The Future of Media is Segmentation

A COMMENTARY BY MARCELO SALUP, CEO of PERFORMIST

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Who are these people?

I’m not going to go into some boring summary of the many changes that technology has accelerated or into some boring self-centered account of some of the projects I’ve been involved in. Nope. Let’s look forward.

As we move forward, I propose that segmentation is the future of marketing and there is no future.

Proper segmentation is the future of marketing and should include these three factors:

👉 Segments should be homogeneous within themselves but different enough from other segments that different creative makes sense. If you’re selling jeans, for example, it would be great to come out with segments that include “people who want to look cool” and “lower-income moms who need to make their kids’ clothing last”.

👉 Segments should be big enough to make a difference in your business. If you sell 1,000 Ferraris a year, a segment of 150 people could make a difference in your sales figures. If you sell 300,000 Teslas yearly, a segment of 150 people is useless.

👉 Segments should be addressable. If you sell “Self-cooking pasta” and defined a segment of “Gourmet Campers” but have no way to reach only Gourmet Campers, that segment does not exist.

Bottom line, your segments should be self-contained, big and reachable.

Segmentation and Marketing: There is no future. There are many futures.

Marketing is huge, way beyond advertising or any sub-discipline of advertising. So, how does segmentation help?

This is marketing:

Segmentation will help in three immediate areas:

1. Specialized product formulations – this is what gave birth to such products as Gatorade, Coca Cola Light and Amstel Light, for example. In each case, there was a segment that was large enough to sustain sales, but which would benefit from having a specialized product. Often, because the products are so specialized, they are also typically not discounted and have higher profit margins.

2. Messaging – The most obvious application is messaging. This goes from the creation of very focused messages to the use of highly targeted channels. Two examples:

👉 If you have a blindingly fast computer chip, its computers can be advertised to gamers, businessmen and video editors with different messages but all stressing the same advantage: processing speed.

👉Influencers in the car business such as Supercar Blondie and Doug deMuro have massive subscription bases but reach two very different car fan groups.

Better message/consumer adequation will increase response and conversion ratios.

Any quick calculation will show the potential return.

3. Media – the crumbling of the cookie (the slowest ever announced death of a product) will create media buys that go back to the original, pre-cookie way of buying digital: demographics, behavior, psychographics and product consumption. The way to incorporate these four elements is to systematically quantify them in ways that make sense for your product or brand.

When you use correct segmentation to create new products you are, in fact, inventing your future.

Unless you have facts…

… you’re just a guy with an opinion, as the saying goes. And, segments, purchasing drivers, affinity, and all the other factors should be solidly evidence based. There are also major databases in the market that will help identify segments, their size, key drivers and more.

So, do research, use databases.

The future Media Department – Chief Handholding Officer?

Think for a moment about what being a client used to mean: control. After all, it was your brand and your money. So, you as a client controlled everything: packaging, pricing, distribution, advertising, media, promotions and more.

Fast forward to right now.

Cookies are crumbling. The leaked Google documents reveal that SEO is “not what you thought”, it was highly ineffective.

Dynamic Creative Optimization creates the messages algorithmically… no creative directors, copywriters or art directors.

Programmatic buying is done automatically. There are no media buyers saying “I like this website, I don’t like that one…” instead, you hand the DSP your white and black lists.

And even segmentation is done statistically. You ask the software for “X” number of solutions and a bit later, you have your “X” number of solutions against which you can buy.

A lot of clients are going to be saying “WTF?” 

So, the next iteration of media departments and media agencies might want to hire a hybrid specialist. A mix of analytical nerd with babysitting skills to make sure clients are reassured that their buys are OK.

What is your favorite name for that position? We have come up with several possibilities:

🤔 Client Reassurance Director

🤔 Chief Handholder

🤔 VP of CX

🤔 Propose a new one? ____________________________________________________

Would you like a free, professional discovery call with no time limit, no hard sell and no pressure to see if we can help you improve your sales and margins? If you do, grab some time here: www.calendly.com/performist-us/60

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Marcelo is able to connect strategic planning, consumer insights, messaging and branding, digital and direct media to create measurably successful marketing and advertising efforts for a wide range of companies, products and brands. Among the many product launches he’s led are: Renault 5 TS (Spain), Iberia Airlines (Spain), Diet Coke (Mexico), Colgate Total (Mexico), Fabuloso Cleaner (Mexico), L’Oreal: Plenitude & Lancome (Mexico), General Motors (Argentina), Oreo, Club Social (Nabisco) (Latin America), Glade (SCJ) (Latin America), and Visa & MasterCard (Latin America).

He has also re-engineered dozens of bundled and unbundled media departments around the world. This includes creating a dozen media standalone units, as well as developing several softwares and methodologies for managing strategic and media planning, multi-media optimization, evaluations for product placements, and product integrations.