Page 131 - DMGT509_RURAL MARKETING

Rural Marketing

Notes 7.1 Market Segmentation

Some different ways you can segment your market include the following:
 Demographics which focuses on the characteristics of the customer. For example age,
gender, income bracket, education, job and cultural background.
 Psychographics which refers to the customer group’s lifestyle. For example, their social
class, lifestyle, personality, opinions, and attitudes.

 Behaviour which is based on customer behaviour. For example, online shoppers, shopping
centre customers, brand preference and prior purchases.

 Geographical location such as continent, country, state, province, city or rural that the
customer group resides.

Figure 7.1: Market Segmentation

Targeting

After segmenting the market based on the different groups and classes, you will need to choose
your targets. No one strategy will suit all consumer groups, so being able to develop specific
strategies for your target markets is very important.
There are three general strategies for selecting your target markets:

 Undifferentiated Targeting: This approach views the market as one group with no
individual segments, therefore using a single marketing strategy. This strategy may be
useful for a business or product with little competition where you may not need to tailor
strategies for different preferences.

 Concentrated Targeting: This approach focuses on selecting a particular market niche on
which marketing efforts are targeted. Your firm is focusing on a single segment so you can
concentrate on understanding the needs and wants of that particular market intimately.
Small firms often benefit from this strategy as focusing on one segment enables them to
compete effectively against larger firms.

 Multi-segment Targeting: This approach is used if you need to focus on two or more well
defined market segments and want to develop different strategies for them. Multi segment
targeting offers many benefits but can be costly as it involves greater input from
management, increased market research and increased promotional strategies.
Prior to selecting a particular targeting strategy, you should perform a cost benefit analysis
between all available strategies and determine which will suit your situation best.

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