Market Segmentation for Targeted Campaigns

STOP Using Broad Targeting on Meta Ads (If you want a higher ROAS) After auditing $100M+ in ad spend across premium 8-9 figure e-commerce brands, here's the framework that's actually driving profitable scale: The Cascade Targeting System Most brands get targeting backwards. They deploy mass market messaging that no one listens to. Instead, they need to speak to many niche groups—personally. Optimize for resonance before reach. Here's the 3-layer framework that's generating a 3X-10X MER: → Level 1: Market Segments (Highest Impact) → Level 2: Personas (Secondary Impact) → Level 3: Angles (Tactical Impact) The AG1 Example: Instead of "Get healthier today" mass-market messaging, here's how they stack segments: Level 1 | Market Segments: → Travelers → Athletes → Busy Parents Let's use the busy parents segment as an example. This may breakdown into multiple personas as follows. Level 2 | Busy Parents Personas: → The Nutrition Research-Oriented Busy Parent → The Convenience-Focused Busy Parent → The Wellness-Minded Busy Parent Now we'll create different angles for each persona, let's just use the first one here. Level 3 | Nutrition Research-Oriented Busy Parent Angles: → "Nutrition you can trust for your family" → "Simple ingredients, 3rd-party tested, pediatrician-approved" → "Efficacious absorption for all gut biomes" To scale this, we can just add more angles, personas or market segments. The Data That Changes Everything: Mass appeal creative: Hits 15% of audience at 25% message resonance Hyper-targeted creative: Hits 100% of audience at 85% message resonance The Scaling Hierarchy (By Account Impact) 1. New Market Segments → Unlock entirely new customer pools (highest ROI) 2. New Personas → Deeper penetration within existing segments 3. New Angles → Tactical optimization within proven personas (lowest ROI) Here's what most brands miss: The biggest impact on account performance doesn't come from better creative execution. It comes from strategic market expansion. Most premium e-commerce brands are sitting on 5-10 untapped market segments. They're optimizing the wrong variable. The breakthrough happens when you stop asking "How do we appeal to more people?" and start asking "Which specific group haven't we spoken to yet?" Each new market segment you unlock is a step-function increase in addressable audience. Each new persona is incremental growth within that segment. Each new angle is tactical optimization towards converting that persona. Stop trying to be everything to everyone. Start being everything to someone very specific. Then stack another segment. And another. That's how you build a $100M brand from targeted creative strategy.

𝐒𝐮𝐛 𝟏𝟎% 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝟎.𝟓% 𝐂𝐓𝐑. 𝐀 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐫𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥. Something had to change! Here’s what we did 🌟  ↴ Community Insights: ↳I reached out to operators in ClubPF ⚓︎, Pavilion, and other communities, and LinkedIn to learn from their email campaign strategies. Focused Segmentation: ↳ We noticed that the top marketers and ops professionals were creating highly engaged audience segments. We reduced our audience size by 90%, focusing on: → Last email opened from sales/marketing → Recent website visits → Event registration/attendance → Asset downloads or form submissions Building Engagement: ↳ We enriched contact details and evaluated titles, companies, goals, challenges, and content engagement across emails and our website. Gathering Feedback: ↳ We contacted 20+ engaged contacts to understand their email preferences, knowledge gaps, and content consumption habits. Strategic Expansion: ↳ We expanded our list by 5-10% weekly, monitoring performance closely. Within 3 weeks, we saw: 20%+ open rates 1.5%+ CTRs By the end of the quarter, our segmented email campaigns achieved a 30%+ open rate! Key Takeaways 💡: 👉 People-First Approach: Engage internally with the best team and externally with your audience. 👉 Data-Driven Decisions: Use engagement signals to create focused segments. 👉 Continuous Improvement: Regularly gather feedback and adjust strategies. ✨ This journey was about putting people first, aligning our team, and delivering value to our audience. The results speak for themselves! S/o to Ritakshi J. Sagar Mishra and Soumyajit Chakladar - we worked week after week to make this happen! Picture Context - Winter in Boston in 2010. Sometimes this is what being a GTM Operator feels like 🤣 #EmailMarketing #GTM #datadriven

I set up 37 AI Agents for our $6M ARR outbound agency. These are the 6 AI Agents we deploy across our >$10M ARR clients. I used to spend HOURS trying to figure out what makes a cold email work. Which pain points hit hardest. What signals show someone is ready to buy. When to reach out. How to segment my lists without losing my mind. Now? I run everything through a squad of AI agents (built in n8n) that do the heavy lifting for me. Here’s the team: → 1. COMPANY_ANALYST Analyzes your website, case studies, and G2 reviews. Finds what problems you solve, what ROI you deliver, and what makes you different. Outputs: • Top pain points (ranked 1-10) • Customer impact metrics • Differentiation hooks • Real customer language → 2. PAIN_EXPERT Takes those insights and builds a Pain Point Matrix. Scores each pain by: • Frequency • Financial impact • Time savings • Risk reduction • Emotional relief • Urgency Then ranks them-so you know what matters MOST. → 3. SIGNAL_HUNTER Searches for digital breadcrumbs showing a company feels that pain. Looks at: • Tech stack • Website copy • Job posts • Social posts • Event attendance • Review activity Even gives you ready-to-use Boolean search strings for LinkedIn. (Yes, you get a literal playbook for signals.) → 4. SEGMENT_STRATEGIST Breaks your market into micro-segments (100-200 companies each). Maps the most intense pain for each. Defines how to spot them, what triggers that pain, and what NOT to target. Helps you focus on the best-fit group first. → 5. TRIGGER_SPECIALIST Watches for buying signals in that top segment: • Researching solutions? • Budget approved? • Leadership change? • Tech stack updates? Sets up real-time alerts and tells you exactly when/how to reach out. → 6. CAMPAIGN_BUILDER Takes all this and builds 3 outbound campaigns you can launch. For each: • Campaign name • Target audience • Trigger event • Messaging • Data sources • Personalization fields • Target KPIs • A/B test plan • Launch checklist If you want to see how these AI agents actually work in a real outbound workflow (step-by-step) - I'll be putting together an entire SOP over the weekend, let me know if you want it!

11 days ago, I took over as interim CMO at Directive. Since then, form fills are DOWN 10%, but Strategy Calls held are UP 127%. And… we’re already out of sales capacity. Here are the 3 changes I made to our ad campaigns: 1. Asked the TWO Most Important Marketing Questions What I’ve learned from managing 100+ marketers is that media buyers can lose track of 2 core drivers of B2B SaaS performance: A. What % of our budget is going to what size companies? I found 81% of budget was going to orgs with <250 employees. I then analyzed our intro calls and found that SaaS companies with fewer than 200 employees did not have enough ad spend to hit our monthly minimums for our retainer. B. What % of budget is going to what titles? When you run a campaign it’s best to separate managers from Directors and up. This allows you to have large audiences + test buying authority in the vertical you target. It also lets you pause manager campaigns for enterprise, but keep live for mid-market, for example. 2. Reset the Employee Size of Tiers in our TAM I use employee size targeting instead of revenue when advertising. Revenue is a guess in data platforms because revenue is not reported by private companies. We have three core segments at Directive: - Startup: 51-199 - Mid-Market: 200-999 - Enterprise: 1000+ A few months ago we opened up our startups segment to 50 employees instead of 100. And, unfortunately, companies with under 100 employees were gobbling up ad spend due to their volume. The solution? Pause ads in the Startup sector, reset tiers so that startups was 100-199 (instead of 50-199), and reallocated budget into the Mid-Market and Enterprise segment. 3. Inspect, Inspect, Inspect I held a 1.5 hr marketing all hands where we reviewed every single active ad + copy we were running. Here were the takeaways we wrote up: Ad's moving forward need to have all the following included: - Hook - Directive (not Directive Consulting) - Exclusively for SaaS (not B2B SaaS) - Be clear about 2 things “Marketing Agency, Biggest in the space” - Using active and direct language, no more passive sentences Areas of improvement: - Test different subject lines - Capitalize and trademark Customer Generation™️ - Use customer logos and names in ad copy and imagery - Adjust the Ad copy to speak TO Enterprise, NOT startups - Run drastic Macro tests, not micro test (AZ tests not AB test) - Refresh convo ad copy + Sponsored Content on a monthly basis - Include numbers from benchmarks, NSMs goals achieved, etc in copywriting TAKEAWAYS: If you don’t add a layer of firmographics to your media buying you could be spending your budget on prospects who can’t actually buy from you. If you don’t tier out your TAM your budget can not be optimized for impact. Marketing is art, not science. Make sure you are in love with what your brand is communicating. Take a breath, follow this process for yourself, and reap the rewards of a sales team with a fully booked out calendar.

Half our marketing budget targeted women 25-34. Our highest converting audience? Men 45-65 buying gifts. Discovered this by accident when analyzing order patterns from last Diwali season. These gift-buying men were completely invisible in our targeting strategy. Weird pattern we noticed: ⤵︎ They never used discount codes ⤵︎ Always chose express shipping ⤵︎ Bought our highest-priced items ⤵︎ Had near-zero return rates Our acquisition cost for this segment was 4X lower while average order value was 3.2X higher. Instead of ignoring this insight, we rebuilt our entire holiday strategy around it: ↗︎ Created "gift concierge" landing pages with curated selections ↗︎ Added gift wrapping and personalized message options ↗︎ Developed email sequences specifically for gift occasions ↗︎ Built lookalike audiences based on this high-value segment These changes increased our holiday revenue by 142% year-over-year while reducing marketing spend by 17%. The most profitable audience segments rarely match your brand's imagined customer avatar. Data reveals who's actually buying, not who you think should be buying. What hidden audience segments are you overlooking?

Why your “persona” is sabotaging your marketing strategy 😫 When creating a marketing strategy, marketers often talk about doing a segmentation exercise to know who your target segment is. I have no issue with this. What I DO have an issue with is when people equate segmentation with constructing a “persona” of your target market such as: “Meet Amy Tan - she’s 35, lives in Bangsar, drinks oat lattes & scrolls Instagram for an hour looking at dog reels and recipes before bed”. I think it’s rubbish. Fictional Amy Tan tells me nothing about the actual market segment! Will “Amy Tan” tell me anything about how and how much Amy's segment spends on eggs every month? Will I understand the purchase frequency for Amy’s segment? Know what specific product features drive their buying decisions? Whether Amy's segment prioritises particular features, e.g. eggs that have omega-3, vitamin E, or selenium content? How often do they buy eggs, and what triggers that purchase? NO, I won’t, which is dangerous because these are the very questions that you should be answering in a segmentation exercise. Without a solid answer, you’re operating on ‘gut feel’. That’s not creating a ‘marketing strategy’; that’s just pure guesswork! Now you might ask, what does true segmentation look like? For starters, true segmentation goes beyond the demographics & psychographics to include segment size, category spending, growth rates, and behavioral patterns. When you understand that Segment A spends $200 monthly while Segment B spends $50 with declining interest, you can make informed decisions about where to focus. This foundational work enables everything strategic that follows: pricing structure, distribution channels, messaging strategy & product development priorities. It tells you not just who your customers are, but how much they're worth and what motivates their purchasing decisions. Sadly, most companies skip this rigorous analysis because it's "simple but not easy." They default to personas because they feel more tangible & creative. But personas without solid segmentation data underneath are just elaborate guesswork. Meanwhile, companies that invest in proper segmentation research - using methodologies like latent class analysis to identify distinct consumer groups based on category motivators, purchase behavior & spending patterns - gain a competitive advantage that compounds over time. They know which segments to target, what products would fit & what messages will resonate. The irony is that this foundational work, while requiring upfront investment, actually makes all subsequent marketing decisions faster and more effective. You stop debating which target is priority based on gut feelings & start making decisions based on market reality. But you must first do your segmentation exercise properly. ♻️Reshare to help someone in your network. DM me your company needs help building an effective marketing strategy.

How should you segment B2B markets? (Hint: you need more than firmographics) Here are the elements we recommend including in your segmentation: 🟨 Firmographics What are the attributes of a company that might need your product? (employee count, industry, team sizes, location, revenue, etc.) These are easy to find, but they aren’t very useful on their own — because companies can look the same from the outside and have very different situations, goals, and problems on the inside. 🟩 Champion Who is the person or team that actually cares about the problem you solve? These are the people that you’ll be creating content for in your marketing and targeting in your channel strategies. 🟫 Job-to-be-Done A good JTBD definition answers the question “What is the champion trying to do?” and it consists of two parts: 🟤 The activity the team is carrying out. 🔵 The outcome(progress) they are trying to achieve. This is the crux of good customer segmentation — and it sets the stage for identifying channels and creating quality content to reach your champion. ⬛️ Current Tools or Methods How are they carrying out this activity to achieve their outcome today? This could be a specific tool, a collection of tools, or a method. This is the competitive alternative to your product (what you are competing with) 🟥 Problem What challenge(s) is your champion running into in relation to the tools and methods they’re using to carry out the JTBD? It’s important to frame the problem in the way the champion frames the problem (not how you see the problem). ——— Check out the example shown for what a good customer segment definition could look like for Linear (related to selling product development software). 👉 When you segment in this detailed manner, you’ll likely have a large collection of customer segments — And you’ll realize that B2B markets are incredibly fragmented. The startups that ignore this fragmentation usually fail. 😬 They’ll try to go to market at the firmographic level with broad messaging across every channel. The startups that embrace this fragmentation usually win. 😎 They recognize that the way to win a big market is actually by winning many small markets. Which segmentation approach is your startup taking? #startups #customersegmentation #b2b #marketing

Most of us think we have a clear ICP. But when you look at the pipeline? It’s a wild mix of company sizes, industries, and personas — all getting the same campaigns & pitch. 3. Some deals move fast. Others stall for months. 2. Some channels print money. Others burn cash. 1. Some personas love the product. Others ghost after a demo. This isn’t a sales problem. It’s a segmentation problem. If we don’t know who our best-fit customers are, we’re running blind. Here’s how I segment 👇 Side note: Get the spreadsheet template along with step-by-step guide from my newsletter. Click the link in my profile to get a copy. 📌 Step 1: Pull Closed-Won Deals Your best customers leave clues — follow them. - Pull closed-won deals from the last 6-12 months. - Grab key data: Job titles, company size, industry, ACV, deal cycle. - Clean up your CRM (because it’s always messy). Why? Real data > gut feelings. Sell to who’s already buying. 🔍 Step 2: Enrich Your Data CRM data alone won’t cut it. Use Clay to enrich contacts (seniority, decision-making power). Pro Tip: Integrate Keyplay to your CRM have accurate industry tags added to your account. Add growth signals (hiring, funding, ad spend). Think of it as turning an old map into GPS with live traffic. 📊 Step 3: Find Your Winning Segments Look for patterns in your best deals: - Which industries & company sizes close the fastest? - What roles drive decisions? - Which channels bring in high-ACV deals? Example: Demos from Marketing VPs at Mid-market Dental SaaS = High ACV & 2x faster close rate. When they come from Paid Channel, the sales cycles are longer compared to when they come organically. Once you see the patterns, targeting becomes easy. ❌ Step 4: Learn from Closed-Lost Deals Your losses reveal what’s broken. - Pull & enrich closed-lost deals. - Identify why deals fell through — wrong fit? Wrong persona? Budget? - Which channels did these closed lost deals come from? - Compare all of these with your closed won patterns. Red flags to watch: - High demo volume, low conversion → Fix qualification/messaging. - Some industries never close → Stop targeting them. - Prospects ghost post-demo → Value prop isn’t landing. 📈 Step 5: Prioritize, Cut, Scale Put your segments into a 2x2 matrix: - High demo volume, high conversion → Scale this segment fast. - High demo volume, low conversion → Fix qualification/messaging. - Low demo volume, high conversion → See if it makes sense to prioritize based on if you have enough time, money, and people. - Low demo volume, low conversion → Stop wasting effort. Why? More focus = more predictable pipeline 🚀 👆Link to the template along with the full guide in my latest newsletter. Grab it by clicking on the link in my profile.

Day 4 - CRO series Strategy development ➡Audience Segmentation Most marketing campaigns fail because they try to reach everyone. Smart businesses know that not all customers are the same. Here’s how to segment your audience for better targeting: 1. Define Your Segmentation Criteria Break your audience into meaningful groups based on: ◾ Demographics → Age, gender, income, education ◾ Geographic Location → Country, city, region ◾ Behavioural Data → Purchase history, engagement levels ◾ Psychographics → Values, interests, lifestyle choices The more precise the segmentation, the more effective the targeting. 2. Collect Audience Data Use multiple sources to understand your customers: ◾ Surveys & Interviews → Direct feedback from customers ◾ Website Analytics → Google Analytics, heatmaps, session recordings ◾ CRM Systems → Customer history, interactions, and purchase patterns Data removes guesswork. 3. Analyze the Data & Identify Patterns Look for trends: ◾ Are certain groups more likely to convert? ◾ Who engages most with your brand? ◾ What common traits do your best customers share? These insights form the foundation of strong segmentation. 4. Create Customer Segments Group people based on similar characteristics. Examples: ◾ High-value customers → Frequent buyers with high purchase amounts ◾ Engaged followers → Customers who interact on social media ◾ New leads → First-time website visitors Each segment requires a different marketing approach. 5. Develop Targeted Strategies Personalization is key. ◾ Young professionals? Use social media ads & video content. ◾ Older customers? Email campaigns may work better. ◾ High spenders? Loyalty programs & VIP offers. Speak to each segment in their language, on their preferred platform. 6. Test, Measure, and Optimize Not all strategies work equally. ◾ A/B test different messages within segments ◾ Track conversion rates, engagement, and retention ◾ Refine based on what performs best Optimization is an ongoing process. Why Segmentation Matters ✔ More Relevant Marketing → Customers receive messages tailored to them ✔ Higher Engagement & Conversions → People respond to what feels personalized ✔ Optimized Marketing Spend → Invest in what works for each segment ✔ Better Customer Experience → Customers feel understood and valued Businesses that segment their audience don’t just market better— They sell smarter. Are you using segmentation in your marketing? Share your thoughts below. See you tomorrow! P.S: If you have any questions related to CRO and want to discuss your CRO growth or strategy, Book a consultation call (Absolutely free) with me (Link in bio)

STP in FMCG: Why Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning Matter 🧠📦 In FMCG, growth isn’t about selling more products — 💯it’s about selling the right product to the right consumer in the right way. 💬That’s where STP (Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning) becomes a core growth lever. 🔍 Segmentation: Knowing Who Your Consumer Is 📌Segmentation means dividing a mass market into smaller consumer groups with similar needs, lifestyles, or buying behaviour. 👶 Kids’ snacks rely on bright colours, fun shapes, and cartoon or superhero branding to influence choices. 🌆🌾 Geography matters — urban consumers are more experimental and convenience-driven, while rural consumers are highly price-sensitive, directly impacting pack size and pricing. 🧘♂️ Health-conscious buyers prefer protein, zero-sugar, or nutraceutical products, while 🌱 eco-conscious consumers look for clean labels and sustainable packaging. 🛒 Behaviour also plays a role — heavy users prefer large packs, while first-time or value-seeking consumers opt for sachets and small SKUs. Segmentation ensures brands don’t speak to everyone in the same language. 🎯 Targeting: Focusing Where It Matters Targeting is about choosing which consumer group to serve. 🧬Is the brand meant for Gen Z, millennials, families, or seniors? 🔬Are they value-driven or premium buyers? 🏃🏃♀️Can they be reached better through social media, general trade, modern trade, or e-commerce? 🔥Clear targeting improves reach efficiency, communication clarity, and ROI.🔥 🧩 Positioning: Standing Out on the Shelf ✔️Positioning defines why a consumer should choose your brand. 💰 Best value for money 👶 Trusted for kids 🩺 Zero sugar or health-focused 🔥 Fitness and fat-loss support 🌿 Natural and sustainable Strong positioning is simple, consistent, and visible across packaging, pricing, and promotion. 🚀 Why STP Is Critical in FMCG FMCG markets are crowded and competitive. STP helps brands deliver relevant messages, choose the right channels, optimise pack sizes, and build scalable growth strategies. 💡 Final Thought 🧠Winning FMCG brands don’t try to please everyone. ⭐️They segment smartly, target sharply, and position clearly. #STPMarketing #FMCG #FMCGMarketing #MarketingStrategy #BrandStrategy #BrandPositioning #ConsumerInsights #Segmentation #Targeting #Positioning #GoToMarket #GTMStrategy #ProductMarketing #PackagingStrategy #ConsumerBehavior #MarketingFundamentals #Marketing101 #IndianFMCG #FMCGIndia #D2C #RetailMarketing #GeneralTrade #ModernTrade #Ecommerce #BusinessStrategy #GrowthMarketing #BrandBuilding #MarketingThoughts #LinkedInMarketing