What are the most effective ways to communicate with your audience segments?

I feel like Hubspot killed the Persona phenomenon when it was hyped in early 2010s when they introduced the Build My Persona tool for marketers to generate their so-called inbound leads ?? Every marketer is obsessed with building personas and blaming the lack of them to produce good work. But when personas are finally created they are often so irrelevant to inform marketing decisions nor communication that creating personas become just another checklist in the long to do list of marketers. Until I saw how it could be done. My team created the best work and I’ll write more about this outside of this article because it just won’t give the justice the work deserves within 750 characters. Anyway we call them Profiles not Personas ??

As a digital marketing strategist and personal branding consultant, effective communication with diverse audience segments is my passion. Start by understanding your audience personas, what resonates with one might not with another. Tailor your messaging and content to speak directly to their needs and interests. Adopt multichannel communication to meet your audience where they are, ensuring a consistent brand voice. Lastly, actively listen to feedback and adapt your strategies. Successful communication is a dynamic conversation, a continuous effort to build meaningful connections.

In my opinion segmentation & personas do help to steer clear confusion who to target. But there is nothing like segmenting consumers on the basis if Needs. There is slight difference in segmentation & persona Consumer segmentation is like sorting people into groups based on common characteristics, such as age or interests. While Consumer persona is a detailed description of a typical person in one of those groups, helping businesses understand and connect with their customers better. It's like creating a fictional character that represents a group of real customers.

Consumer segmentation involves- 1) Understanding Diversity- Identifying and grouping consumers who share similar traits, interests and behaviours. 2) Tailoring approach-Allowing businesses to customise their products, services and marketing strategies for different groups. 3) Enhancing Relevancy- Ensuring that businesses speak directly to the unique needs and audience preference. Personas include- 1) Creating characters- Developing fictional but realistic individuals who represent a specific group within the larger audience. 2) Humanizing data- Putting a human face to market research making it relatable for them. 3) Personalized strategy- Helping businesses address the needs, challenges and aspirations of their target audience.

Segmenting and creating a persona is very controversial these days among marketeers, with a popular example being a description of a 48 y.o. male from England who is wealthy, likes dogs and has 2 children, a description that can be attributed to both Prince Charles and Ozzy Osbourne. What you want to do is look into your segments on a deeper level and understand what attributes go into opposite directions. Good example being sending email marketing campaign promoting juicy perfectly cooked steak recipe to a vegan, and the other way around. Spend time understanding your customer. Talk to them. Its the time well spent and it pays off in the long run.

In the early days it may be tricky to get a detailed persona profile due to lack of data, not having enough customers. What you could do is use your paid media facebook data as a starting point to get a better understanding of a customer profile. Second level could be your email marketing data: have your subscribers answer 1-2 questions that could help you better understand them and break down your subscribers into lists and segments for a more personalized communication. Level 3 could be surveys and interviews, those are your hidden gem.

"Marketing Specialist at a Tech Startup seeks data-driven insights to enhance digital marketing campaigns" is way better than saying "A young adult who wants to find useful information online." Details matter when creating accurate personas. You need to be as specific as possible to get the most out of personas.

Conduct need analysis & understanding buying behaviour one should get into building persona & consumer segmentation Persona Development If you discover a segment of tech-savvy youth who enjoy fitness, you might create a persona named "TechFit Terry” - Describe Terry's age, job & location, interest in tech & fitness - Consider his challenges & goals – e.g time efficiency in both work & workouts Segmentation Start by gathering data on user behavior, demographics & interests. Identify overlapping patterns. Follow these step 1.Data Collection collect relevant data from various sources 2.Identify Patterns Look for commonalities & patterns among your audience 3.Create Segments Group individuals based on shared characteristics & behaviors

Use simple principle of "when in Rome, do as romans do" Every segment will peel off the need of different communication techniques. Don't get bogged down. Build that communication. You may find it very tiresome in first place but once you get results of it then you will be charged to build this as discipline.

Tailor your language, tone, and style to match each persona's characteristics, ensuring your messages resonate and engage. For instance, use casual or professional language based on the persona's preferences. Choose communication channels frequented by your target segments, whether it's social media platforms, email, or traditional media. Deliver content in formats they prefer, like videos, blogs, or infographics, to enhance engagement. Regularly test and refine your strategies based on response rates and feedback, ensuring your approach remains relevant and impactful. This tailored communication not only improves customer relationships but also boosts the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.

First of all, you do want to measure, otherwise just don't do it at all. Once you spend time looking at the data, questions will come up and you'll start looking for answers, with this the improvement will (should) come. If the numbers you are looking for aren't there, go back to the drawing board. And please experiment and try out new angles, not only the color of the CTA button or its position. Also you want to understand what metric matters to you the most. Example: is it open rate, showing you a percent at which emails are opened or a total number of opens, showing you whether subscribers go back to your email or forward it to their peers.

One of the easiest ways to measure your success is by calculating the engagement rate of your customers after you've implemented a new strategy. Engagement rate = (Engagements/Impressions) x 100%

Measurement is crucial in determining success of any marketing initiative, and particularly important to improve engagement with your audience. Quantitative measures such as conversions and retention in addition to qualitative measures such as customer satisfaction and customer surveys are important. Another key step in the process is to take all the data collected and adjust your strategies for the best possible outcomes.

If you understand what your customers want to hear, it is easier for you to tell them exactly that. This is where empathy comes into play. Think about the following at each stage of the customer journey to understand them better: Senses: See, hear, feel, touch, smell. Think and Feel: User's thoughts and emotions. Say and Do: Verbal expressions and actions. Pains: Challenges and frustrations. Gains: Goals and positive outcomes. Environment: Physical or digital context.

Identify and understand your audience segments. Create detailed personas to grasp their characteristics, preferences, pain points, and behaviors. This foundation helps tailor your communication approach. Regularly monitor customer interactions, collect feedback, and analyze data to refine your communication strategy. Use analytics tools to understand what works and what needs improvement. Stay updated on emerging communication channels and technologies. Experiment with new platforms to reach your audience where they are.

Aligning communication with each stage of the customer journey requires strategic planning. For awareness, use channels and content that captivate and inform potential customers about your brand. During the consideration stage, focus on differentiating your brand and highlighting unique benefits. In the decision phase, use persuasive and compelling calls to action. Post-purchase, maintain engagement with content that reinforces their choice and offers additional value. Encourage loyalty through personalized interactions and rewards. For advocacy, create shareable content and incentivize referrals. This tailored approach not only enhances the overall customer experience but also drives stronger brand connections and conversions.

Through segmentation to their critirias and personalization. Tailored social media content, personalize e-mails, collaborate with micro- influencers, and adapt communication channels to the preferences.

To find the most effective ways to communicate with your audience segments, I would say: A) It depends on how deep down they are on the customer journey and B) How high up they are on your product ladder. To create awareness at the beginning of the customer journey for a low-budget product, communication can be all digital and fully automated. But to foster a loyal premium customer with an in-depth 1:1 service, you need way more personal, face-to-face ways to communicate.