Marketing strategy exercises will reveal courses of action to pursue based on careful analysis of company and environmental factors. The specifics of target customers also need to be considered because consumer behavior and reactions to messages can differ greatly across different consumer groups.  For example, Generation Y consumers may be more willing to take risks than older Baby Boomers. 

To gain an understanding of your target markets and what you can expect from each, it’s helpful to separate your markets into groups that will behave differently, or value your offerings differently, than other groups.  This is called Market Segmentation.  Some of the common variables used to split up or segment markets include:

Behavioral segmentation

• Benefits sought from the product
• How often the product is used
• Usage situation (daily, seasonal)
• Buyer status (non-users, potential users, first-timers, regular users)

Demographic segmentation

• Age/generation
• Income
• Gender, ethnicity, family life cycle, family size
• Occupation, education, nationality
• Religion, social class

Geographic segmentation

• Region
• City size, population, climate

Psychographic segmentation

• Beliefs
• Values
• Reasons for being

If you have trouble identifying segments, follow the ways other companies segment markets. Google Adsense and Adwords, for example, can reveal the ways markets are commonly segmented for online advertising.

Once segments are identified, find some information about each to give you some insight about that segment’s behavior.

• Online discussion forum for a segment can provide insight into the attitudes and top current issues important to a market segment
• If you have current customers, you can use surveys to gather information

Don’t forget to segment the customers you already have. You have some insight about them already. Think about your experience with them. How are they similar and different across the common segmenting variables? Studying their buying patterns will help you decide which segments are the best to purse going forward. It can also identify segments that aren’t worth the effort.

Selecting Target Markets

After segmenting your markets and gathering some consumer insight about them, you are ready to make some choices. You may end up with many market segments that you could pursue, but some will be better and more viable options than others. Some might just be a waste of time and resources. Evaluate each market segment by asking:

• Is it sizable enough to be profitable?
• Is it growing?
• Is it saturated with competition? If so, is there a way to stand out?
• Is it accessible?
• Do you have the resources to compete for this segments business?
• Does it fit with you Mission Statement?

You may choose to target a very select group of customers. This is called a concentrated marketing strategy and is risky because all your eggs are put into one basket.  Niche marketing is an even narrower marketing strategy. Many marketing visionaries recommend a niche strategy because modern marketing data and technology enables targeting and engagement of very specific market segments.

Targeted Marketing

Once you’ve decided on the segment(s) to pursue, apply the perspective gained through the segmenting analysis to your product offerings.  You can now think about adjusting your marketing to the segments you want to pursue.  Do you need to promote your products and services differently? Would different marketing channels work better to reach the segment? Are your prices too high? Maybe your core products and services need to be changed to better align with the market? 

Now comes the competitive ingredient and Positioning

Positioning

Positioning involves planning how you want consumers to perceive your product relative to the competition.  You need think this through carefully and differentiate your offerings around the value you can actually deliver to the customer. The value that’s different and better than your competitors- your Unique Selling Proposition (USP).

The positioning of your top competitors may be very obvious in their marketing. Take a look at what segments they appear to be targeting. What main messages are used in their advertising and promotions? How do you think they are being perceived in the market?

A helpful tool for visualizing the relative positioning of competitors in a market is a perceptual map. A perceptual map shows where you and your competitors stand relative to the criterial that is important to customers.

For example, if price and quality are the most important factors to a target market, a perceptual map showing where each competitor positions it’s offering may reveal an opportunity to differentiate an offering in the market.

Be careful and realistic, though. You need to be able to stand behind your positioning with actions and real results. Only choose a positioning that you can stand up to. 

Messaging

Taglines and message points can be used for positioning and repositioning products and services. A useful tool for organizing messaging points and keeping positioning consistent across different communications channels is a message map. A well-written message map keeps positioning consistent across marketing  promotions that may span all different types of media.

Applying Consistent Messaging Across Marketing Tactics

After you’ve planned out what you want to say, you then apply it to all the places where you want to say it.   Adjust your messaging to address each step in the sales funnel, while still remaining true to the core messaging direction for your market offering. 

If your business needs help developing and implementing a marketing strategy, we can help.

In case you missed the first two parts of this 4-Part Series on Marketing Strategy,

Part 1: Small Business Marketing Starts with Value

Part 2: Small Business Marketing Strategies

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The need for small business marketing is everywhere. People start new companies every day for all kinds of reasons. Maybe they have specific skills that are in demand.  For example, an auto mechanic that starts her own shop or a construction worker that launches a new roofing company.  Some people have hobbies they enjoy so much they turn them into successful businesses. A weekend fisherman may decide to leave that accounting job, buy a new boat, and offer charter fishing services to fellow enthusiasts.

While new entrepreneurs may have the motivation and technical skills necessary to get their new business set-up and off the ground, they might not know anything about small business marketing. They might find that finding customers is not as easy as they had planned.

To be successful, every company needs to get their “story” in front of customers one way or another. That is, they need to market their business.  Marketing a business involves finding customers and convincing them to buy something.  Marketing is central to business success and can be very complex and confusing. Companies like Coca-Cola spend billions each year and employ brilliant people to make it work correctly.

Small business marketing doesn’t have to be as complex and confusing as marketing a consumer beverage like Coca-Cola. Thinking about your company from a marketing perspective and working through some planning steps can produce a simple action plan for marketing your business and creating results. 

Small Business Marketing Centers Around Value

The American Marketing Association defines marketing as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” At the center of this definition, and the center of everything marketing does, is “value.”

Business owners need to think about the value they bring to the market. What value can their company, through delivery of products and services, deliver to customers? What benefits do the customers receive from the company’s products and services? Beyond the obvious may be additional benefits like the piece-of-mind received from purchasing items they believe to be high-quality or prestigious. This is known as brand value.

Value Equals Benefits Minus Price (and Hassle)

In exchange for the benefits received are the costs to the customer in terms of price and any other hassles. Price is a central component of value and is personal and subjective as well. It’s different for different people. For some people, going to an auto dealership to buy a new car can be the most difficult hassle imaginable. Others may enjoy the car buying process.

All things considered, value can therefore be defined as the benefits received minus the combination of price and hassle.

Looking at a company through this value “lens” is the first step in small business marketing. Part 2 of this series, “Small Business Marketing Strategies”, explains a simple approach to forming intelligent strategies for marketing a small business.

SwanRosney Marketing helps businesses of any size plan and execute creative marketing strategies. For more information about our services, click here.

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