It appears the in our modern, techno-centric society, the same old methods of consumer segmentation simply aren’t cutting it. Due to the ever increasing number of technological innovations that drive our lives, the ways that individuals interact with businesses are constantly changing. In this we see the inherent flaws of archaic segmentation based on simple demographic information and the new, evolving ways that we can better target the modern consumer.
The most prominent flaw in traditional market segmentation is that in our everyday lives, we do not assume just one, clearly defined role, but rather we assume many different roles depending on the different situations that we find ourselves in. For example, from 9 to 5, Jane Smith may be playing a role of a responsible, conservative professional, who believes in X, but after hours, when Ms. Smith is at the lounge for happy hour, she takes on an entirely different persona and is now a carefree, zealous socialite who believes in Y. Simply put, traditional marketing segmentation is too black & white and does not take into consideration the fact that people are multi-faceted.
This, among others, is a powerful argument for consumer self-segmentation. Digital technologies are proving to be powerful tools for enabling self-segmentation. With social media, e-mail and internet-based loyalty programs, consumers are evermore willing to develop relationships with companies through interacting with them via digital platforms and sharing their personal information and preferences. These tools for self-segmentation allow the consumer to customize the type of information that companies to share with them, so instead of a company sending the consumer an e-mail and hoping it will somehow hit home with that consumer, the consumer will indicate exactly what type of e-mail he or she wants to receive. From a marketer’s perspective, this makes great sense; rather than wasting their precious resources trying to glean information to form consumer segments, why not allow the people to do this for themselves? The consumers will be receiving information that is fine-tuned to their specific need and interests. It’s a win/win situation.
In the future, I think it is a fair assumption to say that there will also be a further push towards targeting individuals specifically, rather than mass market segments. Once again, new innovative technologies are allowing marketers to do just that. In an interview on CBC’s Spark, Todd Pataky (a researcher in biomechanics) discusses how new developments are being made that will allow computers to identify specific individuals simply based on the way that they walk. Oddly enough, in the interview, they didn’t discuss at length the opportunities that this presents to marketers. Pataky elaborated on how his technology would be applied to a walkway and based on the unique way that you distribute your weight how you exert pressure onto the walkway’s surface, the technology would be able to determine who you are. And according to the interview, at this point, the technology is 99.6% accurate. Now say for example that this technology was applied to a sidewalk or the entrance to a mall – it could identify exactly who you are and based on information stored in its system, it would be able to present you with highly targeted advertising messaging, perhaps steering you towards a store directly across the street.
The most prominent flaw in traditional market segmentation is that in our everyday lives, we do not assume just one, clearly defined role, but rather we assume many different roles depending on the different situations that we find ourselves in. For example, from 9 to 5, Jane Smith may be playing a role of a responsible, conservative professional, who believes in X, but after hours, when Ms. Smith is at the lounge for happy hour, she takes on an entirely different persona and is now a carefree, zealous socialite who believes in Y. Simply put, traditional marketing segmentation is too black & white and does not take into consideration the fact that people are multi-faceted.
This, among others, is a powerful argument for consumer self-segmentation. Digital technologies are proving to be powerful tools for enabling self-segmentation. With social media, e-mail and internet-based loyalty programs, consumers are evermore willing to develop relationships with companies through interacting with them via digital platforms and sharing their personal information and preferences. These tools for self-segmentation allow the consumer to customize the type of information that companies to share with them, so instead of a company sending the consumer an e-mail and hoping it will somehow hit home with that consumer, the consumer will indicate exactly what type of e-mail he or she wants to receive. From a marketer’s perspective, this makes great sense; rather than wasting their precious resources trying to glean information to form consumer segments, why not allow the people to do this for themselves? The consumers will be receiving information that is fine-tuned to their specific need and interests. It’s a win/win situation.
In the future, I think it is a fair assumption to say that there will also be a further push towards targeting individuals specifically, rather than mass market segments. Once again, new innovative technologies are allowing marketers to do just that. In an interview on CBC’s Spark, Todd Pataky (a researcher in biomechanics) discusses how new developments are being made that will allow computers to identify specific individuals simply based on the way that they walk. Oddly enough, in the interview, they didn’t discuss at length the opportunities that this presents to marketers. Pataky elaborated on how his technology would be applied to a walkway and based on the unique way that you distribute your weight how you exert pressure onto the walkway’s surface, the technology would be able to determine who you are. And according to the interview, at this point, the technology is 99.6% accurate. Now say for example that this technology was applied to a sidewalk or the entrance to a mall – it could identify exactly who you are and based on information stored in its system, it would be able to present you with highly targeted advertising messaging, perhaps steering you towards a store directly across the street.
These kinds of fast-paced technological innovations are both exciting and alarming. In many ways, our evolving techno-centric society brings us further apart from each other and closer to corporations. An advertiser's ability to track our every movement calls into question issues of privacy and personal security. In a digital climate that is constantly evolving, it will be interesting to see how far it takes us.
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