If you are planning to build a business, then it is vital that you know the important aspects of marketing. Knowing all the basic principles of marketing will help you establish a good brand in the business market. In this connection, you should understand what Market Segmentation is. However, for you to understand market segmentation, you should also understand its core, which is market segment.
Market Segment
Market segment basically is an organization or a group of people that respond to a market stimulus or a set of marketing mix in the same way. You should understand that a group of people will react differently to a specific marketing strategy. Different people will find different values in different products and services. They will react according to their tastes, needs, and wants. They will react differently to a specific price.
Knowing which market segment you are targeting will help you create a marketing mix that will help promote your products and services efficiently and effectively. With this in mind, businesses operate according to the type of product they sell and their target market. Businesses that target a specific niche will find more success compared to businesses that offer a generic product. It is important that you ascertain the market segment that you want to target so that you can use your resources more effectively than others. In this light, market segmentation simply means aligning your products, services, and messages to the needs and wants of a specific market. In doing so, you are using your resources more efficiently and effectively reducing your marketing cost, in general.
Segmenting Your Market
Identifying the different segments of your market would require thorough research. If you have a product that you want to sell, it is important that you don’t just ball point this market or that market as your consumer. You can conduct surveys to know what segments exists in your market. With research, you would understand the number of segments there are in your industry, and the size of each segment. With research, you would be able to describe the segments and be able to identify the stimuli that you can use to effectively get your marketing message across.
Once your research is done, you can then identify the segments of the market based on their behavior, characteristics, and attitude.
- Behavior – this pertains to the frequency of their buying or purchasing, the total amount of spending, or the kind of stores the consumer shops.
- Characteristics – this pertains to the consumer’s geo-demographics, status, health conditions, etc.
- Attitudes – this pertains to the financial sophistication of the consumers, disposition, fashion orientation, interest, optimism, and others.
All in all, it is important that you know how to segment your market so you can better understand the market’s needs and wants. With this knowledge, you will be able to come up with a specific marketing mix targeted to the segment that you want to influence.