By Art Allen

Every marketing strategy should include determining the best way to narrow down the total addressable market (TAM) for that particular campaign. Audience segmentation is critical for using your marketing resources effectively. It’s how you make sure your message is shown to the right people — and only the right people.

Let’s explore what B2B audience segmentation is, some common challenges marketers face when segmenting, and how to overcome those challenges.

What is segmentation?

In B2B marketing, market segmentation is the process of separating your target audience into groups with common characteristics. Typical segmentation categories for B2B marketers include:

While these categories are often used to segment B2B audiences, they are far from the only segments.

Challenges in B2B audience segmentation

Segmentation is not always as easy as it should be. Here are six common challenges in B2B audience segmentation and how to overcome them:

1. Availability and reliability of marketing data

Effective segmentation hinges on data, and the first challenge to create effective market segments often revolves around simply trusting your data. That’s why it’s crucial to gather comprehensive and accurate information about your target audience. Still, no matter how much customer data you’ve collected, there’s always the chance that it has become out of date or was simply entered incorrectly.

How to overcome this challenge: The best way to help ensure robust and accurate data is to rely on multiple sources for collecting data, including customer surveys, CRM systems, third-party data providers, and social media insights. A diverse range of sources can help you gather more data and cross-verify the data you already have.

“The best way to help ensure robust and accurate data is to rely on multiple sources for collecting data, including customer surveys, CRM systems, third-party data providers, and social media insights.” — Art Allen @punsultant
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2. Lack of data expertise

Handling and interpreting large-scale data can be complex. Even with access to ample data, not all marketing teams have the technical knowhow to manipulate and interpret the customer data they have collected. This lack of expertise can result in poor market segmentation, leading to wasted valuable resources when your campaigns target less than ideal markets.

How to overcome this challenge: Data expertise can’t be faked, so the key to addressing this challenge is to invest in training programs focused on data analytics and interpretation. This should be done for anyone involved in working with market segmentation data. With these additional skills, segmentation efforts will be more precise and therefore more effective.

“Data expertise can’t be faked, so the key to addressing this challenge is to invest in training programs focused on data analytics and interpretation.” — Art Allen @punsultant
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3. Complex buying cycles and decision-making structures

B2B buying cycles are uniquely intricate, and decision-making structures involve multiple stakeholders across functional teams. Navigating this complexity can be daunting when crafting segmented marketing campaigns. Presenting the same marketing message to each stakeholder — from …read more

Source:: Top Rank Blog

Author: Aaron