Rudimentary marketing consists of three sequential steps (which experts usually abbreviate to STP). This concept is very commonly used in marketing circles before it provides nothing less than a detailed, step-by-step guide for identifying your customers and crafting an offering that will appeal to them the most. This process is known as “Segment – Target – Position.”
Segmentation consists of dividing the market into a number of segments based on a variety of factors (such as location, income, age, gender, etc). You can’t market the same product to the whole market - to really get the bang for your buck, you need to create a variation of the product for each of the segments you’re going to be operating in.
Targeting involves narrowing down the segment that you are going to focus on. For example, let’s say you segment the market on the basis of income and decide to focus on the affluent segment. When targeting the segment, you will need to conduct the following research on your audience:
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Location
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Lifestyle
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Spending habits
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Preferences
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Tastes
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Etc.
In the end, the focus of the second phase is on the profile of the average customer in the target segment. Once you have that nailed down, you are ready to move on to the third phase: brand positioning.
The truth is, proper positioning is what makes or breaks your business. You can easily sell the same product to different market segments, provided that you position it different through your marketing mix. For example, let’s say you are marketing the same product to both affluent and lower-income market segments. Your commercials for the former will likely emphasize high quality, class (and if you decide to do a special limited edition run, exclusivity). In contrast, advertisements aimed for the lower-income segment will emphasize savings, affordability, durability and results.
In both cases, you are selling the same product - but the real trick lies in the understand that a product is more than just a combination of its physical attributes. Perception of a product is part of the product - and, as a marketer, it is your job to influence perception in order to drive sales.
As an Internet Marketer who relies heavily on direct response advertising, effective targeting and positioning are essential for writing effective copy. Only by understanding your customer (targeting) will you truly be able to write copy that appeals to them and pushes their buttons enough to close the sale (positioning).
As promised, tonight I would like to go a little bit into detail on the lessons learned from my latest SitePoint experience. It is – I hope – a very informative post, and I hope you will find it interesting and relevant as you consider your own career in Internet Marketing. The lessons contained in it apply not only to site flipping alone, but virtually to every single aspect of your business that requires some measure of marketing (which, in IM circles, is pretty much everything).