Learning Objectives Covered:
1. Discuss the correlation between market segmentation and market targeting
2. Describe the role each of the seven segmentations plays in consumer buying behavior
Background
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In order to communicate effectively with customers, businesses must know who it is that purchases their product. Rather than looking at all customers as one big group, marketers break large groups into smaller groups through market segmentation. Once segmented into smaller groups that have similar characteristics, marketers can target one of these small groups and create messages that resonate with the target audience.
There are a number of ways to segment a market, and each segmented market can be broken down into smaller and smaller subgroups called niche markets. There are seven ways that you can segment a market, these include:
Demographics like age, gender, ethnicity, income, religion.
Life stages such as children, college students, singles, couples, families, families with children, empty nesters, senior singles.
Geographic location based segmentation could be something like North or South by country or city, but it can also be the type of location like rural, urban, or suburban.
Psychographic segmentation is based on work, leisure, interests, opinions, and peoples views of themselves.
Behavioral segmentation divides users of the product based on their buying behavior, knowledge of or attitude toward the product
Values based segmentation divides consumers into groups based on their value system such as hedonistic, spiritual, eco friendly, thrifty, etc.
Benefits based segmentation is based on the consumers needs or problems that is driving the purchase of the product. Some food might be purchased based on taste and others might be purchased based on how healthy they are.
Using market segmentation allows marketers to select a target market. By using market segmentation to group consumers, marketers can work to understand the target markets motivations, wants, and needs by using surveys, focus groups, or by analyzing data based on the target markets purchase and other behaviors.
Prompt
Select a product and research its target market. In a paper of 600 words describe the target market for the product you have selected. Remember to use at least two citations in IWG format. The following questions may help guide your research:
What segmentation tools are best used to describe the target market?
What research can you find on this target market?
What about the product or the way it is marketed leads you to believe you have selected the right target market?
In what way does the company meet the needs of the target market with the product you have selected?
How might the target market be broken into smaller niche markets?
In what ways might this product or its marketing be altered to better appeal to the target market?
