Marketing 0

FIGURE 8.1
Segments-of-One Customer Profiling

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The example is a persona that can be useful for a digital marketing
agency or a digital marketing automation software company looking
to acquire new clients. It lays out the profile of the fictionalized
prospect and, most importantly, what matters to him. Thus, the
persona can be useful in designing the right marketing strategy.
Segmenting and profiling customers has been a staple for marketers.
But the rise of big data opens up new possibilities for marketers to
collect new types of market data and perform micro-segmentation
(see 
Figure 8.1
). Customer database and market surveys are no
longer the only sources of customer information. Media data, social
data, web data, point-of-sale (POS) data, Internet of Things (IoT)
data, and engagement data can all enrich the profiles of the
customers. The challenge for companies is to create a data ecosystem
that integrates all these data.
Once the data ecosystem is set up, marketers can enhance their
existing marketing segmentation practice in two ways:
1. Big data empowers marketers to segment the market into the
most granular unit: an individual customer. Marketers can
essentially create a real persona for each customer. Based on it,
companies can then execute one-to-one or segments-of-one
marketing, tailoring their offerings and campaigns to each
customer. And thanks to enormous computing power, there is
no limit to how detailed the persona can be and how many
customers can be profiled.
2. Segmentation becomes more dynamic with big data, which
allows marketers to change strategy on the fly. Companies can
track a customer's movement from one segment to another in
real-time, depending on the different contexts. An air traveler,
for instance, may prefer business-class seats for a business trip
while choosing an economy class for his leisure travel.
Marketers can also track if a marketing intervention has
managed to shift a brand-switcher into a loyal customer.
It is important to note that despite the enhancement, traditional
segmentation is still beneficial. It facilitates simple market
understanding. Putting a descriptive label on a customer group helps
marketers wrap their heads around the market. It cannot be achieved

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with too many segments-of-one since human computational power is
not as strong as a computer's. The easy-to-understand labeling is
also helpful to mobilize people within the organization toward the
overall brand vision.