Most companies invest significant time and budget into crafting their original targeting strategy. That initial segmentation might make perfect sense at the time – built from the best available customer research, aligned to market trends, and tailored to business priorities. But what felt accurate two years ago (or even six months ago) may no longer fully reflect the reality of your audience today.

Here’s why:

1. The marketplace evolves fast

Competitive landscapes shift all the time. New players enter, disruptors change customer expectations, and economic or social forces reshape the industry. As these changes unfold, consumers often rethink their priorities – what matters to them, where they shop, and what kind of messaging resonates. If your targeting strategy doesn’t evolve in step, you're likely missing the mark.

2. Your customers change, too

Your customers don’t stay static. Their needs evolve, habits transform, and digital behavior shifts. Events like life changes, inflation impact, or post-pandemic lifestyles can influence purchasing choices. Even loyal segments may no longer be motivated by the same touchpoints or value propositions you once relied on.

3. Internal changes affect who you *should* be targeting

Companies frequently launch new products, expand into new regions, or pivot their brand positioning. These moves can significantly alter your ideal customer profile. If the targeting strategy doesn’t reflect business shifts, marketing dollars may go toward audiences that no longer align with current goals.

4. Data ages quickly

If your last segmentation study is more than a year or two old, it’s likely built on outdated behaviors or mindsets. The shelf life of consumer insights is short, especially when macro trends like inflation, tech adoption, or shifting work patterns are accelerating change. Relying on outdated data can lead to misinformed decisions and missed opportunities.

5. Waiting delays better outcomes

One of the most common reasons companies delay segmentation updates is resource hesitation – they may lack bandwidth, budget, or internal expertise. But waiting often costs more in the long run, especially if your teams are making Q4 planning decisions using assumptions that no longer match the reality.

Bottom line: Whether you last reviewed your targeting strategy two years ago or two quarters ago, it's worth checking if your segmentation still holds up. Experts such as On Demand Talent can help assess your existing audience targeting faster than traditional hiring or extended project cycles, ensuring your business planning has a clear, relevant foundation.

Buyer behavior doesn’t usually change all at once – but the clues often show up long before businesses notice. Understanding these subtle shifts can help you recognize when it’s time to revisit your market segmentation before major disconnects affect performance.

Emerging Warning Signs to Watch

If you’re starting to question the accuracy of your audience targeting, here are a few common indicators that your customer segments may be misaligned with current realities:

• Declining engagement: Lower open rates, fewer clicks, and reduced social interactions may suggest diminishing relevance.
• Stalled growth in key segments: If your core customer groups aren't converting like before, they might be evolving.
• Rising acquisition costs: When marketing spend increases but ROI shrinks, your targeting may be working harder on less-qualified leads.
• Qualitative feedback or sales signals: Frontline teams may be hearing “this isn’t for me” more often – valuable insight often missed in dashboards.
• Changes in buyer journeys: If customers are researching or buying in new ways, your current touchpoints may need recalibration.

What Drives These Behavioral Shifts?

Consumer behavior is influenced by a wide range of external and internal forces. Some of the most common include:

Economic pressure: Inflation, job security, or prices shifts can alter how – and when – people spend.

Technological adoption: The rise of new platforms or AI-powered tools changes how buyers interact with content and make decisions.

Lifestyle changes: Post-COVID hybrid work, family shifts, or urban migration patterns are all reshaping what customers need and value.

Generational turnover: As younger generations emerge as buyers, they bring entirely new expectations – and your existing targeting may not fit.

Start with Curiosity – Not Assumptions

It’s tempting to rely on last year’s assumptions, especially when performance still looks decent on the surface. But the best Q4 planning begins in Q3 with open eyes. Asking questions like “Who are our customers today – really?” is the starting point for smarter growth.

Whether it's drafting a segmentation update or exploring buyer behavior trends, bringing in fresh consumer insights ensures you're building your planning decisions on real data – not outdated guesswork.

For teams with limited capacity, On Demand Talent offers a flexible way to bring in professional insights expertise quickly. With seasoned professionals ready to dive into market research, behavioral trends, or audience analysis, you can stay agile and make timely adjustments when it matters most.

As behavior continues to shift in 2025, staying connected to your audience isn’t optional – it’s what sets resilient, adaptive brands apart.

Q3 often flies under the radar in the annual planning cycle, but it’s actually the most strategic time to revisit your targeting strategy. While Q4 is traditionally seen as the planning quarter, Q3 is the preparation period – a runway where businesses can gather the intelligence, insights, and updates needed to make smart, confident decisions later in the year.

Waiting until Q4 to start updating your market segmentation can leave your team rushed and reactive. Instead, strategic organizations begin identifying shifts in buyer behavior during Q3 to refine who they’re targeting and why.

Why Q3 Matters for Targeting Strategy Updates

• More time, better insights: Using Q3 for discovery and data collection allows you to conduct thoughtful customer research without the time pressure of the year-end crunch.
• Clear seasonal patterns: By Q3, most of the year’s performance trends are clear – offering a strong base for adjusting your strategy before launching new campaigns in Q4 or Q1.
• Time for testing: Adjustments made in Q3 give you a window to validate updates to your audience targeting or messaging before end-of-year campaigns hit the market.

For example, fictional retailer “Glow & Co.” noticed sales were slipping in a key demographic during Q2. Rather than wait, they used Q3 to evaluate a segmentation update which revealed their core audience had begun aging out while a secondary audience was growing rapidly. They shifted focus early, adjusted media spend, and entered Q4 with a far more aligned approach.

Even small recalibrations to your marketing strategy in Q3 can prevent misalignment from snowballing across future initiatives. For any business targeting growth, this period offers a valuable opportunity to translate consumer insights into forward-thinking decisions.

In short: Q3 is not just about preparing your decks – it’s about validating your direction through real, strategic insight-gathering. It’s your moment to see what's changed, what’s no longer working, and what your audiences really want before the high-stakes season begins.

Updating your targeting strategy doesn't have to mean overhauling your entire system or hiring a full-time team. Many leading businesses are turning to fractional solutions like SIVO's On Demand Talent – experienced consumer insights professionals who step in quickly to support critical projects like market segmentation updates or evolving buyer behavior trends.

Unlike freelancers or agencies who often require onboarding or operate from the outside, On Demand Talent integrates seamlessly with your existing team. These are seasoned professionals who understand corporate environments, timelines, and best practices right away.

Benefits of Using On Demand Talent for Segmentation Updates

• Speed: Get matched with professionals in days or weeks – not months like traditional hiring cycles.
• Expertise: Access skills across consumer insights, analytics, and strategic planning to ensure your segmentation update is thorough and actionable.
• Flexibility: Scale support up or down based on the level of involvement you need during different phases of your update.
• Cost-Efficiency: Avoid long-term overhead while still tapping into top-tier insight talent.

For example, a fictional mid-size health tech company needed to explore new audiences after noticing stagnation in their core market. With no internal capacity, they used SIVO’s On Demand Talent network to bring in a segmentation expert for a 10-week project. The result? Freshly defined personas and prioritization frameworks – completed without disrupting day-to-day operations or waiting months for a new hire.

Whether you're running a full segmentation update or just need better clarity around customer research findings, On Demand Talent can support:

• Deep-dive segmentation studies
• Buyer journey mapping
• Audience validation through qualitative or quantitative methods
• Sizing and modeling new customer segments

Teams that invest in timely insights reap long-term rewards. With the right expert support, you can make strategic updates without the burden of internal resource constraints – and enter planning season with confidence in your direction.

Once segmentation updates are in place and new consumer insights have been gathered in Q3, you're set up to approach Q4 planning from a place of clarity – not guesswork. This proactive approach results in stronger business planning, more efficient media spend, and better alignment across product, marketing, and sales teams.

Heading into Q4 with a refreshed audience targeting strategy means all roads lead to smarter decisions. No more investing time and budget in campaigns targeting stale customer profiles or irrelevant personas. Instead, your team can confidently answer key questions like:

• Are we still targeting the highest-value segments?
• Do our products and messages align with emerging customer needs?
• Where has buyer behavior shifted – and are we keeping pace?

When these questions are backed by recent research and up-to-date marketing strategy inputs, teams operate with greater confidence and consistency across the board.

Fictional example: An outdoor apparel brand had relied on a decade-old segmentation framework. As sustainability became more central to their market, they used Q3 to explore updated audience mindsets. With fresh insights delivered before Q4, they launched a new positioning campaign in time for peak sales – and saw a double-digit lift in conversion among their redefined core personas.

With insights in hand, Q4 becomes less about reacting and more about executing. Your leadership can focus on taking action – not revisiting outdated strategies mid-planning cycle.

What Effective Planning Looks Like with Updated Segmentation

• Budget allocations that reflect real audience priorities
• Product enhancements informed by current needs
• Personalized messaging that resonates with today’s buyer
• A unified team anchored in the same data-driven strategy

When your Q4 planning is built on current data and timely insights, you create a foundation that supports growth into the next year and beyond. Instead of scrambling to catch up in Q1, you're already aligned and moving forward with purpose.