Market Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning

Targeting, market segmentation and positioning are all well-known strategic approaches in marketing. In fact, this is one of the most used marketing models in modern times. This is a useful marketing model whenever a business needs to create marketing communications plans because it helps the marketers prioritize the propositions, and then create and deliver the personalized messages that are going to engage the target audiences.

There are plenty of models and approaches that center around the product, however, this one is different, as it has the target audience as its main focus.

The first step in this process is the segmentation. That is when customers who have similar needs are grouped together and it is followed by determining all of the characteristics of those customers.

The next step in the process is the targeting. That’s when the company chooses which group of customers it’s going to be focusing on. This is determined by the attractiveness of the segment, which depends on the profitability, the size, the intensity of the competition, or the ability of the business to serve the customers that are in that segment.

The final step is the positioning, which also means creating a value proposition for the company that’s going to be attractive to the chosen customer segment. After the value is created, the company is going to communicate this value to the customers in the selected segment via the design, distribution, and advertising of that product.

Segmentation

The most popular way of segmenting consumers is to take a look at demographics, behavior, geography, and psychographics. Psychographics is the lifestyle, opinions, interests, and personality of the consumer. Behavior is the usage rate, purchase occasion, and the loyalty of the consumer.

However, there’s another way to segment consumers, and that’s by asking why, what and who. The ‘why’ question is important for understanding the buyers’ behavior. The ‘what’ question is focusing on purchase behavior. Finally, the ‘who’ question is the easiest to answer, as it’s simply information about a consumer’s income, age, education, or family size.

Targeting

When speaking of targeting, marketers mean evaluating the attractiveness of the segments of consumers, along with determining how to attract those consumers. The choice of a consumer segment for a business usually depends on the product or the service that the business offers. This is also determined by the marketing strategies that the business is planning on using. There are three factors when it comes to selecting a particular segment.

The first one is the characteristics of the segments, which include how slow or how fast a particular segment is growing, as well as how profitable that particular segment is. The second one is the business’s own competencies and resources which are used to address the needs of the consumer segments. While selecting a large segment may be appealing, not all businesses are able to cater to such a size. The last one is the competition within that consumer segment, both the current one, as well as any potential future competition.

Ronn Torossian is the CEO and Founder of 5W Public Relations. 5W PR is a leading digital pr and influencer marketing agency.