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Market Segmentation

How can you better understand the market segments within your targeted market space?

How do your target markets think? What are their attitudes and perceptions?

How are they similar or different in their perceptions?

Understanding the attitudes, beliefs and lifestyles of your target markets, research can help you and your marketing communications experts best position your products / services.  We guide companies to segment their markets, which can serve as a cornerstone for product development and messaging to best resonate with the different market needs.  Additionally, we help you bring each segment to life with one-page overviews that serve as a quick reference throughout your organization – from sales to marketing to customer service, and so on, for consistency across all customer touch points.

Learnings

  • 12503826_m-midUnderstand target market wants / needs, attitudes, lifestyles, preferences, etc.
  • Classify target market into homogenous segments based on similar wants, needs, attitudes, etc.
  • Develop and position products / services geared towards the “right” customer.
  • Communicate effectively with targeted segments.

Possible Methods

Depending on market information readily available to you and your company’s past experience with market segmentation, this is typically an area that needs both qualitative and quantitative methods of research to define and segment the intended customer base into manageable markets.  And, sometimes Secondary Research is incorporated prior to Primary Market Research dependent on internal knowledge or market information available.

Secondary Research – Assumptions can lead to bad business decisions. Secondary Research can be helpful in uncovering potential markets, and understanding the competitive landscape.

Qualitative Methods via Focus Groups, Triads, One-on-One Interviews or Web Interviews – Discussions often help explore customer language, market hypothesis, behaviors and possible lifestyle and attitudes of the possible markets.

Quantitative Methods via Online or Phone Surveys and Advanced Statistical Techniques – Data collection can vary and once the data is collected, the segmentation process is commonly performed using a combination of predictive analytics and cluster analysis.  The end result is a better understanding of customer demographics and psychographics (behaviors, attitudes, lifestyles, etc.) that can be used for profiling.  Keep in mind, segmentation can be more of an art than a science.  Your inputs and understanding of your markets will assist us in identifying the appropriate number of segments and making certain they are meaningful to your business.

MarketVibes Contributions + Successes

MarketVibes has assisted several companies in segmenting their markets in meaningful ways, and in determining messaging to best resonate with the different target market needs.  MarketVibes has been instrumental in guiding market segmentation strategy with various industries including automotive, automotive electronics, consumer electronics and education, among others.