When it comes to your audience, should you treat them all equally? The answer is no. While each individual person deserves respect, the amount of attention you give may vary depending on several factors, such as their needs, values, behaviors (purchase history) and demographics.

While it may be easier and less expensive to shoot out a mass marketing campaign to everyone on your list, it could cost you money in the end because a one-size-fits-all approach leaves out a lot of opportunity. What resonates with one segment of your audience may have the opposite effect on another segment. You’ll see the best results when you break down your audience into similar groups and tailor your messaging, offer and even channel of communication accordingly.

So, let’s get to segmenting. Start with an analysis of your current audience and ask the following questions. How are they affected by the problems you solve with your products or services? What age groups are they? Genders? Where do they live? How much money do they make? What’s their educational background? How engaged are they? What’s their purchasing history? Where do they fall on the buyer’s journey? What do they value?

You may  start to see patterns emerge, which will allow you to group people together based on their similarities. Then, it helps to give these groups a name, so to speak. Create a persona that represents that segment. This helps to humanize the  group and narrow down your messaging, call to action  and channel. For instance, you may have a segment of older individuals who would best respond to a mailer, while the younger segment of your audience would resonate with an email or social media campaign. One segment may really like a 20% off coupon, while another would value a free trial more.

Once you narrow down your audience and start to message to them individually, you can make adjustments along the way until you learn what works best for what group. It’s all about experimentation and getting to know your audience on a more personal level, which leads to better communication…and better results.