Market Segmentation

From the outside, it may seem like the broader a target audience is for a brand, the more impressions or sales that brand makes. Quite the contrary. In a world where there are millions upon millions of different products and services out there with each one vying for consumers intentions it is ridiculously important for a brand to know who they are trying to reach in a market. According to Investopedia “Market segmentation… refers to [the] aggregating [of] prospective buyers into groups or segments with common needs and who respond similarly to a marketing action” but I like to think of it as the way a company organizes their potential consumers to make sure that every action is focused on the specific consumers they want to reach. There are four main categories of segmentation: Demographic (Age, Gender, Income, Education, etc.) Geographic (Country, state, city, etc.) Psychographic (Values, Attitudes, Lifestyles, etc.) and Behavioral (Brand Interactions, Purchasing Habits, etc.) This wealth of information may seem like a lot to take in but thankfully there are tools out there that help gather this aggregate data, file it, and allow marketers to utilize it. Let us look into a couple of these tools and how they can be used in the creation of a marketing plan

Google Analytics

The convenience of Google being accessible on every phone, tablet, and computer allows the everyday person to have a wealth of data, quite literally, in the palm of their hand. Of course, as much as we “collect” information from Google, Google collects our information right back and businesses can use that data in the form of Google Analytics. Google Analytics has changed the world of digital marketing by allowing a business to see “who” has accessed their company’s website, how they got their, what they did, if they made a purchase, where they’re from, what time they visited, even information like age, gender, and purchasing habits. If user 314 from Tampa, Florida showed interest in a pair of headphones from your company, put them in his cart and then left the site maybe it would be a good idea for your company to serve him and ad with a 10% off coupon. If user 1002 bought that new mascara that came out last week, you can see where she’s from, her spending habits, age, and use that to target similar product or brand ads to similar users. If you have not yet watched the documentary The Social Dilemma yet I highly recommend you do, as it illustrates very well how the information gathered by things like Google Analytics creates a picture of you and how brands use that picture to serve you ads and keep you scrolling.

Researching Existing Customer Base

For my final project I have decided to create a brand that is brand new BUT has a large competitor in Mattel (the maker of Barbie) so it’s no surprise that a tool that I used was to research their existing customer base. Sometimes the people are already known but the shift in product focus can open that segment to have better results. In my case, Mattel focuses on one specific market by making dolls for girls. For my brand, Enby Friends, I looked at this group as a base but want to open my line of products to every person. As I put it in my post, we are focusing on guys, gals, and non-binary pals. You will have to read the rest of my discussion post to find out just what the segment is, but I think it’s going to be a great group to market to and all it took was a bit of research into the brands existing customer base. Not really a “tool” in the classic sense but more like a tactic that can be used to a brands advantage!

References:

Deiss, R. (2020, August 16). How to Segment Your Audience with Google Analytics. Retrieved July 13, 2021, from https://www.dummies.com/business/marketing/segment-audience-google-analytics/

Tarver, E. (2020, September 16). Know How to Target Specific Markets to Bring in a Large Profit. Retrieved July 13, 2021, from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marketsegmentation.asp

YESBECK, J. (2020, July 16). 4 Types of Market Segmentation With Examples. Retrieved July 13, 2021, from https://blog.alexa.com/types-of-market-segmentation/