Market segmentation research is commonly used by businesses of various shapes and sizes for enhancing their market share by:
- gaining an improved understanding of their market
- identifying groups of customers they would most like to reach
- gaining insight for developing products and communications that better suit and appeal to the selected target groups
Segmentation is not a new approach in the arts sector either – many organisations use existing geodemographic segmentation tools (eg ACORN and Mosaic) and bespoke segmentations of their own audiences as sources of market intelligence. This new arts-based segmentation is not intended to replace tools that are already being used successfully, but to provide additional insight. It might be particularly suited for:
- strategic positioning – putting the audiences of individual projects, organisations or artforms in context
- developing initiatives designed to increase public engagement – detailed information on the qualities and needs of different audience groups, including current non-engagers and audiences of non-ticketed events
It doesn’t have all the answers, however. For example, it can’t:
- tell organisations who exactly is and isn’t engaging with their work, or provide other detailed information such as booking history, average spend, etc
- be used as a robust tool for detailed monitoring of changes in audience patterns over short periods of time
- yield data suitable for generating direct mailing lists
Contact your regional audience development agency if you would like to know more about this research and how you might be able to use it.
