Segmentation and Product Proposition
In the previous unit, you explored the role of market research in marketing strategies. One role of market research is to determine customer receptivity to new products. In this unit, you examine whether your new, fictitious product is right for your target market by going into more detail in STP strategies.
Many strategies are available within the umbrella terms of segmenting and targeting, including the following:
• Differentiation: Targeting different groups of customers and using different strategies for different groups (e.g. computer retailer places newspapers advertisements for home users, professional magazine advertisements for business professionals and small businesses).
• Concentration: Serving one of several potential segments of a market (e.g. computer retailer targets only businesses and ignores home users).
• Atomization. Breaking down the market to the smallest detail, often to the individual customer.
Strategies should be chosen based on their appropriateness or functionality for the brand proposition being developed. It is also important to have a good understanding of organisational capabilities when selecting strategies. Of the strategies just listed, for example, one is effective for organisations with only limited resources, whereas another is best employed by organisations marketing high-cost items. Do you know which is which? Your Readings and research will yield this necessary information as you create a segmentation, targeting and positioning strategy with your colleagues.
To prepare for this Individual Assignment:
• Building on the learning from previous units, review the Readings and research articles online regarding how market research informs segmenting, targeting and positioning.
• Review Agarwal et al. (2010). Consider the cross-cultural and cross-national models of perceived quality. These relate more to services, but could these themes resonate with products as well?
To complete this Individual Assignment:
Create segmentation, targeting and positioning strategies for your new, fictitious product (The product idea that I have chosen and I think would be a fit to the Middle Eastern region is a personalized sportswear and tennis shoes. The idea came to me after I saw the great success that Coca Cola had when it introduced the personalized Cans having names on them, Adidas can introduce personalized sportswear with names on them. The Tennis Shoes could also have a clear pocket from its side, This fictitous product that falls within the Adidas brand that was identified in Unit 1. For this Individual Assignment, include the following:
• Produce a graphic representation of your segmentation strategy for your new, fictitious product. Include any niche or subgroups in your graphic depiction that you think might be effective. Also include in your graphic representation a brief summation of the needs of each segment.
• In addition to this graphic depiction, write a 1,000-word paper that outlines strategies for creating or increasing brand equity for your branded product. Include:
o One strategy for targeting marketing efforts to each segment
o One strategy for positioning your product for each segment
• For each of the strategies, explain why they would be effective. Include specific examples and appropriate citations/support from the literature for your findings.
• Be sure to include specific examples and support your postings with evidence from the Readings and other current literature from the UoRL Library and other credible sources. Consult the Harvard Referencing Style Guide for proper citation and referencing information.