Does segmentation matter?

Marketing textbooks are unanimous about the importance of market segmentation. For example, here’s Liz Hill in Creative Arts Marketing: ‘One of the most important tasks of the marketing function in an arts organization is to identify the most appropriate ways to divide up their potential audience' (for a host of more examples, see this link).

But when I’ve asked arts marketers about it (and I’m talking about those from a range of places, art-forms and scales of organisation), surprisingly few have a formal segmentation in use. Most react guiltily, as if it’s something they know they ought to have. Others assume that ‘segmentation’ just refers to Arts Council England’s Arts Audiences: Insight (and whilst this model is interesting, useful and well-made, in most cases not the only, or the most appropriate, model that they should be using).

This contrast between the belief that segmentation is necessary for effective marketing and the number of organisations that aren’t using it can lead to one of three conclusions:

1)      effective marketing isn’t possible

2)      the textbooks are consistently wrong

3)      more marketers should be using segmentation.

We can, I hope, agree to discount the first of these (otherwise, as marketers, we’d be faced with questions that, to quote Philip Larkin out of context, ‘bring the priest and the doctor / in their long coats / running over the fields’).

For the second, there’s certainly a risk of bias in textbooks towards marketing approaches that work better for larger organisations than most in the arts. But the consistency, including in textbooks written by those with arts industry experience, belies this explanation. So does our hands-on experience as marketers. Other parts of marketing (e.g. pricing, competitive positioning, the marketing mix, the Ansoff matrix) both make much more sense and are much more effective, in relation to segmentation.

Which leaves the third option. That, despite the pressures of social media presences to maintain, brochures to sign-off, sales reports and press releases and direct mail to produce, segmentation shouldn’t be ignored. That it can make thinking about these, and a whole range of other tasks, a whole lot easier. That the marketing strategy that so many people dread having to write can be fun and creative: you just need a clearer idea of the various ‘who’s to use for the central communication question of ‘who and how and what?’.

Segmentation can be ‘off the peg’ (like Arts Audiences: Insight, ACORN, MOSAIC or MHM’s Culture Segments) or bespoke (which really can be as cheap and simple or as complex and expensive a process as you choose). It can be based on who people are, what they do or what they think and feel. There are pros and cons to each of these approaches. But the key thing is that it’s possible, whatever your situation. I’ll post more about the whys and hows of segmentation on www.olivermantell.co.uk, but in the mean time I’d urge you to commit some time to think about how you’ll make better use of this important marketing approach.

Oliver Mantell, Arts Marketing and Research Consultant