Market Segmentation and Choosing Target Segments

Market segmentation divides buyers into groups with similar needs and behaviour. Target segments are chosen by size, growth, accessibility and profitability, and each one then gets its own offer and channels.

Why segment the market?

One message for everyone works poorly. An online store owner and a clinic director both need a website, yet they ask different questions and choose on different criteria. Segmentation lets you speak to each group in its own language and spend budget on people who will buy.

You see it immediately in advertising. A Google Ads campaign for a narrow segment attracts more precise queries, and the ads and landing page answer a specific question.

Which criteria should you use?

Jobs to be Done is a useful addition. It groups customers by the job: "launch sales before the season", "get enquiries under control", "enter the EU market". Customers with the same job may differ a lot demographically and still buy the same way.

Where do you get segmentation data?

• CRM: who already buys, what, how often and at what order value.
• GA4: where visitors come from, on which devices, what they view before enquiring.
• Search Console and Google Ads Keyword Planner: the words people use to search for your service and how many such searches there are.
• Interviews with 5–10 customers from each group: why they bought and what they compared.
• Open data: national statistics, industry reports, company registries for B2B.

How do you score segment attractiveness?

Rate each segment from 1 to 5 on five criteria:

• Size: how many potential customers and how much money.
• Growth: is the segment growing, flat or shrinking?
• Competition: how many strong players and how they operate. See our article on competitiveness analysis.
• Accessibility: can you reach it through ads, search or partners at a reasonable cost?
• Fit: do your product and strengths match?

Segments with the highest totals go into work. The rest wait for the next review.

Which coverage strategy should you choose?

Undifferentiated marketing. One offer for everyone. It works for mass-market goods with large budgets.

Differentiated. A separate offer, landing page and ad campaign for each segment. More expensive, and more precise.

Concentrated. One segment where the company becomes a visible player. Small and mid-sized businesses usually do better starting here.

Every chosen segment needs its own positioning and its own page. Our article on developing a positioning concept explains how.

How do you describe a chosen segment?

Give each segment a one-page card: name, size estimate, customer job, supplier selection criteria, main objections, channels where they look for a solution and your offer for them. Everyone who writes copy, runs ads or sells needs this card.

Example job for the "private clinics" segment: "get appointment bookings from the website without calls to the front desk". The page, the ads and the sales arguments follow from it.

How do you test a segment in practice?

Launch a dedicated landing page for the segment and a small campaign in Google Ads or Meta Ads. We build the landing page within 3 working days after the brief is approved and materials are received, and launch the campaign a few working days after getting account access. Within 2–4 weeks you see how many leads the segment brings, at what cost and which questions customers ask.

Frequently asked questions

How many segments should you choose?

For a small business, one or two at the start. Once sales in them run smoothly, add the next one.

How is segmentation different from a customer persona?

Segmentation divides the whole market into groups. A persona describes a typical customer inside a chosen segment in detail.

How do you segment a B2B market?

By industry, company size, region and buying method. Describe the roles separately: who looks for a supplier, who approves and who signs.

How often should segments be reviewed?

Once a year, or after noticeable changes: a new product, a new market, or a sharp rise in acquisition cost in the current segment.

Can you segment without research?

For a first version, CRM, GA4 and search query data are enough. Customer interviews sharpen the picture considerably, so we recommend doing them.