Wednesday 27 April 2011

SEGMENTATION, TARGETING, POSITIONING

Segmentation, targeting and positioning is a three stage process. Segmentation describes what kinds of customers exist, targeting describe target market which is best to serve and  positioning which describe segmentation by categorizing the products or services for that segment.

Segmentation is “the process of defining and subdividing a large homogenous market into clearly identifiable segments having similar needs, wants, or demand characteristics. Its objective is to design a marketing mix that precisely matches the expectations of customers in the targeted segment.”
Segmentation try to find out what kinds of different consumers with different needs exist.
Segmentation depend on?
–             Gender
–             Age
–             Social class
–             Personal Disposable Income
–             Family life cycle
–             Employment status
–             Marital status / living arrangements and many more.  
The example for example can be yellow soap.  In the past it was just this one yellow soap.

Now we have got many different kinds of soaps, with different colours, shapes, smells etc.

Segmenting consumer markets
-              Geographic
-              Demographic
-              Psychographic
-              Behavioural

There are different kinds of variable which are used for segmentation:
-          Demographic – to this belong: gender, income, education, location, and family size, ethnic.  For example Campbell’s soup has found that Western U.S consumers prefer spicier soup
-          Some consumers want to be the same as the others and other want to be different.
-          Behaviour – some customers are “brand loyal”- customers sty with the brand they are stick to. Some consumers are “heavy” users while other are “light” users.
-          One can also segment on benefits sought, essentially bypassing demographic explanatory variables. Some consumers use toothpaste primarily to promote oral health, while another segment is more interested in breathe freshening.
CRITERIA FOR SEGEMNTATION
Effective - truly different needs from other segments?
Identifiable - how can you find those people?
Profitable - is the segment big enough to offer real profits?
Accessible - can you reach this group easily?
Actionable - can it be done?
TARGETING
Targeting evaluate the attractiveness of each segment. Defending a target market requires market segmentation, “the process of pulling apart the entire market as a whole and separating it into manageable, disparate units based on demographics”. To the target marketing belongs to break a market into segments.
Target marketing makes the promotion, pricing and distribution of the products or services. Target marketing provides a focus to all marketing activities.   Market targeting means to choose one’s target market.

PROCESS OF CHOOSING TARGET MARKET:
-          Make sure that target market is not synonymous to segmentation
-           Segmentation is just the first step of the target market
-          Target market follows different basses of segmentation
-          Looking at each segment as a distinct marketing opportunity.
-          Evaluating the worth of each segment (sales/profit potential).
-          Estimating whether the segment is:
Ø  Distinguishable.
Ø  Measurable
Ø  Sizable.
Ø  Accessible.
Ø  Growing.
Ø  Profitable
Ø  Compatible with the firm’s resources.
-     
-          Checking out if the firm has the differential advantage / distinctive capability for serving the selected segments.
-          At the end choose those segments which the most appropriate for the company.

DECISIONS INVOLVED IN TARGETING STRATEGY INCLUDE
which segments to targeting.
how many products to offer.
which products to offer in which segments.

POSISTIONING
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.”
Positioning involves on affecting the target. The example can be Apple Computer has chosen itself as user-friendly computers.  Thus, Apple advertising itself as a computer for “non-gigs”.
Positioning of a product is a sum of the attributes which are normally described by the customers.  Describe its standing, target market, quality, strengths, weaknesses, prices and any other values the product represents.
There are three types of positioning concept:
-          Functional position
Ø  Solve problems.
Ø  Provide benefits to customers.
Ø  Get favourable perception by investors (stock profile) and lenders.
-          Symbolic positions
Ø  Self-image enhancement.
Ø  Ego identification.
Ø  Belongingness and social meaningfulness.
Ø  Affective fulfilment.
-          Experiential positions
Ø  Provide sensory stimulation.
Ø  Provide cognitive stimulation
Approaches of positioning- the main approaches to positioning are:
-          Customer benefit approach- involves putting the brand behind the competitors. It can be a single product which can solve many problems e.g.  Procter & Gamble’s Head & shoulder shampoo functions as anti-dandruff and anti-hair fall shampoo.

-          The price-quality approach- some brands have higher price to cover the cost of the product and to give the customer message that this product is on a high level and quality example can be RODO watch  £1,323

-          The use or application approach.- For example: MUSIC EDITION mobile phone. Samsung scg-r470

-          The product user approach – in here the brand identify the target market for which product will be position.
-          The product class approach.
-          The cultural symbol approach. - It is based on showing the cultural symbol which helps stand out from other competitors. The example of this can be the MALBORO brand which shows the cowboy image 

-          The competitor approach.
To effectively understand repositioning, it is important to understand how one’s brand and those of competitors are perceived.  This let identify how products are perceived by the consumers.  After that the company can attempt to move the brand in more desirable directions by promoting other, certain points.   
The example can be the positioning map below: 
Segmentation, targeting and positioning are closely interrelated with each other.


REFERENCES:
Callin Gilliam(2010) Marketing Segmentation, Targeting and Posistioning ,p339
Safar M(2009) Strategic Marketing India

Tuesday 19 April 2011

Ads & Rugby match


Few weeks ago in Dallas in Arlington had place a rugby match called “Super Bowl”. The amount of the spectators on that match was the highest in the history of NFL rugby match. Just in front of the American televisions were about 100 million of Americans.
What about advertisements?
It was huge event for the advertising companies.  The cost of showing any ad in that event was about 3 million dollars!!! The advertising companies had to show something unusual, eye-catching to make the brand famous. Below there are some ads from that match.
Which one do you think is the best? What do you think about these ads? Are they really unusual?
-          Volkswagen Commercial: The force
-          Doritos – Best Part – Crash the Super Bowl
-          2011 Cars: Go first
-          Pepsi MAX – Love hurts
-          2011 GM “Bumblebee”
-          Test baby- home away commercial
-          New go daddy
-          Cars.com
-          Volkswagen commercial
-          Hyundai Electra: Car wash
-          Audi: Goodnight Commercial
-          Bud Light: Severance package
-          CareerBuilder: “Parking Lot”
-          Kia Optima: one Epic Ride
-          Misunderstanding – Chevy Cruze
-          Rango
-          Y-PETA “Full Peta”
-          1984 Apple’s Macintosh

Wednesday 13 April 2011

VALUES



What is the most important in your life?
Values tell people what is good, beneficial, important, useful, beautiful etc. It answers the question of why people do what they do. It helps solve common human problems for survival.
“Important and enduring beliefs or ideals shared by the members of a culture about what is good or desirable and what is not. Values exert major influence on the behaviour of an individual and serve as broad guidelines in all situations.”(Lasa, 2009)
“If we believe our overall values drive our behaviour, then we should be concentrating on the important, underlying motives that drive consumers to make product or service choices rather than simply product attributes” (Ries & Trout 1982)
There are different types of values such as:
-          ethical/moral
-          doctrinal/ideological (religious, political)
-          social
-          aesthetic.
Values have impact on behaviour and attitudes. For example if the company treat better managers than their workers it means that company is an unfair place to work. This may affect the productivity of the worker. If the company would have more egalitarian policy, the worker attitude and behaviours would have been more positive. (William L. Reese, 2000)
Values also depend on the country people come from.
In the US, for example, professional athletes at the top levels in some sports are honoured more than college professors. Surveys show that voters in the United States would be reluctant to elect an atheist as a president, suggesting that belief in God is a value.

Another example can be wearing dark cloths and appearing solemn are normative behaviours at a funeral. In certain cultures they reflect the values of respect and support of friends and family. (Sidney B. Simon, 1995)
Think about values which you have!!
Do these values come from the country you come from, from your family home or friends?  The main reason of knowing your own values is going to help you make consistent decisions and take committed action. This will improve the results in those areas that are truly the most important for you.  Below I wrote the list of some values which may help you with finding your own values
             Love
             Health
             Wealth
             Comfort
             Fun
             Happiness
             Success
             Learning
             Peace
             Intimacy
             Adventure
             Security
Now it is good to prioritize these values. This will help you find out what is the most important for you. You should ask yourself questions such as: which of these values is truly the most important to you in life? If you could only satisfy one of these values, which one would it be? The list of values you’ve got can say what kind of person you are.
Once you know your values you can make your life key decisions. For example:  should you accept the new job position you've been offered? How much time should you spend with your friends? Your values help to make a good decision by asking yourself: "What would a person with these values choose to do in this situation?"
How advertisements relate to the values?
Almost all advertisements relate to the people’s vales. Everyone has different values in their life and different ads relate to different people. Below there are some examples of advertisements which shows different values.
-          First example is the McDonald’s Happy Meal ads which show the emotional moment with the kids. It relates to the family and having a good time values.  As the Burnet an accountant director says: “We wanted a more emotional connection”.   Milano says. “For parents, Happy Meal means happy memories; for kids, it means fun, favourite toys and properties, and favourite food. The area between those is ‘special moments,’ which gave us the line ‘Happy Meals for happy times.”

-          Another example is the ConAgra- food advertisements. Those ads give the message of many values in the advertisements. This brand tries to make the emotional connection with the consumers.  The company has underlined the importance of value-based products.

Another example of ConAgra ad is  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhwQKj9zQRo. This ad shows the values of happiness and healthy life style.  
-          http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/29295272 this ad shows the family values.
-          Another example shows the value of health “slim and fit” http://www.mojvideo.com/video-slim-fit/b59c0534835de1cc2be2 . this ad is example of physical beauty, youth, slimness and verbal wit.
-          Last ad http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mqAK3g3UZQ&p=BEE7484F1FED28B0 shows the value of popularity, being rich.


Time line which had a reflection over me and my dad.
Me
My dad
Poland in NATO (1999)

11 September  new york  2001

Death pope John Paul II 2 April 2005

Euro notes and coins are issued for the first time in countries across Europe (2002)

Global alert on SARS is announced (2003)

Facebook is founded (2004)

Barack Obama becomes the first African American President of the United States (2009)

Plane with half of polish government crashed in  Smolensk. 96 politics died including polish president.  (2010)

Volcanic ash from one of several eruptions beneath Eyjafjallajökull, an ice cap in Iceland, begins to disrupt air traffic across northern and western Europe (2010)

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigns after widespread protests calling for his resignation (2011)
(1978 ) choice of first polish pope John Paul II.

 Martial law in Poland ( 1981)

Falklands War begins (1982)

First election for president in Poland (1990).

Bill Clinton becomes President of USA (1993)

Poland in NATO (1999)

Two planes fly in to the World Trade Centre in New York (2001)

Euro notes and coins are issued for the first time in countries across Europe (2002)

Facebook is founded (2004)

Death pope John Paul II 2 April 2005

Barack Obama becomes the first African American President of the United States (2009)

Plane with half of polish government crashed in  Smolensk. 96 politics died including polish president.  (2010)

Volcanic ash from one of several eruptions beneath Eyjafjallajökull, an ice cap in Iceland, begins to disrupt air traffic across northern and western Europe (2010)

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resigns after widespread protests calling for his resignation (2011)

Older people will have different values than younger people. It comes from the experience they have had in their life. Event just the time line shows that my dad because of his age has had in his life many more experience. These experiences have touched him many things. I asked about his values now after all this events. At the first place are peace, freedom, family and health.

VALS survey give the results of what kind of person you are. According to the VALS survey at the first point I’m experiencer and my secondary type is innovator.
“The primary VALS type represents your dominant approach to life. The secondary classification represents a particular emphasis you give to your dominant approach.”
From my opinion this survey is very helpful to find out the strong sites of you and help you choose the most important values for you.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
-          Lasa (2009) Understanding your core values – at work and at play. [online] Available from: http://www.lasadev.com/newsletters/newsletter_14.htm
-          Ries & Trout (1982) The Psychology Of Consumer Behaviour, p -39
-          William L. Reese (2000), Values, Great Britain, pp-24-25
-          Sidney B. Simon (1995) values clarification Warner Books, United States