Katya's Non-Profit Marketing Blog | Harlequin NASCAR and the art of segmentation

Harlequin NASCAR and the art of segmentation

Sat, January 08 2011
Filed under: Marketing essentials

Did you know Harlequin Books has a series of romances set in the world of car racing? It’s Harlequin NASCAR, and this is one of the books.

Thunderstruck is rated 4.5 stars on Amazon, and one reader review says:

Sinfully delicious and racy. The story contains all the right elements to pull you in, including a wounded family that squeezes the heart and a hot determined hero. Yum! Plus St. Claire’s snapshot of the NASCAR world made me long for a front row seat smack dab in the midst of the action.

There are books for everyone. My first real job was at a trade publishing company, and when I was there, I learned there was a magazine for everying, including the glue industry (Adhesives Age). And there are communities for everyone, including struckbylightning.org That’s a website for people who were struck by lightning.

We are a world where marketers treat everyone more and more like an individuals and cater to their tastes.

If we say the exact same thing to every donor, with no acknowledgement of who he or she is, that’s like giving everyone the same book about the same thing. People expect and deserve more. Segmentation is essential to effective nonprofit marketing. Put your energy on your biggest fans first with personalized updates - your champions are worth it. Try to group the rest of your supporters into segments of common passions, paying attention and responding to their interests - like what they clicked on in your last email. You may not need a NASCAR-themed appeal or glue industry-focused outreach strategy, but you need to do better than the general public. Treating a smaller group of people with care leads to more than treating a huge group of people the same.