Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning

These are three very important factors in marketing as without them a marketing team would not be able to understand their target market. The three factors of Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning tell marketers different things about their products.

Segmentation: This is process where consumers are divided into certain groups that may require certain products. One way to divide consumers is by age or marital status. By segmenting the market place companies are able to understand the market easier and more effectively. This is important especially when launching a new product as the marketing strategy needs to be correct for the target market. One good example of this is the over 50 holiday package. If the tour operator was to make a new campaign for the holiday and advertised it with people in night clubs it would be perceived as a club 18-30 holiday and therefore potentially loosing sales.

There are four ways of segmenting the market and they are by: geographical, demographics, psychographics and behavioral. By segmenting into these categories a firm is able to to see if they have aimed their product correctly.

Targeting: This is where the firm can see where to aim their product. By looking at all the options from the segmentation and then going to their product to see where it would look best. Once they have found their target audience they can go and position it in the market place by selling it through retailers who attract the target clientele.

Positioning: This is the process of choosing which market place would best suit the product in question. It would be no good for a female cosmetic product to be placed in the men's section of a store. How ever by having a mans cosmetic product in the women's section of the store could prove popular as women would by the product if they see it.

Overall the STP process is very important in understanding your target market and without it products would not be able to sell to their full potential.