This is an astounding statistic.
And given my experience – I could buy it.
Market segmentation is easily one of the least practiced marketing disciplines out there, despite there being so many ‘marketers’ around.
The statistic says, 42% of marketers don’t segment – and I’d say most of the remaining 58% aren’t doing it right.
But why is segmentation SO important?
And how is it done properly?
Listen up…
If you are a marketer and have never done sales – then you’re destined to fail.
I mean…
…you might get by for a while on book theory, but the real knowledge is gained by being at the cutting edge.
Customer facing.
The priceless perk of customer facing experience
Now, let’s get some definitions set before we go any further.
Sales = the act of communicating directly with prospects and consulting them to buy from you.
Marketing = laying up for the sale (i.e. all the work leading up to it).
Sales is the lead and marketing the supporting act.
In order for the gig to be a smash, the two parts have got to work in perfect synchrony.
The support warms up the audience and whets their appetite for the headliner.
And then the top-biller brings it all home.
Satisfaction all round.
This is how it should be between sales and marketing.
But often where the whole show grinds to a halt is in the rank inexperience of the supporting act.
They just don’t know the audience well enough to make them move – and therefore you’ve got nothing biting (although you cast a line out).
What’s a main act to do in such a situation?
No choice other than to do it all when they hit the stage. Using wit – most main acts recover, but still the results are never as good as if both parts hit their marks.
And so, the key…
…always choose an experienced warm up act.
(Always choose a marketer that has experience in sales.)
Segmentation is your sales translator
As for segmentation, I’d define it as knowing your customer types.
Being able to read the crowd.
Without segmentation – your marketing will be ineffective because it will fall upon deaf ears (or rather, it will fall upon foreign ears).
Without accurate segmentation you’ll be speaking to prospects in a language that is unknown to them.
All your efforts will be wasted, because you’d have missed the mark.
But with sound segmentation, you get understood and further more strike resonance.
This is where businesses gain traction with an audience.
They relate.
And by relating with an audience, a business has the keys to successfully position value.
(In one fell swoop, the job of sales steps up 10-fold.)
With a solid value proposition in hand, it’s now just a case of persisting (whilst handling objections) until the sale is all yours.
A simple (but effective) website segmentation example
My example today comes, again, from wpbeginner.com
If you’ve been following any of my previous posts on this website…
…you’ll know that it’s a class act when it comes to online lead generation and sales.
(And to find out why, you need not look any further than it’s founder.)
Described on his website home page as: “Entrepreneur. Investor. Marketing Extraordinaire.”
And as a serial entrepreneur with an 8-figure annual turnover, 19+ million sites using his software and voted as one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under 30 by the U.N. – he’s got the facts and figures to back up the claim.
But what’s Syed’s ‘secret’ to success?
Here’s how he put it in his own words:
“I was born in Karachi, Pakistan. Ever since I can remember, I have been extremely competitive which makes me work hard at everything that I do.
I started my first business when I was 7 years old selling holiday greeting cards for Muslim holiday (Eid). My mom gave me the initial funds to start, and it was a successful venture. I tripled her investment within a month.
I loved it so much that I replicated it by selling flags for Pakistan’s Independence Day celebration. This too was profitable.”
(Source: Syed Balkhi)
Syed goes on to show how his early years in business translated into online profits:
“The early days of my online career were not exciting. I did a ton of grunt work because I just wanted to make extra cash to help my family.
One of my cousins pointed me to an online forum where I could pick up tasks like forum posting, directory submission, data-entry, etc. I took the money I made and reinvested some of it into buying / selling domains.
As a high school kid with no life, I spent majority of the lunch breaks in the library trying to play games. Since most gaming sites were blocked by my school firewall, I learnt how to code and built a web proxy to bypass the firewall.
In the process, aside from learning how to code, I also learnt a lot about monetizing websites with advertising revenue and driving traffic.
This led me to create a large proxy network supported by ads, a suite of flash game websites (online arcades), and a network of web directories to promote my websites (old school SEO).
During this time, I started getting consulting requests from other businesses (some small and some very large). I decided to start a small agency to offer SEO and web development services.
In 2008, I decided to migrate all of my clients from static websites over to WordPress, so I can get rid of the maintenance part of our business.
Next thing you know, all of my clients were asking questions about how to use WordPress…”
(Source: Syed Balkhi)
Fast forward to 2022 and at the age of 31 (and now a husband and father), Syed has grown his WordPress blog into a network of plugin businesses (and websites) all under the umbrella of his Awsome Motive parent company.
Some stats:
- 19+ million sites use his software
- 100 million people read his blogs every year
- 8-figure annual revenue
- Billions of impressions every month
In short, if you can smash sell holiday greetings cards in a bustling Karachi marketplace at age 7 and getting 200%+ ROI – then, marketing and selling b2b software online should be no challenge.
So, Syed markets well because he knows sales.
Syed and segmentation
Back to segmentation.
When analysing his growth engine, the wpbeginner.com blog – it’s clear to see (with a ‘sales trained’ eye) how the site so readily converts traffic into dollars.
A key aspect is how he segments the audience into user groups.
Again, segmentation is a principle building block of the entire sales process – get this wrong and you’ll get ZERO traction.
Here’s how to do it right:
One of the first features that WordPress beginners see when they hit wpbeginner.com is this search bar coupled with popular searches prompt.
Whilst the site itself has over 4,000+ posts/tutorials – what Syed does immediately is to personalise the experience for the user.
I mean, with so much content inside the chances are that he has the answer to solve your WordPress problem…
…but, he immediately puts you (the user) in control of that conversation by asking you to:
- Fill in an open ended request, or;
- Select a scenario which best describes where you are in your WordPress journey.
And having been a WordPress beginner once, who also was trying to use the platforms advantage to make money online, Syed has the mind frame of his audience down pat (as they say).
Syed chooses 6 scenarios that typify where a WordPress beginner could be at any given time within the WP beginner user-cycle:
- Starting a Blog: taking your first steps
- WordPress SEO: want to get more traffic online
- WordPress Performance: want your site to serve your audience better
- WordPress Errors: troubleshooting
- WordPress Security: avoid getting hacked, or recover a site
- Building an Online Store: selling products online
Suffice to say, if you’re entering into WordPress – you’re highly likely to fall into at least one of these categories.
By clicking the relevant icon/title, Syed seamlessly tailors (personalises) his award-winning, million-dollar sales pitch precisely to meet your exact needs.
As a prospect…
…you’re all ears.
He has the proven experience, expertise and tools to solve your problems.
And with his site’s smart segmentation, he has demonstrated that he clearly knows what you’re looking for.
A sale in the making.
Multiply this by over 2 million beginners per month finding his site – you don’t need much maths see how Syed’s career facts stack up.