Identifying Market Segments, Selecting Target Markets, and Positioning the Offer

Abstract

Marketing planning must start with strategic marketing-namely, segmenting, targeting , and positioning. The marketer first identifies a variety of dimensions along which to segment the market and develops profiles of the resulting market segments. Then the marketer selects those segments that represent the best targets for its efforts. Finally, the marketer designs marketing strategies and positions the organization and its products in ways that are expected to have the greatest appeal to the target markets. Customers vary greatly in their needs, attitudes, interests, and buying requirements. Since no organization can satisfy all consumers, each organization should identify the most attractive market segments that it can serve effectively. Strategic marketing enables organizations to spot market opportunities and to develop or adjust their offerings to meet the needs of the potential markets. Segmentation Segmenting is the crucial first step. All customers are not the same and a single marketing strategy will do a poor job of serving many different customers. It is not unusual for arts managers to say, for example, that their typical customer is a 52-year-old college-educated woman. But averages say very little. How many of the patrons are 32 or 72? Are 51 percent of the patrons women or 75 per-cent? Even the actual ages, gender, and education levels of all current attenders convey little or nothing about their interests, habits, lifestyles, personality, preferences, and purchase behavior-factors that are far more significant for marketers in designing and promoting their offerings than demographic data.