According to Dr. Phillip Kotler, segmentation is the key to good marketing. If you don’t segment, you waste time, money, and sales. This waste may apply to both on the marketer and customer end of things. It’s slicing the pieces of the segment pie. People who buy your products often have common characteristics. Dr. Phillip Kotler, in this classic text, Marketing Management (14th Edition, p. 215), lists 25 major segment variables for consumer markets:
- Geographic region
- City or metro size
- Density
- Climate
- Demographic age
- Family size
- Family life cycle
- Gender
- Income
- Occupation
- Education
- Religion
- Race
- Generation
- Nationality
- Social class
- Psychographic lifestyle
- Personality
- Behavioral occasions
- Benefits
- User status
- Usage rate
- Loyalty status
- Readiness stage
- Attitude toward product
So before you just market and attempt to sell your product or service, slice and dice the above list and make sure you know the matches. Each one above is a question you should ask yourself. Each of these will also break down into sub-categories. Don’t just market to the mass, but market the Phillip Kotler way by segmenting your target markets.
Think rifle and not shotgun. Specific and not general. Drop and not ocean. Address and not zip code.
PPC advertising can target and capture many of Kotler’s segmentation variables. Contact us today to see how we can help your company generate warm leads targeting such variables.
By Stuart Atkins
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