MARKETING

MANAGEMENT

Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning

Submitted By:- Anand Rathi

MARKETING MANAGEMANT

(Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning)

PART 1

Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning:

1) Segmentation:

Segmentation, targeting, and positioning together comprise a three stage process.

We first,

(1) Determine which kinds of customers exist, then

(2) Select which ones we are best off trying to serve and, finally,

(3) Implement our segmentation by optimizing our products/services for that segment and

communicating that we have made the choice to distinguish ourselves that way.

Segmentation involves finding out what kinds of consumers with different needs exist.

In the auto market, for example, some consumers demand speed and performance,

while others are much more concerned about roominess and safety.

MARKETING MANAGEMANT

(Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning)

Types of Segmentation:

1) Geographic variables:-

a) Region of the world or country: East, West, South, North, Central, coastal,

hilly, etc.

b) Country size/country size: Metropolitan Cities, small cities, towns.

c) Density of area: Urban, Semi-urban and Rural.

d) Climate: Hot, Cold, Humid, Rainy.

2) Demographic variables:-

a) Age

b) Gender

c) Family size

d) Education

e) Income

f) Occupation

g) Education

h) Socioeconomic status

i) Religion

j) Nationality

k) Language

3) Psychographic variables

a) Personality

b) Life style

c) Value

d) Attitude

MARKETING MANAGEMANT

(Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning)

4) Behavioral variables

a) Benefit Sought.

b) Product Usage Rate.

c) Brand Loyalty.

d) Product end Use.

e) Readiness-to-buy Stage.

f) Decision Making Unit.

g) Profitability.

h) Income Status.

In general, it holds true that “You can‟t be all things to all people,” and experience has

demonstrated that firms that specialize in meeting the needs of one group of consumers

over another tend to be more profitable.

Levels of Market Segmentation:-

Generically, there are three approaches to marketing. In the undifferentiated strategy, all

consumers are treated as the same, with firms not making any specific efforts to satisfy

particular groups. This may work when the product is a standard one where one

Micromarketing

Products to suit the tastes of individuals or locations (complete segmentation)

Niche Marketing

Different products to subgroups within segments (more segmentation)

Segment Marketing

Different products to one or more segments (some segmentation)

Mass Marketing

Same product to all consumers (No segmentation)

MARKETING MANAGEMANT

(Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning)

Competitor really can‟t offer much that another one can‟t. Usually, this is the case only

for commodities. In the concentrated strategy, one firm chooses to focus on one of

several segments that exist while leaving other segments to competitors. For example,

Southwest Airlines focuses on price sensitive consumers who will forego meals and

assigned seating for low prices. In contrast, most airlines follow the differentiated

strategy: They offer high priced tickets to those who are inflexible in that they cannot tell

in advance when they need to fly and find it impractical to stay over a Saturday. These

travelers—usually business travelers—pay high fares but can only fill the planes up

partially. The same airlines then sell some of the remaining seats to more price sensitive

customers who can buy two weeks in advance and stay over.

Note that segmentation calls for some tough choices. There may be a large number of

variables that can be used to differentiate consumers of a given product category; yet, in

practice, it becomes impossibly cumbersome to work with more than a few at a time.

Thus, we need to determine which variables will be most useful in distinguishing

different groups of consumers.

2) Targeting:-

A target market or target audience is a group of customers that the business has decided

to aim its marketing efforts and ultimately its merchandise.[1]

A well-defined target

market is the first element to a marketing strategy. The target market and the marketing

mix variables of product, place(distribution), promotion and price are the two elements of

a marketing mix strategy that determine the success of a product in the marketplace.

A principal concept in target marketing is that those who are targeted show a strong

affinity or brand loyalty to that particular brand. Research has shown that racial

similarity, role congruence, labeling intensity of ethnic identification, shared knowledge

and ethnic salience all promote positive effects on the target market. Research has

generally shown that target marketing strategies are constructed from consumer

inferences of similarities between some aspects of the advertisement (e.g., source

pictured, language used, lifestyle represented) and characteristics of the consumer (e.g.

reality or desire of having the represented style. Consumers are persuaded by the

characteristics in the advertisement and those of the consumer.

MARKETING MANAGEMANT

(Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning)

3) Positioning:-

In marketing, positioning has come to mean the process by which marketers try to create

an image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or

organization.

Although there are different definitions of Positioning, probably the most common is:

identifying a market niche for a brand, product or service utilizing traditional marketing

placement strategies (i.e. price, promotion, distribution, packaging, and competition).

Product positioning process

Generally, the product positioning process involves:

1) Defining the market in which the product or brand will compete (who the relevant

buyers are)

2) Identifying the attributes (also called dimensions) that define the product 'space'

3) Collecting information from a sample of customers about their perceptions of each

product on the relevant attributes

4) Determine each product's share of mind

5) Determine each product's current location in the product space

6) Determine the target market's preferred combination of attributes (referred to as an

ideal vector)

7) Examine the fit between:

8) The position of your product

9) The position of the ideal vector

10) Position.

MARKETING MANAGEMANT

(Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning)

PART 2

MARKETING MANAGEMANT

(Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning)

SEGMENTATION OF AIRTEL

Segmentation is very important because of the better predictability of the target consumer

group and to design the proper marketing mix strategy.

On the basis of Geographic variables:-

Region wise:

East Region (West Bengal, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh etc)

West Region (Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra etc)

South Region (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala etc)

North Region (Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh etc)

Central Region (Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand

etc)

Density of area:

Urban (Cities Such As Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Jaipur etc)

Semi-urban (Nasik, Aurangabad, Ahemadnagar etc)

Rural (Baramati, Khed, Saswad etc)

On the basis Demographic variables:-

Age :

1) From age group 18 to 35:

As most of the people start using a mobile from the age of 18 so

we may make a segment of a age group 18 to 35 as most of the

will be students and remaining will be freshers working in the

industry. So they need SMS plans for chatting and they also need

cheap calling rates. We may provide the FRINDZ card to them.

MARKETING MANAGEMANT

(Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning)

2) 35 and above:

As most of these group will be working and don‟t use mobile for

SMS and chatting. So this group needs only the calling facility at

a reasonable rate. This Group may continue using the general

plan.

Income

PREPAID & POSTPAID :

Generally the mobile service providers plan their marketing

strategies according to the prepaid market and postpaid market. So it

is basically depends upon the income of the consumer that whether

he selects the prepaid or postpaid.

Generally the consumers with low income choose prepaid and

consumers with high income choose postpaid.

On the basis of Behavioral variables

Brand Loyalty:

We can also segment it on the basis of the loyal customers and

non loyal customers of the brand.

We can provide various schemes and offers to the loyal

customers to retain him with our product.

MARKETING MANAGEMANT

(Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning)

Targeting of Airtel

Airtel has targeted the premium and upper middle class. The motto behind this this

only those segments should be targeted who value time and have the paying capacity.

During the introduction stage there was a huge pressure to get consumers across to

hook up with their brand, because getting them to Airtel by their earlier brand and

switching their brand loyalty was too tough. Airtel marketers have been concentrating

totally on the business executive class but now that the basic viable volumes has been

built up and prices have declined to a certain extent they are planning to venture further

field.

TARGETING AREAS:

Professionals by giving free calls in postpaid connections.

Entrepreneur by giving various plan in which they may get internal calling free.

Youth with the „FRIENDZ‟ Scheme.

Targeting Students by introducing postpaid connection only for students and with zero

rentals.

Positioning:

The product is supposed to be a business efficiency tool.

A lifestyle revolution and a status symbol The emphasis is to remove misconception that

the cell phone is an expensive means of communication

It‟s a day to day use commodity and is no more a symbol of status.