Marketing requires a careful balance between broad reach and narrow targeting. For your marketing communications campaign to succeed, you have to deliver the right message to the right audience. You need to motivate your market to take the action you want: buy your product, come to your shop, show up for your event. Getting people to take action requires that you know as much as you can about what motivates them. Why should they care about your product, service, business or event? In short, what’s in it for them?

The marketing solution: segmentation

One thing we know about people is that they have different reasons for doing things. Take, for example, customers of a retail store. Some will be more motivated by your excellent service, others by your range of selection. And there will always be a group whose buying decisions are based mostly on price. That means that a text messaging campaign that emphasizes low prices on skinny jeans is not going to interest parents who want clothes that will last at least until their kids grow out of them. By the same token, busy professionals and parents will be more interested in a restaurant that provides friendly, quick service, while retired people have more time and focus more on quality and taste. Still others are looking for original recipes.

How to segment your audience

It all comes down to knowing your audience. Gather as much information as you can about the characteristics of the people in your text messaging audience:

• Age
• Income category
• Education level
• Marital and parental status
• Life stage
• Home ownership
• Employment status
• Employment category
• Interests, hobbies and sports.

Then, send different text messages to motivate each distinct segment. The more you know about your market, the better you can create marketing messages that will motivate them.