The reality is that the world is a very diverse place. Every group, society, culture, has needs, likes, preferences and different customs. This holds true when talking about such a diverse society like the American one. Another reality is that for a product to be successful, it must address or lessen a problem, or attend to a need that is not well attended by the current market. If we join these two realities, we will understand that certain products will be more attractive to certain groups than to others. With this in mind, we can see that to be successful with a certain product, it’s crucial to identify the groups to which our products will serve so we can serve such groups with more precision. In marketing, this is called “market segmentation”.
A market segment is a group of consumers with common elements, in their needs, preferences, and tastes. Professionals will be able to define these groups by a) their common demographics, such as their age, income, education level, or their race and gender; b) geographical location, such as individuals living in a metropolitan area, people living in a coastal area, or people living in rural areas, etc., and c) psychographic characteristics as in preferences and lifestyles, for example, conservationists, fit people, vegetarians, consumers of organic products, etc. It’s not difficult to imagine that Maria, a 35 year old technocrat, conservationist, vegetarian, that works out daily, residing in Manhattan, NY and an expert in the stock market is a very different type of consumer than Big Bob, a 45 year old farmer, who resides in Great Falls, Montana and loves hunting.
The magic behind market segmentation is that it allows us to be very precise in our strategies and actions to develop, improve, and push our products. Once you’ve identified and defined those segments of the population that will prefer your product, you will be able to get to know their needs and habits better, you’ll learn how to communicate with them better, what publications they read, if they listen to the radio or podcasts, their social media habits, what type of messaging works best for them, even determining what colors are the most attractive when considering marketing.
Nevertheless, it is very common that with both large corporations and small businesses lose track of the power that market segmentation has and the precise definition of a target market. Many people still think that aiming to serve a massive population means that their product will have a higher chance of success. Imagine trying to reach Maria and Big Bob with the same marketing strategy. You will very likely not catch the attention nor arouse the interest of neither.
The most efficient and effective way to do it, would be:
- Analyze your business and identify your core competencies: those things that you do better than everyone else.
- Analyze the market and identify the problems that you can help address and alleviate through your core competencies.
- Define more precisely the market segments that your business can serve.
- Analyze your competition and see how they’re addressing those market needs.
- Following the previous point, define your differentiated product or service that can resolve the problem, or address the needs of your potential customers, with, for example, one or more of these characteristics: you can produce with higher quality or more quickly, or at a lower cost, more user-friendly, more efficient, healthier, etc.
- Based on market needs, the product attributes, and knowing your market objectives, define your market strategies within a solid business plan.
- Execute those strategies.
- Evaluate and adjust your product, strategies, or defined market as necessary.
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If you try to address everybody’s needs, you’ll end up solving nobody’s needs, simply because if you try to be jack of all trades, you’ll be master of none. Focusing on the needs of your target market will boost the efficiency and effectiveness of your actions and with it, the success of your business.