LibGuides: Advertising / Marketing: Segmentation

What is market segmentation?
Marketing Research and Methdology

Market segmentation is the process that many organizations use in order to analyze their audience or service group. By dividing their audience into subgroups which have special needs, wants, or behaviours, you increase the ease of communicating, providing services or selling to them.

Marketers use four main methods to segment (or divide) an audience. These are demographic, geographic, psychographic and behaviouristic segmentation:

Demographic segmentation divides a market according to objective categories such as age, income, occupation and education;
Geographic segmentation separates people by where they live;
Psychographic segmentation looks at attitudes, values, beliefs and interests -– what they think; and;
Behaviouristic segmentation concentrates on habits, preferences, and purchasing patterns (also called lifestyle) -– what they do.

For example, a market segmentation analysis of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson would look like:

Demographic: 49 years old, male, married with three children, post-secondary education (Bachelor of General Studies), American
Geographic: Multiple homes, California, Florida, Georgia, London
Psychographic: Health conscious, family life
Behaviouristic/Lifestyle: Weight lifts, social media

Geographic Country City Density Language Climate Area Population Demographic Age Gender Income Education Social status Family Life stage Occupation Psychographic Lifestyle Activities and interests Concerns Personality Values Attitudes Behavioural Benefits sought Purchasing usage Buyer stage Engagement Occasion

Read on the learn more about finding information for market segmentation and the best resources to use.

Harvard Business School Case Study Collection
(Harvard Business Publishing) Over 2000 Harvard Business School case studies, curated by editors from Harvard Business Publishing.

- Faculty: To access teaching materials in this database, you must register with Harvard. Please e-mail librarians@senecapolytechnic.ca from your Seneca faculty e-mail account for instructions.
- Access to selected case studies is available only. Not all Harvard Business School case studies are available, and missing needed cases cannot be added a-la-carte via this service.

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Demographic & Geographic
Psychographic & Behaviouristic

You can segment a market by the following key demographic groups:

By generational cohort (Great Depression, WWII, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Jones, Generation Y, Millennials)
By age (Children, young adults, middle aged, seniors)
By gender
By marital status
By income
By educational attainment
By religion
By country of origin/ancestry
By visible minority status
By mother tongue
By labour force participation
By occupation

Usually these demographic groups are located within a specific area, so demographic and geographic segmentation usually go hand-in-hand (e.g., comparing numbers of seniors in Toronto to seniors in Calgary).

Databases and Other Resources

City of Toronto Demographics and Data
A variety of data about the city of Toronto, including demographics, labour force, population, incomes and more.
Government of Canada Census
The Canadian census program is one of the key tools for collecting demographic information across Canada allowing you to narrow down to specific provinces, regions, dialects, household status and more.

Statista
Statista requires a bit more searching but can help connect you with demographic information across countries. Use the geography filter to help narrow it down to your chosen countries.

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Behaviouralistic segmentation is primarily activity based. It includes hobbies, sports and fitness involvement, purchasing behaviour, entertainment, social events, dining patterns -- any behaviour that can be measured and quantified.

Sometimes psychographic and behaviouralistic/lifestyle variables are bundled together as IAO variables (Interests, Activities and Opinions). There can be overlap between the two areas.

For example, a person who has a more conservative mindset (psychographic) will tend to vote for conservative candidates (behaviouralistic/lifestyle). Basically, what you think can influence what you do.

Databases and Other Resources

Mintel Reports
Provides access to consumer data, market reports and more. Jump right to the behaviouralistic data by selecting Consumer Data from the top most menu in the database then either browse or search for your topic.

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Vivintel (formerly Vividata)
(Vividata) A data tabulation tool containing data on consumer demographics, media usage, lifestyle and attitudinal data, and product usage across 150+ categories, resulting from a frequent national survey of readers of Canadian magazines and newspapers. Vividata is the amalgamated organization of two other media measurement bodies, NADbank and PMB.

- Click the above link to get instructions on how to log into the Vivintel site.
- For help with this database, please see Vividata's Vivintel Beta User Guide.

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PRIZM5
PRIZM5 classifies all Canadians into one of 68 lifestyle types based on their demographics, marketplace preferences, and psychographic social values.

Statista
Using the Global Survey tool (found along the top menu), you'll be able to find a range of behaviouralistic and psychographic data from across the world.

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Database Help

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