience is female, aged between 20-37 years old, married with children, and reads The Daily Mail newspaper.
Traditional ways to influence this group would be for one generic message for all women who fall into this category. This was the traditional advertising method and in the 1950’s as example an advert to conforming to this model would have been ‘Beanz Meanz Heinz’. This is more of a creative led form of communication from the top down, simply hoping that your creative ideas create the desired influence to as many people in that generic group.
Much more recently, however, ways to influence people has become much more audience-focusses and driven, as creative agencies and marketing teams have access to unparalleled levels of consumer data, harvested from our online footprints. Using this data it’s possible to exert an even greater level of influence over our target audience by offering a much more granular and bespoke approach to influence and move away from the more traditional one-size-fits all spatter gun approach.
If we return to our female target audience for our vegan chocolate bar. Our chosen target market may look very similar on the outside but their world view could be completely different from person to person. As a result, their influence triggers will vary too. For example, half of them may want to buy our vegan chocolate bar but only a fraction of this half may be health conscious and not want any refined processed sugar in their diet whilst the fraction may be more environmentally focussed and would want it without dairy or palm oil. With this knowledge in mind the creative, communication, advert or influencing medium could and would need to be tailored accordingly to influence the maximum number of potential customers.
But it’s not just personality that we can use to influence people. Demographic and geographic information can also help us in making a more targeted approach to influence.
In doing so we can consider the following sub-sections of our demographic or ‘avatar’:
- Age
- Gender
- Ethnicity
- Religion
- Education
- Income
- Home owner
- Socio Economic status
- Geographic factors
These are more fact based attributes we can associate with each member of our target audience. So, whilst these attributes aren’t as varied as ‘personality types’ they do provide crucial information to help pinpoint our target audience and target market. Attitudes on the other hand do require much more finessing. Personality traits and attitudes are much more heavily influenced by the following attitudinal traits and pose the following questions to the marketing mind:
- Advertising resonance – What kind of magazines do they read?
- Automotive data – what car do they drive?
- Consumer data
- Consumer confidence – Economy / Business
- Lifestyle Data – What loyalty club do they belong to?
- Buying styles / patterns?
- Civic / political engagement segments – What church or religious gathering do you attend?
- Cellular / mobile packages types and level of usage?
Knowing and understanding this information alongside the other statistics and consumer data can influence the way that our target audience and target market vote, behave and the products and services they buy or indulge in.
Taking into account peoples’ activities, interests and opinions (commonly known as a AIO’s for short by marketing teams), and their previously mentioned behaviours and attitudes, people can be influenced through 6 persuasion principles which have been popularised by Robert Cialdini. These include:
- Reciprocity
- Scarcity
- Authority
- Consistency
- Liking
- Consensus
It is the application of these 6 persuasion principles that can influence, and persuade others. Many of the outcomes of the experiments detailed in Duncan’s best selling Effective Influence book and outlined in these micro-masterclasses are underpinned by one or more of these principles of persuasion.
To hire Duncan to delivering is keynote speeches or masterclasses at your event, then get in touch using the button below. He can help your team influence more effectively and help them tailor their persuasion strategy to secure more sales, convert more sales leads and work more efficiently.
