Marketing with mon
We've already talked about target markets, something that is extremely necessary to make a product successful. However, there's more to target markets than we think. There are sub-groups to the groups and we can narrow a market down pretty accurately. This is called market segmentation. We separate these larger groups into groups that 1, have common needs and 2, will respond similarly to a marketing action. EX: Young Adults -->College Students --> College Students in the Northeast --> College Students in Burlington, VT (where it's cold and snowy and isn't Spring supposed to be only weeks away?) Anyway, we're all in the market for a winter coat that's fashionable and probably needs to double as a ski jacket, so it should probably be pretty warm. There are 5 steps to creating a successful segmented target group. Step 1: Group Potential Buyers into Segments. Sometimes it's not always best to segment markets so marketing managers have to look at two questions: 1) Would it be worth it? and 2) Is it possible? If the answer is yes to both, they must find variables within a group and segment based on those variables. Step 2: Group Products to Be Sold into Categories An efficient way to appeal to more customers is to group products together. Based on segmented groups made in step 1, a marketing team might find it productive to bundle products that are similar and could be used together. EX: Buy a new Burton winter jacket and get a free matching hat. Step 3: Develop a Market-Product Grid and Estimate the Size of Matters This type of grid is a framework to relate the segments to products offered or potential marketing actions of a company. If the grid is done completely and correctly, it can show a rough market size for each product and marketing strategy. Step 4: Select Target Markets As a result of the grid, managers should decide which segments they're actually going to pursue. At some point Burton's marketing team went through the process and narrowed their market from young adults to young adults who ski and snowboard in locations with lots of snow and frigid temperatures. They had to cut out all the young adults in the "fly-over states" and the south. It just wouldn't make a lot of sense to spend money and energy trying to sell them a warm, winter jacket when they have no mountains, very little snow, and mild temperatures. Step 5: Take Marketing Actions to Reach Target Markets This is where managers make a decision of where, how and when they're going to market their product. In the case of winter jackets, seasons matter, location matters and even the mean in which their target market is most likely to see an ad. It's unlikely for a young adult to be paying attention to commercials on news channels, weather channels, and the History channel, just to name a few. It is likely that they'll see it on almost every mean of social media, which creates an easy way to go through with a purchase (3 cheers for online shopping). It's important to do research and figure out what would be the most productive way to reach an audience. All of these steps are extremely important in marketing as it would be a waste of time and money if a company did little research on potential consumers for their product. It would be out of pure luck if a marketing strategy was put together randomly and was successful. Works Cited: Randy from A Christmas Story Movie. N.d. Can Staying Warm Keep Your Kids Healthy? Web. 26 Feb. 2015. "Market Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning." Marketing. 11th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin, 2013. 224-33. Print.
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Monica AndreaniJunior at Saint Michael's College, MJD major, Business minor. Here to teach you the basics of Marketing. Archives
April 2015
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