Influencing Segmentation

Direct response has earned a resurgence lately. With the continued strength of email, emergence of SMS, monetization of social, and a renewed focus on unit economics and margin, brands are increasingly looking to optimize response.

And, with that, comes the tried and true ‘Audience | Offer | Content’ framework. It’s these three pillars - in that order - that work together to supply demand.

It’s hard to disentangle the last two - offer and content - and this intersection is typically treated as the main stage for personalization.  Personalization never seems to leave the spotlight; and AI’s halo continues to shine the light on things like product recommendations and offer optimization (both rightful and hype-worthy).

‘Audience’ is the real deal, though - far and away the most impactful component in direct response: talking with the right people will deliver results.

And any conversation including ‘audience’ needs to start with segmentation. In the days when direct marketing had material cost - printing and shipping catalogs for instance - getting the audience wrong would spell budget disaster. Direct marketers rigorously modeled and segmented their audience on their recency, frequency, and monetary performance. RFM!

As marketing channels shifted - email took a large bite out of direct marketing - the cost structure changed. Email was perceived as ‘free.’ And, RFM models and segmentation gave way to the scourge of batch ‘n blast.

Smart marketers of course still segment for compelling behavioral campaigns, and ESPs have largely pre-packaged the most popular trigger campaigns into the product. But segmentation of big drops has narrowed.

The light of relevance shines through other marketing windows - specifically in social. And, while social ads have of course been segmented, brands’ social media have not been easy to segment.

Influencer marketing provides a compelling canvas for delivering segmented messages. As brands curate a band of microinfluencers, they unlock a unique opportunity to naturally  segment their messaging.

Best of all - the results roll in.

MAVRCK observes that the stronger response from creators with lower follower counts can be chalked up to “high authenticity and connection with their audience.” Put another way, when relevance is high, results follow. 

And, segmentation is the cheat code for relevance.