Using Audience Spectrum Subsegments | #2

Rosanna Cant Head of Networks

We often talk about audience development in terms of the ‘low hanging fruit’ of growing warm/already engaged audiences, such as your core segments. However, to neglect the fruit higher up – i.e. those audiences you could be reaching but aren’t currently – is a big mistake.

This is exactly the kind of challenge that the Audience Spectrum Subsegments can help to address. Combining these with other insights from Audience Finder Data Tools can unearth some great ways of getting to know your lesser served audiences and figuring out how to reach them. For those not contributing data, this is also available in a report format.

• Step 1: Deep dive into your core audience data. In the Audience Finder Answers and Audience Finder Original dashboards, you can view graphs of your ticketing and/or survey data that show your Audience Segment profiles in relation to a chosen benchmark. If you choose a population benchmark (such as the region you are based in), you can gain an understanding of who you are reaching/overreaching and, crucially, under-reaching. For example, this graph at core segment level demonstrates that this organisation has a strong representation of Commuterland Culturebuffs and Dormitory Dependables in their audience data which is in line with the regional benchmark. They also have an almost as strong representation of both Trips and Treats and Home and Heritage, which is significantly higher than the regional benchmark. And then we can clearly see that there is an opportunity to reach more Experience Seekers than they are currently engaged with as this is an underserved segment against the population data.

• Step 2: Identify new target segments: The below graph shows a similar example at Audience Spectrum Subsegment level, against the organisation's catchment area from within Audience Finder Answers. The next step would be to then identify the aspects of the Spectrum Profiles that would be useful in developing a relationship with the underserved segment. One aspect of this could be considering what partnership work you could do with other organisations to reach that segment – is it a segment that prioritises gardening? DIY? Going to the gym? The segment profiles should provide the information for you to build a plan to partner with other organisations to reach your chosen segment – either through partnership offers/marketing or outreach community work.

• Step 3: Get geo-specific: To make this work even more geo-specific, you could also use the Mapping Tool in Audience Finder Original and search for the “warmest” areas of your chosen segment and then find the partners to work with within that area. This could be using the mapping Tool to find the postcode with the highest % of Up Our Street and then (knowing that this is applicable to the profile of this segment) searching for the Social Clubs in that postcode area, for example.

Here are a few other examples based on the core segments in the above example to give you some ideas:

• Engaging more E1 | Experience Seekers through running an offer with a local specialised restaurant.
• Working with the local shopping centre to run a Pop Up Museum exhibition encouraging engagement with T1 | Trips and Treats.
• Partnership working with other neighbouring cultural organisations to offer a family passport-style scheme to collect stamps at free events across the city, targeting F2 | Frontline Families.