Are We More Similar or Different?

Rethinking Two Key Marketing Principles - Segmentation and Shared Values.

The November elections just ended, and I promised myself I wouldn’t write a blog about politics, even though it is rich in lessons on effective communication, messaging and stakeholder understanding – alas, I resisted! 

Instead, this period raised a question for me about two basic principles in marketing and communications – segmentation and shared values. Early in my education, like all marketers, I learned the value of segmenting your audience. We would spend hours on data analysis and focus groups developing customer profiles where we would name each segment and start to build out their preferences, their habits, their personalities – and frankly decompose and deeply understand each profiles specific and unique differences.   

At the same time, another well-known principle of marketing and communications is to connect with your audience emotionally through shared values – in other words, what do we have in common. The idea is to rally around where we are aligned, where we share motivations and how we see things the same way. Our similarities. 

So, how can two core marketing ideas live side-by-side?  Should we focus on differences (i.e., segment) or similarities (i.e., shared values)? Or can you effectively do both?  What are the pros and cons of each? For example, the more you segment, the costlier and more complicated your execution. Conversely, unsegmented messages are often irrelevant to an audience, leaving them disconnected and disengaged.  

Even beyond marketing, I think about these competing viewpoints in a relationship with a partner or a friend. Is the focus on what you have in common and can seamlessly connect on, or is it on your incompatibilities and places that feel harder to find synergy? In classrooms, do our children see their peers through the lens of commonality of interest (e.g., soccer), capability (e.g., math) or upbringing (e.g., first generation immigrant family) or do they focus on where they are different from their peers? As they explore their own identities, which lens dominates, or do they find a balanced approach? 

There are many layers to this topic, but as a marketer, when I write my next set of messages for a client, I will ask myself much more deeply, where and when should we rally on what brings us together, and where and when should we celebrate our differences.  

If you have figured out the right balance, please share.