SEGMENTATION, TARGETING AND POSITIONING

As always we will start off with the a definition, marketing segmentation is a marketing technique that targets a group of customers with specific characteristics. (InvestorWords.com, 2010)

First of all  business normally do a profiler information, this is where the business identifies the type og consumers they will be targeting.This information will include Gender age, social class, income, family life cycle, employment status, marital status etc.  This then becomes the basis of you segmentations.

There are four different ways of segmenting a market and they are:

Geographic segmentation – this is where the markets are divided into groups by their geographic area e.g. states, countries, towns etc. Marketers use this because depending on the area characteristic change. For example north London can have certain characteristics but the East London may have a whole different set of characteristics. If a business is a global one then they may want to go into different countries but people are different in each country e.g. different culture and values.

Demographic segmentation-   this involves in knowing more about the consumers and the customers household in a measurable criteria such as age, gender, race, income, occupation socioeconomic status and family structure, religion etc.

Psychographics Segmentation- this is when it’s divided into groups depending on the consumer’s attitudes, belief, opinions, social class and personality characteristics.

Behavioural segmentation- this divided the marketing groups based on the consumer’s knowledge, attitude, uses and response to the product.

Targeting

Targeting: process of measuring the attractiveness of each segment & selecting the best option.

Two types of targeting include the differentiated marketing which is used when there is a multiple of marketing mixes.  For example Cadburys have many types of products which mean different segments as you can’t aim all products at the same people as they won’t all need or want the product. The second type of targeting is Undifferentiated targeting this is when the there is only one marketing mix used to target everybody for example the post office will have one mix aim at everyone as they are offering the same service to everybody .

Factors in assessing segment attractiveness are Segment Size, Segment Growth, Segment Profitability, Current & Potential Competitors and Core Capabilities

Positioning

Is where would you want to position yourself in to that will enable an advantage compared to competitors for example Volvo is well known for their safety, BMW for their performance etc.

When thinking about the targeting you also have to consider the four ps and they are product, price, place, and promotion.