Audience Segmentation

Valmora Gogo, University College Bedër, Albania
valmoragogo@gmail.com

The basic idea of segmentation is simple, as Gruning stated, and is about dividing a population, market, or audience into groups whose members are more like each other than members of other segments.

The rationale is that by subdividing a large heterogeneous audience into smaller, more homogeneous segments, communication and social marketing planners can make informed decisions as to which audience(s) to target, and how to do so.

As Slater underlines, audience segmentation is the necessary prerequisite to creating messages that are responsive to the concerns, needs, and perspectives of specific populations. In other words, if one is to communicate, one must begin with an implicit or explicit definition of who one’s audiences or interlocutors are. Segmentation is, at its core, a systematic and explicit process for arriving at such a definition.

One of the founding fathers of audience segmentation concept is John Dewey who introduced to us the notion of publics that share similar interests or values.

Smith studied the process in a market perspective. Market segmentation consists of viewing a heterogeneous market (one characterised by divergent demand) as a number of smaller homogeneous markets in response to differing product preferences among important market segments. It is attributable to the desires of consumers or users for more precise satisfaction of their varying wants.

Keywords: audience, audience segmentation, personalised communication, targeted audience, market segmentation

Related Entries: Audience, Communication, Opinion, Public Opinion

References:
Dewey, J. (1946). The public and its problems. Gateway Books.
Grunig, J. (1989), Publics, audiences, and market segments: Segmentation principles for campaigns. SAGE.
Maibach E.W., Maxfield A., Ladin K., & Slater M. (1996). Translating health psychology into effective health communication: The american healthstyles audience segmentation project. Journal of Health Psychology, 1(3), 261-277. https://doi.org/10.1177/135910539600100302
Smith, W. R. (1956). Product differentiation and market segmentation as alternative marketing strategies. Journal of Marketing, 21(1), 3–8. https://doi.org/10.2307/1247695
Smith, R. (2017). Audience segmentation techniques. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Communication. Retrieved 2 Mar. 2025, from https://oxfordre.com/communication/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228613-e-321.
Slater, M.D. (1996) Theory and method in health audience segmentation. Journal of Health Communication, 1, 267-284. https://doi.org/10.1080/108107396128059