Fishing season will be upon us soon. There is a lesson to be learned from that sport. A good day of fishing means you have dropped your line in waters where there are fish. One of the keys to successful marketing of any product or service is based on the same principle called target segmentation.
With target segmentation you first have to acknowledge that not everyone is your potential customer. (This is hard on our egos.) You must therefore break your total market into smaller segments that share the same characteristics. From those, select the segments that appear to be your best bets for a "catch." This will make optimal use of your marketing dollars. Target markets can be shaped and refined by demographics (age, income, education, geographic location, gender, marital status), by industry (pharmaceutical, energy, financial services, technology, industrial) or by psychographics (lifestyle, attitudes, values, perceptions).
For example, a local retailer may position itself as "discount" to attract the frugal customer while one up the street offers "premium" goods hoping the affluent customer will drop in. This way you are aligning your product or services with the target market segment. You get more " hits" than "misses" if you practice this type of thinking - before developing advertising and promotional campaigns.
Smart market-driven companies (and non-profits) practice target segmentation for one reason: it works. So the next time your company or organization initiates marketing plans, remember the lesson from fishing. The kind of bait you use, the length of time you sit by your pole, and even your ability to cast will not matter if you drop your line in waters where there are few fish.
With target segmentation you first have to acknowledge that not everyone is your potential customer. (This is hard on our egos.) You must therefore break your total market into smaller segments that share the same characteristics. From those, select the segments that appear to be your best bets for a "catch." This will make optimal use of your marketing dollars. Target markets can be shaped and refined by demographics (age, income, education, geographic location, gender, marital status), by industry (pharmaceutical, energy, financial services, technology, industrial) or by psychographics (lifestyle, attitudes, values, perceptions).
For example, a local retailer may position itself as "discount" to attract the frugal customer while one up the street offers "premium" goods hoping the affluent customer will drop in. This way you are aligning your product or services with the target market segment. You get more " hits" than "misses" if you practice this type of thinking - before developing advertising and promotional campaigns.
Smart market-driven companies (and non-profits) practice target segmentation for one reason: it works. So the next time your company or organization initiates marketing plans, remember the lesson from fishing. The kind of bait you use, the length of time you sit by your pole, and even your ability to cast will not matter if you drop your line in waters where there are few fish.
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