Audience Segmentation Techniques

My LinkedIn profile accounts for 80% of our 7-figure ARR. If I were a B2B founder with 0 LinkedIn presence, here's the exact 8-step playbook I'd start implementing today: Step 1: Define my Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) Getting a clear picture of who I want to talk to dictates everything else. I wouldn’t do anything else until I knew exactly who the person is that I want to reach. ____ Step 2: Optimize my LinkedIn profile With my ICP in mind, I’d make sure I have: - a banner with clear social proof - an "About" section with my backstory - a clear value proposition in the headline - a professional yet approachable profile pic - 1 demo booking link & 1 case study in my Featured Section Profile = Sorted. ____ Step 3: Start a network expansion campaign Once the profile is set, I’d use Sales Navigator to start connecting with my ICP using a tool like HeyReach , I’d send out 100 connection requests per week (at a 50% acceptance rate, that's 2,400 new ICP connections per year), focusing on decision-makers. ____ Step 4: Plan my content engine I’d commit to posting 3x per week. Every month, I'd pre-plan my monthly content calendar around some core topic buckets: - Company/product backstory - My POV on industry trends - Tactical advice for my ICP - Client case studies - Build-in-public Tip: I’d also study the top performers in my space for inspiration. What are they posting about? What is working for them? ____ Step 5: Produce the content I’d ask one of my team members to host bi-weekly content calls with me. For each topic, we run through 3-4 questions that allow me to share my stories, expertise & insights. I’d use Riverside.fm for highest quality recordings, and then extract video snippets from the call. Why video? For 3 reasons: - Video builds stronger trust (text < image < audio < video < in-person) - I can run retargeting ads based on video view % - LinkedIn pushes video content = added distribution ____ Step 6: Reps, reps, reps I’d make posting consistently my #1 priority. The best time to post? As andreas jonsson  from SHIELD analytics puts it: "The best time to post is when you have 45 minutes to respond to comments." ____ Step 7: Thought Leadership Ads After 3 months, I’d identify my 3-4 best-performing posts and boost them. I’d run thought leadership ads targeting the exact same accounts on my connection list. This creates an omnipresence effect that compounds my organic efforts. ____ Step 8: Signal-Based Outreach Finally, implement signal-based outreach. I’d monitor: - Followers - Profile viewers - Likes & comments - Connection requests For any ICPs among them, I’d reach out and ask what made them interact. I’d start manually, and then use Teamfluence™  or Trigify.io  to track signals at scale.

Email frequency matters more than most marketers assume. An analysis of 53,000 emails and 5,300 purchases across 200 customers revealed a clear pattern: the best results come when brands tailor frequency to buying behavior.  The optimal monthly cadence: ↳ 5-7 emails for frequent buyers ↳ 6-10 for medium buyers ↳ 12-14 for occasional buyers When customers aren’t segmented, 7 emails a month deliver the strongest performance. The highest open rates and most purchases over time. Sending only 4 emails reduces lifetime profit by 32%, while sending 10 cuts it by 16%. The reason is simple. Frequent buyers already know the brand, so too many emails create fatigue. Occasional buyers, on the other hand, read more when they’re still exploring and learning. This makes segmentation strategy the real growth lever. Instead of treating every subscriber the same, match communication frequency to purchase behavior. The balance is all about timing and relevance. The right message to the right segment builds stronger engagement, higher retention, and more revenue over time. How often do you adjust your email frequency based on buyer type?

Most brands segment by demographics. Top performing brands segment by behavior. Demographics tell you who someone is. Behavior tells you what they're about to do. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲: → Engaged non-buyers (opened 3+ emails, no purchase) → One-time buyers who haven't returned in 60 days → High AOV repeat customers → Cart abandoners by product category → Browse abandoners by price tier 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗴𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻: → Age ranges → Location → Gender → "VIP" based on spend alone These aren't useless. But they don't predict action. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸: Start with purchase behavior. Recency, frequency, monetary value. Layer in engagement. Opens, clicks, site visits. Add intent signals. Browse history, cart activity, wishlist adds. Build flows around each segment. Not one welcome series for everyone. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆: A 35-year-old in Texas and a 35-year-old in New York might have nothing in common. But two people who both browsed the same $80 product three times this week? They're the same segment. Segment by what people do. Not just who they are.

The Identification principle. One line definition: Show your prospect exactly who they are by reflecting their internal experience back to them. We used this in a gut health ad where the bad bacteria literally talks to the viewer: "Every time you feel bloated after eating, that's me. Every time you have brain fog you can't explain, that's me too." The prospect isn't watching an ad anymore. They're having a conversation with their own symptoms. Here's how it works psychologically: When you identify the exact internal experience your customer has, they immediately think "This person gets it." Trust builds instantly. The steal-able version: Start with "Every time you [specific struggle they recognize], that's [the problem you solve]." Don't say "when you're stressed." Say "when you're lying in bed at 2 AM replaying that conversation from work." Don't say "when you're tired." Say "when you need three cups of coffee just to feel human." The more specific the identification, the stronger the connection. Your prospect should feel like you've been watching their life through a window. That's not creepy. That's conversion.

I am surprised by how few brands are using Amazon's Custom Audiences at meaningful scale within the AMC clean room today. AMC Audiences are SUPER important as they are the best mechanism for moving from insight to engagement, and ultimately driving ROI from the valuable raw data within the clean room. Remember that AMC has up to 12.5 months of data at user, impression and conversion level. It can also be enriched with your own 1P data and commerce signals! For any advertiser who has reached a point of maturity with their analyses on top of AMC, the logical next step is to get 4-5 always-on audiences running via AMC that will deliver value, efficiency and performance to you across the Amazon sales funnel. From a tech perspective audiences work very similarly to analytical queries in AMC. You can write SQL code to query the log data and produce a table, but in the case of an audience this is automatically synced to Amazon DSP for use in targeting. You can find your AMC Custom Audiences under "Advertisers" --> "Audiences" --> "Custom Built" and utilise them for targeting and suppression tactics. Below are some practical examples of how Custom Audiences could and shouuld be used at each stage of the commerce customer journey... 🤌 Acquisition: Segment users searching for the non-brand keywords you are bidding on within your product category, but who have not bought your product on Amazon within the last x days. 🏰 Conquesting: Build audiences of users who have generated x Detail Page Views (DPVs) on your brand in the last y days, have also searched specific competitor brands within your category, but have not yet purchased your product. 💶 Consideration --> Conversion: Have always on segments running which sync lists to ADSP of consumers who have added your products to cart, but have not purchased within x days. 🛒 Cross-Sell: Audiences derived from prior Amazon conversions, such as all users who have purchased your brand in product category A, but not in product category B. 🙅 Suppression: Sync your O&O commerce signals from e.g. Shopify into AMC to then create suppression segments of all users who have purchased from your own ecom store in the last x days to avoid wasting media budgets on consumers who already buy from you directly. These are just scratching the surface of the potential for #AMC Audiences and all of the above are tactics we deploy for customers via LiveRamp's #cleanroom product via our Amazon Marketing Cloud integration! How are you using AMC Custom Audiences? Want to discuss further hit me up or leave a comment. #ecommerce #amcaudiences #datacleanrooms #analytics

No, you're not "shadow-banned" Or "hated by the algo". You’re just unclear on your LinkedIn message. So many people fall into this trap.  And it's always the same reason ⬇️ You started posting before knowing who you were posting for, What you wanted those posts to accomplish, And what you actually wanted to be known for. I've seen this on my own account and across every founder I've worked with at TCA. The activity and effort are there.  The results are not. Here is what the first 90 days usually look like: Week 1 is a strong start.  3 posts, decent energy, a few likes from people who already know you. By week 2, the ideas start running dry. By week 6, you're recycling topics you have already covered.  And by day 90... well, you're posting out of obligation, reaching the same 300 people. Starting to wonder if LinkedIn works.  It does, if you know how to leverage it. Here is what should happen before a founder writes their first post: 1️⃣ Define your one person Your ICP = one specific person. - Know what they do, what they want to solve, and what keeps them up at 3 am. - Your content should feel written for them (don't speak to everyone). 2️⃣ Get clear on your one outcome What do you want your LinkedIn presence to do for your business? - Choose between leads, newsletter subscribers, inbound DMs, or event sign-ups. - Pick 1. Every post should point there, even loosely. 3️⃣ Build your content pillars before you build your content  The intersection of what your ICP needs to hear and what you know. - 3 to 5 topics you can speak to with genuine authority.  - This is what turns a feed into a brand. The first 90 days set the tone for everything that follows.  Get the foundation right, and content becomes easier, and you'll grow faster. Leads will start coming to you instead of the other way round. Most founders never get told what 'good' looks like when it comes to LinkedIn. So tomorrow, I'm covering exactly that. I'm running a free webinar on How to Grow Your First 10k.  You'll learn how to generate leads and let LinkedIn do sales for you. 👉 Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/eGQGd4Su Everyone who attends gets access to the best TCA early bird discount we've ever offered. This is the lowest price we will offer. Early bird seats are limited. What is the one thing you wish you had known before you started posting on LinkedIn? Drop it below. 💾 Save this for any founder just getting started. ♻ Repost to help someone in your network avoid the same mistake. And follow me, Josh S., for more breakdowns on Linkedin strategies. 

Most people use AI to write emails and summarize meetings. The best founders use it as a co-founder that never sleeps, has no ego, and has read every business book and post-mortem ever written. Here are 4 prompts I use before any major business decision: 1. THE BRUTAL MARKET VALIDATION PROMPT "Act as a brutally honest VC who has seen thousands of pitches. I'm building [idea]. Stress-test it: 1. Top 3 reasons this fails in 12 months. 2. The one assumption that, if wrong, kills the business. 3. The realistic year-one market I can actually capture. 4. 3 direct and 3 indirect competitors I am underestimating. 5. The single thing I must prove before moving forward. Be direct. Do not soften your feedback." 2. THE ICP EXCAVATOR "I'm building [product]. My target customer is [description]. Go deeper than a basic persona: 1. Describe the exact moment they feel the pain I solve and what they have already tried. 2. What do they fear their boss will think if this problem stays unsolved. 3. The actual emotional words they use, not corporate speak. 4. The trigger event that moves them from "should fix" to "must fix now." 5. Where they spend time online: newsletters, communities, podcasts. 6. What makes them choose a competitor even if my product is better. End with a one-paragraph ICP summary I can hand to a salesperson." 3. THE 90-DAY GTM SPRINT PLANNER "I'm launching [product] to [market]. Team size: [X]. Runway: [X months]. 90-day goal: [goal]. Build me a GTM sprint plan: Week 1 to 2: 3 highest-leverage actions before talking to any customer. Week 3 to 6: First acquisition sprint, channels, messaging, conversion goal. Week 7 to 10: What to double down on and what to cut based on signal. Week 11 to 13: Turn early customers into case studies and referrals. For each phase: primary goal, top 2 actions, the one metric that matters, and the biggest mistake founders make here. Close with a one-paragraph north star summary." 4. THE SCALE-OR-DIE DIAGNOSTIC "I run a [stage] company in [industry]. Revenue: [X] / Growth: [X%] / Churn: [X%] / CAC: [X] / LTV: [X] / Team: [X] / Bottleneck: [describe]. Act as a fractional CFO and growth advisor and point out: 1. The single most dangerous thing in my business I may be ignoring. 2. What my LTV:CAC ratio signals and what it should be at my stage. 3. The 2 to 3 levers to pull to 3x revenue in 12 months without fundraising. 4. Where I am likely wasting money and what to cut now. 5. The specific metrics a healthy version of my business hits in 18 months. 6. One statement to revisit every Monday to stay on track. No frameworks. Specific recommendations based on my numbers only." The founders winning right now are not smarter than you. They ask better questions and they ask them faster. Save this and run them before your next big move. P.S. ~ For more updates like this: 1. Scroll to the top 2. Click "View my newsletter" 3. Subscribe, and you'll never miss a thing in the world of AI ever again.

When I look at how most founders do outreach, I cringe. Selfish messaging to a generic list. Reply rates are low. Spam complaints are high. What's leading them to this? First, they get a ton of bad advice from sales leaders that they "need to scale." Unless you're at $1M ARR, hired multiple sales reps, have a handful of successful marketing channels that are giving you a consistent flow of leads - you don't need to scale. Scale will actually hold you back. So when they hear this, they think they need to hit the widest market possible. So they get a big list, then use AI or automation to blast people. Stuff doesn't work, they get discouraged. So then they hear advice that they need to personalize, do 1:1 outreach. So they do a handful, it's time consuming. And still doesn't work. So they get discouraged, write off prospecting, it's dead. The main problem I see, when I review those founder's prospecting approach, is that they don't build their system rooted in GTM fundamentals. At the end of the day, for someone to buy, they need to have pain. If they don't have pain, you won't be relevant, ever. So when you come up with a targeting list, it needs to come from a place of pain. And here's where most founders get it wrong. When I ask "who's your ICP," they say stuff like "Series A companies, 50+ engineers, growing fast." The problem is that everyone is targeting those companies, and there's no indication of pain in your targeting. So a better approach to figuring out your targeting is this: 1. List of the alternatives that people use to complete the job (spreadsheets? Manual labour? Homegrown softare? Direct competitor?) What they use will determine what pain they have. 2. List off all the ways you're different than the alternative. NOT BETTER. Different. Better is subjective. 3. List off all the pains that these differentiators alleviate, and all the value it creates. 4. List off the traits/characteristics of personas and companies who would be experiencing the pain, and would really really care about getting this solved. Alternatives>Differences>Pain/Value>Who cares (this is a framework from April Dunford who's a master at positioning). The "Who Cares" part of this framework becomes your targeting criteria. Once you have this, you can start looking at the different places to find these folks. LI Sales Nav, website scrapers, etc. Then you go into the companies and qualify for the stuff that cannot be filtered on. That gives you a shortlist of folks who likely have the pain. Then your messaging is about showing your research (stack different things you've noticed about them), explain the pain others typically have, then ask if the pain exists. Nothing about you, your software, etc. It's pain-based targeting, messaging, and validation. If they have the pain, you continue the convo. If they don't, you move on. This approach has worked significantly better for my clients (mostly solo-founders).

After 3 years of scaling ColdIQ to a $7M business, this is everything we learned about getting clients from LinkedIn. 1️⃣ Pick Your ICP One problem. One person. That's it. • Pick a problem you've solved before and can prove with numbers • Pick the exact person who has that problem and can pay to fix it • Complete this: "I help [who] do [what] so they can [outcome]" • Find 10 people who fit. DM them. Ask what's broken. 2️⃣ Understand Your Audience Before you write a single post, answer four questions: • What's their biggest challenge? • What's their dream outcome? • What content format do they consume? • How do they make buying decisions? For us: founders want predictable pipeline without hiring a massive team. They consume frameworks and case studies. They buy after watching someone execute publicly for months. 3️⃣ Fix Your Profile Your profile is your landing page, not your resume. • Headline: Who you help + how + proof • Banner: One clear CTA that matches your content • Featured: A lead magnet solving one narrow, painful problem • About: Written for them. How you help them win. Bullet points. • Photo: HD, solid background, no selfies If they can't figure out what you do in 3 seconds, they bounce. 4️⃣ Build Your Content System Whether you post 3x or 7x a week, aim for this split: Reach content (4x/week): • Educational carousels and infographics based on real data • Contrarian takes you actually believe and can back up with experience Trust content (2x/week): • Behind-the-scenes of your actual process • Objection-handling posts that tackle the real reasons people don't buy Conversion content (1x/week): • Client transformation stories with real numbers and screenshots • "We helped [client type] go from [before] to [after] in [timeframe]" 5️⃣ Make Your Offer Specific Vague: "I help founders grow" → Specific: "Get your first 10 qualified meetings in 30 days" Vague: "We do outbound" → Specific: "54 intent signals stacked before a single email. $3M pipeline in 90 days." The faster they see the result, the more they want it. 6️⃣ Build Your Offer Ladder - Free: Lead magnets, templates, playbooks. Prove you know your stuff. - Low ticket ($50–$500): Courses, communities. Help them get a quick win. - Mid ticket ($1K–$5K): Cohorts, done-with-you programs. Deeper transformation. - High ticket ($5K+): Done-for-you, retainers. Full solution, your time involved. Start with one offer. This is the system behind 1,100+ meetings from content in one year. Here's the infographic in full resolution: https://lnkd.in/gpJKMAeD

In 2023, it took 3+ months of content to get my first client. Today, with what I know, I’d sign them in 3 weeks: 1. Strategy - Define who you want to target (CEOs, Founders, etc) - Think about what they want, need and desire - Research about your ICP  - Make them feel understood - Define the transformation you can help them achieve. 2. Content - Make your content as actionable as possible - Post 3-5x per week on 3-5 core topics—no more, no less - Educate, educate, sell with stories, educate, sell - Put “concepts” that solve pain points to the forefront - Learn how to formulate your thoughts for LinkedIn 3. Profile - Your profile should function as a landing page - It must answer a Buyer Decision Question - Headline = “Who do you help?” “How do you help?” - Or, address an objection directly - Featured section = Social proof + GOOD content - About section = Position yourself as the solution 4. Network - Add 5-10 ICPs to your network daily  - Send 25-30 DMs to “warm leads”  - Engage for 10-15 minutes daily - ⁠Have conversations to uncover pain points - ⁠ask if they’re interested in taking over on a call 5. Repetition - Your content should repeatedly revolve around the 3-5 topics - Repeat sending DMs day-in, day-out - Repeat adding more ICPs, day-in, day-out - Continuously refine your content, strategy, and network Most people do 1-4, but 5 is where the $$$ is.