Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning

Segmentation.



'A marketing technique that targets a group of customers with specific characteristics'.
(investor words, 1999)


What this means is that a business will rather target a group of potential customers than the whole market. When a business can acknowledge its customers specific characteristics, promoting to that customer becomes a lot easier as the business already knows the preferences of that customer. The business is able to understand what attracts a customer to a specific product or service.


The different areas of segmentation,
· B2B (business to business)
· Segmenting consumer markets


The market segments.

































Targeting.


Targeting the customers you will be selling your products, services to is one of the most important factors to any business. The business must always acknowledge its customers and this can be done by customer database or customer surveys. Once the business knows the potential customers it can start to pick up as the business can start to cater to its targeted customers. targeting you audience is always going to bring up challenges such as,

1. Does the product appeal to all our customers?



2. Can the business do anything to attract more customers without spending a lot of money?

One way to find out if the products will be successful is to carry out a customer survey. On this survey the business will be able to ask questions and recieve answers quickly.


Positioning.


After the organisation has selected its target market, the next stage is to decide how it wants to position itself within that chosen segment. Positioning refers to ‘how organisations want their consumers to see their product’. What message about the product or service is the company trying to put across? Car manufacturer Daewoo in the UK has successfully positioned themselves as the family value model. The UK car Skoda brand which has been taken over by Volkswagen has been re-positioned as a vehicle which had negative brand associations, to one which regularly wins car of the year awards.
(learn marketing, 2006)


When positioning itself a business must always take into consideration the following,

1. Are they easily accessible
2. Do the customers know that you are there
3. Is the business safe in the market position
4. Are the competitors major players (Tesco, Sainsbury’s) or small local competitors (Cost Cutter, Right Price)

Positioning a business in a specific market can be very challenging. first you must acknowledge your customers, get into the market and then cater to there needs.