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What are the first steps in Market Segmentation and Targeting?
Home » Advertising & Marketing » Market Segmentation and Targeting » What are the first steps in Market Segmentation and Targeting?Posted by Your Guide on October 31, 2005 3:29 PM
For starters, it is imperative that you clearly identify your target market. In order to market products or services effectively, the marketing and sales messages must match up with the expressed need of the target market. One of the best ways to ensure marketing success is to find those slight variations between customer needs and then promote solutions to those needs. It is far better for a business to promote its products and services to smaller targeted markets rather than aiming at their customer base in general.
For most businesses, the first step in market segmentation is market research. In the case of larger companies, this usually means hiring an outside consultant or agency to segment the markets by conducting extensive market research projects. This can be tedious, highly analytical work, which is the main reason why larger companies outsource. Smaller to mid-size firms might farm out market research or utilize a hybrid of in-house talent and outside consultants, or go completely in-house (usually through the marketing department). Whatever way they choose, market research can help a company determine to whom they are selling, the profile of the prospect customers, as well as the audience.
Smaller companies, which opt for in-house market research, can be equally as successful by employing a combination of different means of research. First and foremost, this will require numerous hours of human resources spent in survey or questionnaire development, as well as telephone surveys and e-mail surveys. In addition, smaller companies might add in some qualitative measures such as industry research, interviewing buyers and business owners within the industry, and in-house data resources to analyze purchasing history. The combination of quantitative and qualitative can prove very enlightening without the major price tag.
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