Segmentation is crucial for the simple reason that all customers are different and – in pure marketing terms, some customers are more important than others.

Many organisations (both commercial and not-for-profit) are governed by the 80/20 rule. This dictates that 80 per cent of their revenues generally come from around 20 per cent of their customers.

For anyone working in the third sector, it’s tough to acknowledge that any customer is more important than any other. But it does make sense to focus on the types of products and customers that are likely to deliver the best value to your organisation.

Certainly, different customer segments have different needs. If you’re a support or frontline organisation, segmentation is extremely important in helping to create profiles of different groups of customers and their specific wants, needs and general circumstances.

Truly effective marketing is about personalisation and customisation not just of messages, but of the product or service you’re selling. The way you talk to an 18-year old and the medium you choose to do it via is different to the way you talk to an 80 year-old.

So why not integrate that principle into your marketing communications? Rather than talking to your audience in a generic, one-size-fits-all sort of way, you can customise your message to suit the audience.

The National Trust is a good example. Several years ago it realised that its audience was an ageing and dwindling demographic. So it started the Youth Trust.
 

Do it yourself?

Segmentation doesn’t have to be a complex process. If you’re a support organisation here are several simple matrices that can help you establish the relationship between the services you offer to different customers and what value that relationship brings to them – and you. The Chartered Institute of Marketing provide useful information on targeting and segmenting markets.

The most useful tool for segmenting customers is the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system – an online repository that helps you not only organise stakeholders into groups, but also to record all meaningful information and contact history with them.

Several CRM vendors – like salesforce.com have traditionally provided their software free to not-for-profit organisations. Even those that don’t can give you a basic system on an extended trial basis and then for a nominal monthly fee. These systems are generally easy and intuitive to use as basic accounting software, if not easier. So, what are you waiting for?