Principles of Marketing

Targeting Markets

Tutorial Contents
Targeting Markets What is a Market? Target Markets, Market Segmentation Step 1: Identify Market Segments Stage 1 Segmentation Variables Stage 2 Segmentation Variables Stage 3 Segmentation Variables Step 2: Choosing Market Segments Step 3: Develop Marketing Strategy Product Positioning

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Stage 1 Segmentation Variables

Stage 1 segmentation consists of variables that can be easily identified through demographics (i.e., statistics that describe a population), geographics (i.e., location issues) and financial information. For both consumer and business segmentation this information focuses mostly on easy to obtain data from such sources as government data (e.g., census information), examining secondary data sources (e.g., news media), trade associations and financial reporting services. While Stage 1 segmentation does not offer the segmentation benefits available with higher-level stages, the marketer benefits from accomplishing the segmentation task in a short time frame and at lower cost.

Segmentation Variables
Consumer Markets

Segmentation Variables
Business Markets

Demographics
age group (e.g., teens, retirees, young adults), gender, education level, ethnicity, income, occupation, social class, marital status
Geographics
location (e.g., national, regional, urban/suburban/rural, international), climate

Demographics
type (e.g., manufacturer, retailer, wholesaler), industry, size (e.g., sales volume; number of retail outlets), age (e.g., new; young growth, established growth, mature)
Geographics
location (e.g., national, regional, urban/suburban/rural, international), climate
Business Arrangement
ownership (e.g,. private versus public, independent versus chain), financial condition (e.g., credit rating, income growth, stock price, cash flow)

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