Market Segmentation Strategies

Market Segmentation Strategies

Market segmentation strategies have documented a lot of benefits of the successful implementation of marketing plans. In order to understand the strengths of the Market Segmentation Strategies in business it is very important to fully grab the meaning of Market Segmentation itself. Let’s just have an eye ball of Segmenting the Broad Market.

Creating subsets of a broader target market that have the similar or common needs and desires is the segmentation. Marketers may choose to serve a single segment or two or three segments at the same time based upon the common needs, interests and priorities of the end consumers, business customers for B2B selling, or offshore countries. Proper Market Segmentation enables the Companies to market the products and design and implement the Market Segmentation Strategies to target the subsets of the market.

Designing and Executing the Marketing plan requires the precise and clear Market Segmentation Strategies. Furthermore the Segmentation Strategies define and identify the targeted customers and help the marketer to decide the product positioning strategies depending upon the product and product lines offered by the company. In order to come up with an executable marketing and advertising plan, the company must design the business activities to accomplish the marketing goal and objectives.

Types of Market Segmentation Strategies

• Geographic Segmentation Strategy
• Demographic Segmentation Strategy
• Behavioral Segmentation Strategy
• Psychographic Segmentation Strategy
• Occasional Segmentation Strategy
• Cultural Segmentation Strategy

Geographic Segmentation Strategy

This Market Segmentation Strategy answers the WHERE question for the marketers and the company. Where to serve, to market or to sell the company’s product?

Geographic Segmentation is the Star of all the Market Segmentation Strategies means dividing the market according to the geographical regions for example continents, countries and regions. So this provides the Companies a clear snapshot of the end consumer based upon their location and specific requirements of that area. Hence this Strategy enables firms to consider the similarities and dissimilarities between the customers residing at a geographical location, Cultural disparities, climate. In fact weather conditions between geographical locations and language barriers; ultimately helps the marketer to efficiently market the products.

Demographic Segmentation Strategy

This Market Segmentation Strategy answers the WHO question for the marketers and the organizations. Whom to serve, to market or to sell the company’s product?

Dividing the market based on the demographic variables such as age, sex, generation, income, social class, race, family lifecycle, occupation, religion, and level of education, Qualifications and the actual and perceived benefits; the brand or product or service; may deliver.

Understanding and closely identifying the needs, wants, trends, usage rate and frequency of the end consumers is essential for the successful implementation of Market Segmentation Strategies. Moreover measuring end consumer preferences for brands, products and finished goods by marketers are commonly used to execute the Marketing Plan.

Behavioral Segmentation Strategy

The end users today are mostly style oriented and prefer to spend for the uniqueness of the product or brand; something that tells or depicts their unique stature, style and personality.

Many marketers place the variables associated with behavior as the most effective base for market segmentation. In this type of strategy the users are divided into segments. So according to their usage behavior i.e. when they use the product. Moreover what is the frequency of the use of the product and what quantity of the product is consumed?

Psychographic Segmentation Strategy

Opinions, interests and activities mostly referred to as lifestyle are studied to develop Psychographic based market segments. In this type of segmentation the marketers determine users based on their leisure activities and the factors to which users are most responsive and get influenced by.  Psychographic segmentation is usually done for high end & luxurious products. Mass media usually helps this segmentation strategy attain desired results by inculcating a better targeted lifestyle in users’ mind.

The most interesting tactics out of all the Market Segmentation Strategies that marketers nowadays use is segmenting the market psychographically. Therefore playing in the market based upon consumers’ social class, trends, lifestyles, personality traits, living patterns and buying interest helps the companies in brand building and collecting a significant market share. Hence assuming that the brands and products will define the personal characteristics of the buyer. Actually that is the key towards the successful implementation of the Marketing Plan.

Occasional Segmentation Strategy

The quite simple and interesting market segmentation strategy that now multinational companies are opting for is the Occasional Segmentation Strategy. So identifying and analyzing the occasions on which the brand, product or service may be used; independent of the consumers, user or customer is segmenting the market according to the Events. Take into consideration a soft drink company; the product is being marketed based upon the Event of Thirst without considering the differences of the income, buying power and personal stature of the product consumer.

Using Customer Segmentation and Event Segmentation in conjunction with each other create a model of Occasional customer segmentation. This strategy enlightens the marketers about impact on customers’ behavior and needs under various occasions of time & usage. Uniqueness of this segmentation model is manifested in the attribution of more than one segment depending on customers’ circumstances.

Cultural Segmentation Strategy

The name indicates this strategy relies on the cultural dimensions of the society.  However dividing the market according to the population proportions according to the region, territory or a state is the Cultural Segmentation. Thus the consumer buying pattern and usage rate largely depends upon the cultural dimensions.