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In this episode of GradBlogger, we’re talking about a simple segmentation framework that you can use for your blog. We discuss why it’s important to segment your blog, what the main categories might look like, and how to create the best material for your different audiences.
Disclosure: Some of the links in the podcast show notes and transcripts are affiliate links (indicated with [Affiliate] in front). If you choose to make a purchase through these links, GradBlogger will earn a commission from that purchase at no extra cost to you.
Introduction
Chris Cloney: 00:08
Welcome to Episode #29 of GradBlogger, where we’re helping academics change the world through online business. We’re helping you, the listener, create your own side hustle, create your own blogging business or create your own platforms so that you can change the world with your research, your background, and your expertise.
Chris Cloney: 00:24
I’m your host, Dr. Chris Cloney. In today’s episode, we’re talking about audience segmentation. In particular, we will be discussing:
- A simple segmentation framework that you can use for your blog.
- Why it’s important to segment your blog.
- Why it’s important to create different content for different groups.
- What the main categories might look like.
- How to approach the different audiences
- How to create the best material for each one
Chris Cloney: 00:48
We’ll close out the episode talking about monetization, the different approaches to use for these various groups, and which ones may be easier than the others.
We put together a cheat sheet summarizing some of the monetization aspects, which is titled What is the Best Audience Segment for Monetizing your Blog? It’s a summary of what we’re covering in this podcast episode. You can download it at gradblogger.com/29.
Why Audience Segmentation Is Important
Chris Cloney: 01:15
So why is audience segmentation so important? More than ever, readers are overwhelmed by the amount of material available online. They have short attention spans and they’re overwhelmed by all the information.
If you’re not on topic for what they need or what they want, they’re probably going to bounce quickly off your site or not be engaged with what you’re trying to put across. Therefore, it is important to build out your blog, podcasts, or videos to appeal to those different groups.
Chris Cloney: 01:50
In addition, targeting different groups allows you to diversify your message so you can apply it to more people. We’ll talk about what these categories are, and creating content specifically for them ensures that you have a broad, diverse set of people coming through to your website. How you monetize your blog will differ depending on what these groups are. We’ll cover that at the end of this episode.
What Are The Three Types Of Readers In Your Audience?
Chris Cloney: 02:14
What are the different audience segmentations in this simple framework? I got this framework from Derek Halpern of socialtriggers.com. He talks about the three groups in your audience:
- The oblivious
- The afflicted
- The informed.
Chris Cloney: 02:38
He used yoga as an example in one discussion. He mentioned that he suffered from back pain for many years, being an online entrepreneur and working on his computer all the time. He would ordinarily have never signed up for yoga, but he came across an article online that said, “Do you suffer from back pain? (Here are) the top 10 ways to get rid of back pain.” Seeing yoga as a solution compelled him to read a blog about it.
Derek said that one friend tricked him by saying, “I’m doing a bunch of hockey stretches that are helping with my back pain. Why don’t you meet me on a Thursday night and we’ll do that?” When Derek got there, his friend unrolled the mat and he realized that he was actually at a yoga studio.
Chris Cloney: 03:48
Derek went from being afflicted to being informed on the topic. Nowadays, he does yoga on a routine basis. He may look up articles about the best types of yoga for back pain. He has become an informed reader and may look at things like the difference between yin yoga and Vinyasa flow or whatever it is. So he’s moved from being afflicted -having a problem, but not knowing the solution that this type of blog would provide or this type of business would provide- to being informed and looking specifically for the information.
Chris Cloney: 04:20
Somebody who’s completely oblivious could be a young entrepreneur who’s not actually suffering from back pain. Maybe an article about the long-lasting effects of being hunched over a computer would resonate with them. They may click through and learn about doing yoga to prevent back pain.
As you can see, those three different groups may have three completely different messaging requirements. If they’re oblivious, you need to target where they’re at and make them see themselves in your solution. If they are afflicted, you need to dig into what that pain is and provide the solution. If they’re already informed, you could present and compare the different options.
Chris Cloney: 05:13
Throughout the rest of this episode, we’ll discuss these different groups, talk about monetization within them, and how that may look different between the three of them.
So, that is the simple framework: oblivious, afflicted, and informed segments of your audience. Let’s go through them one by one.
The Oblivious Segment
Chris Cloney: 05:32
The oblivious segment consists of folks who don’t know they have a problem and don’t know about your solution. Awareness is the key part. A big point here is to make them see themselves in your situation or solution and then in the problems that you solve.
When you’re talking to this group, you want to create case studies or present things in a way that lets them see themselves. Going back to the example of an online entrepreneur: if you’ve been an online entrepreneur for five years, then you may want to say something about where they might be after 20 years so they can see themselves as having that potential problem and see themselves in your solution.
Chris Cloney: 06:11
When you’re telling these stories, it’s important to frame them in a way that’s correct for the group that you’re talking to. This goes back to books by Seth Godin, such as [Affiliate] This is Marketing, where he talks about having four parts to a good story.
- You need to resonate with that group
- You need to make them believe in the solutions that you’re providing and the problems that they could have.
- You need to invite them to join you. That’s his whole thing about creating a tribe.
- You need to deliver the goods at the end of the day. In our yoga example, this would be helping them prevent back pain.
Chris Cloney: 06:44
As I mentioned, case studies work well for this. I do this in my public speaking on industrial safety. If I’m talking to groups of maintenance managers or heavy equipment operators, I’m not going to jump in and start talking about all the different technical aspects of fire and explosion protection. I’m much more likely to use case stories where a maintenance manager was involved in a fire or something that happened at an industrial facility.
I will talk about what he learned or what was reported. That way, it’s easier to make the audience see themselves in that situation. See themselves as potentially having that problem. Then the industrial safety that I talked about in those technical aspects become a solution to that.
Chris Cloney: 07:22
If I come out with all this technical background, it’s going to make people’s eyes glaze over because they’re an oblivious segment. They don’t know they have a problem, they don’t know what the solutions are. If the information is not targeted in the right way for the group that’s oblivious to the problem, then you’re going to completely miss them. So it’s important that you make them see themselves in the problems and the solutions.
The Afflicted Segment
Chris Cloney: 07:47
The second segment is the afflicted segment. Those people have a problem, but they don’t know about your solution. They just know that they have some sort of issue. Here, we move away from awareness to educating the audience on what the different solutions might be, so this audience is good in terms of setting up a problem-solution scenario.
Chris Cloney: 08:14
They know they have a problem. They have back pain, or they’re not able to grow things in their gardens properly, or they have some problem that you think you can help with your blog or your business. In this case, you want to set up that problem, frame it in a good way, agitate it a bit and then provide the solution. This is the simple PAS framework that’s used in sales.
Chris Cloney: 08:36
You have a problem. You come into a car dealership because you need a new car. You’re worried about the reliability of your existing vehicle or you’re worried about your family or your friends looking down on you for having a poor car.
The car salesman is likely to agitate that. He’s going to ask you questions about your family and how you feel about your current car to create that heightened sense of severity. Then he’s going to provide the solution. In your case, he will say, “Here are the keys to a brand new vehicle. Go test drive it. If you hate the thing, bring it back.”
That ploy gets you in the car. If you want to adopt an animal, they will say, “Oh, just take it home for two days. And if you don’t like the animal, bring it back.” Well, nobody ever brings it back.
Chris Cloney: 09:21
The afflicted segment is all about education. This means identifying what problems they have, agitating those a bit in terms of story and case studies and then providing the solution. An example for grad school audiences might be Are You Struggling To Save Money As A Grad Student? This is a difficulty a lot of grad students have. We had Dr. Emily Roberts on the podcast in Episode #17 talking about finance tips for Ph.Ds.
Chris Cloney: 09:51
If you’re struggling to save money as a grad student, you’re probably not going to respond to an article comparing different investment vehicles. This article would be for people who are already informed about this topic. If you have a problem -you’re not able to save money- you’re much more likely to respond to an article about how to get started investing.
Chris Cloney: 10:15
If you’re an oblivious person who doesn’t even know you should be saving, a better headline or piece of content might be about 98% of grad students having (for example) $80,000 worth of debt after graduate school.
An oblivious segment might go, “Oh really? Is that something that I’m going to have to go through?” Then they may read your material, become afflicted (get to understand the problem), and then become informed and start to look at the solutions. They may eventually make it to selecting your investment vehicle, but that’s not where they are today. They’re either struggling to save money, so they’re afflicted, or they may be completely oblivious and not thinking about the problems that they may be having.
The Informed Segment
Chris Cloney: 10:55
So those are the oblivious and the afflicted segments. Now we’ll talk about the informed segment. Those in the informed segment know they have a problem and know about the different solutions, so it’s about comparing your solution to theirs. I’ve mentioned examples such as why I switched from Vinyasa flow to yin yoga or Bikram yoga, or why carbon capture is better than some other sort of method for global warming.
Chris Cloney: 11:18
This group is more likely to read this information. They’re more likely to get into the technical nitty-gritty details, and you can give that to them in your content. In this podcast, I’m generally dealing with either the afflicted segment or the informed segment. They know they want to build a business or they’re already starting to build a business and they want to know how to do it better.
I don’t put things out to the oblivious segment as much because people aren’t likely to click the button and turn on my podcasts if they’re completely oblivious to online business. We may create some content that’s geared towards them and shared on social media to get them into the ecosystem. But it’s going to be framed differently than what is created for the afflicted and the informed segments.
Chris Cloney: 12:07
The important thing about the informed segments is that they’re going to want to know your credentials as a person providing the solution. There’s generally a longer lead time to get them through to your website and get them to believe in you because they’re going to be more critical. They’re informed, they know what they’re looking at, they know what problems they’re having, so it’s going to take longer.
On the flip side, these are the people who are likely to get the most results from what you’re doing because they already have the power and the mindset to try and change their problems. They’re more likely to get results from your work.
What Is The Best Segment For Your Blog In Terms Of Monetization?
Chris Cloney: 12:41
In terms of monetization, what’s the best segment? You built a blog, you’ve created a bunch of great content for these different groups. You have them coming through, you have them interacting with each other and you’re doing a great job of educating and spreading awareness. If you want to build a profitable business from your blog, which group in this simple framework is better for monetization?
The easiest one is generally the afflicted people. We mentioned that they have a problem. You don’t have to educate them that they have some sort of issue going on. Maybe it’s personal productivity as a graduate student or maybe it’s handling their email or maybe it’s that they need a graphic designer. They know they have a problem.
Chris Cloney: 13:29
Your job is to agitate that solution a bit and emphasize how important that problem is in their life, so they’re willing to read and learn more about it. Then you provide some sort of solution, through content that you’re putting out, sharing ways that you can help them, or monetization.
If you’re building a product, it’s best to go for these afflicted people first, because there’s a lot less awareness education needed, and you don’t have to build a type of credibility that you need for the informed audience.
Chris Cloney: 13:58
An informed audience has the longest lead time. These are the people who need proof that you’re the best resource. They know what all the different solutions are, so you have to show up regularly and deliver value and solutions to these people.
The GradBlogger podcast is a great example of this principle. Every week, I’m here talking about the different options for building a business as a graduate student. Over time, you get to be seen as an authority and you can resonate more with this informed group.
Chris Cloney: 14:35
Finally, I want to talk about the oblivious group and monetization. Unfortunately, this is where a lot of people run into trouble. The oblivious group is always going to be the biggest volume, so they’re going to be the easiest to target.
If you’re shooting an arrow and you’re shooting at a big target, the oblivious group is going to be the biggest one and the easiest one to hit. But it takes a lot longer to make them realize what their problem is. You need to do all that awareness work to get them up to the afflicted level, and then you do all that education work to get them up to the informed level so they can make a decision on that.
Chris Cloney: 15:11
If you can make a habit of converting people through these levels (from oblivious to afflicted to informed), you can be very successful. There are some folks who do this quite well, but it takes a lot of work and you have to make sure everything’s dialled in right. It’s quite difficult to do this.
On the flip side of that, this group is much less likely to pay high prices for the solutions. They only learned yesterday that they even have a problem, so they’re not going to pay hundreds of dollars or thousands of dollars to solve those problems.
Chris Cloney: 15:45
If you have an informed group that knows they have a pain point and they’re looking for solutions, they may pay 10 or a hundred times more to get that same piece of information. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to what groups are coming through to your website and create the right material to attract those different groups.
When you’re going to monetize, understand how you’re monetizing. If you treat the oblivious group like the informed group, and you’re not doing a lot of material around awareness, you’re going to struggle to grow those people into followers who are paying for your blog. Furthermore, targeting the informed group is great because they may pay 10 to a hundred times more, but it takes a lot longer to build up that authority, be seen as the best solution in that space.
Chris Cloney: 16:29
As I mentioned, we put these tips all in a one-page cheat sheet at gradblogger.com/29. You can grab that there.
So how can you get started with monetization? We talked about why you do this, what you should do and how to do it, but if you want to get started today, there are a lot of complex things that you can do in terms of an email list and tagging people and segmentation. I’d recommend that for the intermediate or advanced person. But if you just want to get started with segmentation, the easiest way is to have something on the homepage of your website that lets people self-select.
How To Get Started With Audience Segmentation
Chris Cloney: 17:17
In my case, I might target the oblivious group with something like:
- Are you working in an industry handling combustible dust?
- Are you working in feed or metalworking or food processing?
That would be the oblivious group. Next group might be:
- Are you suffering fires at your facility and worried about the increased hazards?
With the third group, the approach might be going straight to the technical solutions for explosion and fire protection.
Chris Cloney: 17:42
If you have these selectors -different material that you’re creating for these three different categories- on your website, you can track who’s clicking through those different pieces of material and see whether your group is mostly on the oblivious side or mostly on the informed side. You can play with those and change them.
Chris Cloney: 17:59
Another great way to do this is to have a small quiz or something similar on your homepage. Again, you could track who clicks through, or you could use a piece of software that tracks those quizzes and their responses.
How Can We Improve Our Segmentation System?
What are some ways to improve this system?
Measuring the clicks for each of the selector options is a great way to do it. Then you can double down on your best-performing content. If you’re finding that most of your group is coming in with a problem and they’re afflicted, but they’re not looking at solutions yet, that gives you a good indication of where to double down more on content. You may need to double down on the impact of those problems on a person’s life, relationships, or employment.
Chris Cloney: 18:47
It’s about taking the problem and agitating that a bit. How do we extend it to the next things to make it a bigger issue and then direct it to the solutions that you’re providing? A way to improve this is to double down on the best-performing content. Then add new sections, which people tend to like. If you rotated through a new piece on your selector every month, you would get an idea of what material resonates more with your audience.
Chris Cloney: 19:22
That is the simple audience segmentation framework. Again, I credit Derek Halpern at socialtriggers.com for identifying the oblivious, afflicted, and informed parts of your audience group.
When I heard his explanation and wrote it down, I thought it applied quite well to my world of industrial safety. I have people who don’t even know that they have a potential hazard. I have folks who know they have a hazard but don’t know how to fix it. And then I have folks who know that there is a bunch of different solutions out there to fix it, but don’t know which is the best one to move forward with.
I’m mapped quite well in my world, or my corner of the science communication ecosphere. I thought it might map pretty well to your groups as well. I also want to highlight some important aspects if you’re going to be trying to monetize your blog with these different groups.
Chris Cloney: 20:08
So that’s it for this episode. As always, you can find the transcripts that gradblogger.com/29. We include that cheat sheet, What Is The Best Audience Segment For Monetizing Your Blog? You can get that there. If you liked this content, you can tag me on social media @gradblogger at Twitter or Instagram. I love hearing from the audience.
You can email me at chris@gradblogger.com. I personally reply to each email that I get. If you have any questions for the podcast, you can go gradblogger.com/ask, and ask them there. We’ll include an answer to those in future podcast episodes.
Chris Cloney: 20:48
As always, thanks for listening to GradBlogger. I’m excited to continue helping you build your online business, your blog, your research machines and your podcast and video creation efforts so you can make a big change in the world with your research and your experience.
Resources
Companies:
DustSafetyScience
GradBlogger: Twitter | Instagram
Social Triggers (Derek Halpern)
Books:
[Affiliate] Godin, Seth. This is Marketing
Previous Podcasts:
GBP017- Top five finance tips for PhDs running an online business with Dr. Emily Roberts
