Targeting, Segmentation and Positioning

Targeting
Businesses target specific markets which their product would relate best to. Aiming products at a market not only improves the chances of increased sales but also helps to make advertising & Marketing easier. Some businesses target more than one market in order to gain more sales and market share. Some products suit more than one group of people or diverse into another market.

A target market is a specific group of consumers at which a company aims its products and services

Important factors to take note of when aiming at target markets are:

*Whether the customers male or female

*How old they are

*Where they live and geographical location. Whether where they live can be a limitation.

*What do they do for a living

*Their yearly income

*Their lifestyles and hobbies

http://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/term/82498.html

Segmentation

Market segmentation is based on differences in demographiv factors of different groups of consumers. It is one of the five common segmentation stratefies and aims to define specific niches that require custom-tailored promotion.

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/demographic-segmentation.html

This is when the market is divided into a number of sub-markets/segments. Each homogenous group of consumers react differently to promotion, communicatoin, pricing etc. They should be as small as possible in order to see the difference between buyers within each segment.

It is highly imporant because buyers of a product or service are from no particular group. Every buyer has individual needs, preferences, behaviours etc. Because of this, it would have been impossible to suit to every customer individually; therefore marketers created groups based on common characterstics.

Businesses market segment because it improves the marketing plans and enables decisions about the intensity of marketing activities in specific segments.

7Ps and Market Segmentation
Product
Price
Place
Promotion
People
Proccesses
Physical Evidence

Each one of the 7 Ps will have to be accounted for in accordance to a target market when marketing.

STEPS in Marketing:

Effective Segmentation is:
*Identifiable - The different attributes of the segments must measurble so that they are able to be identified
*Accessible - They must be reachable through communication and distribution channels
*Sizeable - They should be large enough size required to justify the resources.
*Profitable - It is not good in targeting a segment that is sizeable but not profitable
*Unique - They must respond differently to different marketing mixes
*Durable - Theys hould be stable to minimize the cots of frequent change
*Measurable - The marketing mix as well as the potential segment should be measurable
*Compatible - They must be compativle with the firm's resources and capabilites

http://www.scribd.com/doc/6356725/MARKET-SEGMENTATION-TARGETING-POSITIONING-By-Subha-Rudra
POSITIONING

This is the efforts put in my businesses to influence consumers perceptions of a brand or product relating to the perception of competing brands or products/services. Its objective is to occupay a clear and uniqe position in which would become more advantageous. Examples include the safest car, the fastest car or the most eco-friendly car.

After finding a target market, a business needs to see how it will position itself within the segment.






Developing a positioning Strategy

This depends on how competitors position themselves. Positioning products changes the way consumers percieve the product.

http://www.learnmarketing.net/positioning.htm

This video is clearly targeted at the young single man (bachelor) who perhaps is in the middle to upper class sector. He would have a lot of disposabe income. The woman in the video would give an appearance of class and admiration as if the car was bought, this is what would happen to you. Positioning would be with the luxury, speed and unique style.

Final Reflection on Blogging

Blogging has been a fun and personal way of learning the different topics in this module. Some the most fun blogs to make were the Tweens, Nostalgia and Family. The main reasons for these was because before research, I had already had some sort of understanding of the area as well as the fact that I could be more personal with them.

On top of lectures, blogging has allowed me to take part in more in-depth research else where which too has helped me remember the module in more detail. Information in which I would not have remembered during the lecture or have even found out, was found in the research I had done. An example of this is the extract about the 'Pinto' car in Brazil where no one would buy it as it meant 'small male genitals', which I found amusing.

I found blogging fun in comparison to assignments just on their own as I was able to find videos, print ads and incorporate humour into it all. I could also make it personal and write it the way I speak. I too, was also able to express myself more. Although they were fun, it did get quite hard to do, when there was more than 2 blogs to do a day. Almost all of the time I had been up to date with them, apart from 13 and above.

Strangely enough, I have also improved my skills with technology as I've had more practice with embedding videos and even with the simple fact of using 'Blogger' as a website due to the fact I had never blogged before. When I had first used it, I found it confusing and difficult; now its easy and finding my way around is simple.

Culture

Culture is said to be the way of life that a particular group of people follow. This relates to their ordinary everyday behaviour and habits; what their beliefs are, attitudes towards each other as well as their moral and religious beliefs.

Culture affects everything we do. This starts from relationships to how businesses from different cultures interact with each other. There is an understood framework when cultures interact with each other which is why people of the same native understand each other easily. Culture shocks can occur when cross cultural interaction occurs. A culture shock is a feeling of confusion felt by someone visiting a country or place that they do not know.
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/culture-shock

The key to successful advertising is trying to convince people that a product is meant for them. By trying to make them feel that buying that certain product, they will receive a benefit which could be a lifestyle improvement, status, financial rise or even to help them generally (convenience). A thing to take note of is when advertising overseas, it is highly important to take note of the different values and views these people have. This makes it crucial that all cross cultural advertising campaigns have to have an understanding of what the culture is about.



Examples Include:
*Language - Here, slogans and company product names need to be focused on as they may seem offensive or confusing for the targeted culture abroad. A prime example of this is the launch of Ford's car, the 'Pinto' in Brazil. After sales had failed to rise, they then realised after research carried out that Brazilians did not want to be seen driving a car meaning 'Tiny male genitals'.



*Communication Style - Business advertising abroad need to understand the way that other cultures communicate and they way in which they do it.

*Colour, Number and Images - Some cultures have lucky colours (e.g. China's lucky colour is red and Japan's unlucky colour is black)and some colours mean importance or provide significance such as green for Islamic people.

It is said that a lot of hotels in the US or UK don't have a room 13 or 13th floor as it is seem as badluck. Also Nippon Ariways in Japan do not have the seat numbers 4 and 9. This is something businesses would need to take note of when it comes to launching a product abroad. This could mean packaging products in those numbers could prevent sales from rising as people will not purchase the product due to superstitious beliefs.

Images can also be sensitive to specific cultures. In Islamic countries, pictures of women in bikinis are highly offensive which could cause rage within the country.

*Cultural Values - Knowing cultural values are really important and must be analysed very carefully. A lot of countries are dominated by one main religion which means anything to offend them will not succeed in sales. Some countries are family orientated such as Japan and some Eastern European Countries; and some believe in the safety of animals and are against the capturing of stray dogs for example. Romania is one of these countries. Dogs roam freely around the streets and the locals love them. Therefore, releasing an advert which have anything to do with dogs and animal cruelty would not go down well. Countries where teamwork is valued; using the word 'I' would be seen as a negative.

http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/cultural-services/articles/cross-cultural-advertising.html



This advert is trying to show that Cadburys is a Fairtrade product. Sadly, it was accused of racism and received 29 complaints where African people felt it was demeaning.

Extract from a Brand Republic Article:

A spokesman for the ASA said: "Although the council acknowledges that Cadbury had used stereotypes in their ads, they felt that the stereotypes were not harmful or offensive."

The ad was created by Fallon, in collaboration with Ghanaian creatives, to celebrate the fact that Dairy Milk now only uses Fair Trade chocolate.

At the time the ad was released, Cadbury's marketing director, Phil Rumbol, said: "Music has always been a big part of Glass and a Half Full Productions and we were inspired by Ghana’s love of music so it seemed the perfect way to capture the spirit of the country was through a track.

http://www.brandrepublic.com/Discipline/Media/News/966122/Cadbury-Dairy-Milk-ad-cleared-racism/

Me, personally, I didn't think it was racist at all; but there are always people out there who see something out of nothing which is why it is important for businesses to be extra careful when it comes to advertising abroad or advertising about something abroad. This Cadbury's advert is a prime example.

This advert below on the other hand had doen really well incorporating culture with Hotels.



Obviously, with the stereotypes of Japanese and European; they had shown each of the dancers in a way in which they looked gifted. Just as the ballerina's foot goes down the word 'Precision' was said. This automatically shows the viewer the in-depth talent and precision these dancers have. It is as if these countries have all these features within them (making them seem unique and special) which in a way would compliment anyone from those countries.

Perception - The Experiments

The aim of the assignment was to show the different ways in which human perceptions dominate their feelings towards products in everyday life. This incldued their general expectations for a product with the use of colour, movement, sound, smell and touch.

Perception is the process where people’s stimuli are selected, organised and interpreted. People process data; where perception focuses on what people add to or take away from their sensations of data. Their perceptions are organised and then interpreted from which a meaning is assigned for the product. Prentice-Hall (2002) (Page 56)



The TEST:

A perceptual test was carried out using two different brands and leagues of water. At the lower end of the scale, Sainsbury’s basics water was used and at the higher end was Evian water.

The panel of testers included 4 girls and 4 boys who each had to try the basics water in a cup followed by the Evian water. After, they took a guess at which cup of water they thought was the Evian and which was the basics as well as which cup they preferred.

Before the test took place each testee was told about the two different kinds of water. Some of the testees were given two of the same type of water instead of one of each. This was to show how the subconscious mind can make people believe create opinions.

After the test was completed the results mainly shown that most people could not tell the difference between the two brands. Some of the testers even favoured one cup oppose to another when both were the same brand.

The RESULTS:

Almost all of the testers made a guess on which water they preferred. Results concluded to 5 out of 8 preferring the what they thought was Evian water and 3 out of 8 had chosen the basics water; they were biased to the cup that they thought was filled with the Evian water, even if their guess was wrong. Three out of four of the males had made a guess as they could not tell the difference between the two. Similarly, 2 out of 4 of the girls had done the same and guessed which cup of water they preferred.

When it came to the guessing which of the cups was which water, only 3 and a half (one of the testees had both Sainsbury’s basics water) people had guessed each cup properly. If the same testees had been tested between tap water and Evian water, the results would have varied as most would have known which water was the tap and which was the bottled. Bottled water altogether goes through a large cleaning process which makes it all taste the same.

The Goods and Bads of the Experiemnt:

*Table water tastes virtually the same everywhere. This made it hard before the test had started. The testees struggled with deciding which of the cups of water they thought was the basics and which they thought was the Evian.

*Some of the testees would have probably eaten some type of strong food before the experiment which would have changed their opinion on which cup they preferred. This could have made them think that the second cup of water tasted better as the first washed down and cleared their throats.

*Serving the water out of plastic cups made it a fair test as if they were served out of their original bottles, this would have made the test biased. When it came to their opinions on which cup of water they preferred; the testees were biased to the cup they thought was the Evian, upper class cup. Looking at the packages of the two bottles of water would have changed the testees’ views on which water they were going to prefer.



The Evian bottle is shaped with carvings of mountains on them and the colours on the brand tag include red, pink, white and shades of blue. Contrastingly, the Sainsbury’s basics water has standard bottle shape, with the brand tag simply in white and orange. From looking at the bottles on the side of the table; the testees were automatically biased to which water was considered the better class of water and which was the standard cheap water. On the tag of the Sainsbury’s Basics water, it says ‘Still Table Water no fancy packaging, clearly water’. This too, evidently shows how simple and standard the water is. this clearly shows how much of a difference packaging makes to their potential customers. It can image a product completely in the wrong way or exactly how they planned it. The moment the product is viewed, they are judged straight away without a concious so it is vital that businesses package and name their products in order to attract the correct market for them.

Generational Marketing (Basics + Generation Y)

The marketing method to a specific generations of people affects the way that businesses promoted and sell their products and services. Every generational group has their own specific characteristics which help businesses characterize people by qualities such as they way they act, speak, their beliefs etc. to help market to their target market and catch all the right people.

Some of the Groups include:
*Millenials or Generation 2001ers - born after 1980
*Baby Busters or Generation Xers - born between 1965 and 1980
*Baby Boomers - born between 1946 and 1964
*Mature Citizens - born between 1909 and 1945

Below is a typical picture board that would appeal to myself as a part of my generation:



Typical things on this board include the introduction to Britney Spears and her sweet & innocent years. This is something everyone in my generation (Y) would remember. Jordan (Katie Price) too has been important as many girls look up to her as a role model. Zac Efron which is a teenage sensation currently who started off from High School Musical is included due to his high popularity. TV shows such as SKINS was very controversial and turned heads due to its extreme views on teenagers in the UK. It proved a success with its first and second season, however it's third has fallen in popularity slightly. Nowadays, fashion (VOGUE) is really important to this generation as more and more people starting from younger ages are caring about their appearance now. Lady Gaga is currently the more influential person out there as she broke out of the box and stood out due to her outrageous outfits not only on the red carpet but also in her everyday life. She is one of those people that will shape this generation. McDonald s of course is highly popular with my generation as well as obesity becoming an everyday common accepted disease as we can see from the boy in the picture. Brands such as TOPSHOP is highly successful this generation for all ages but mainly for teenagers up to about the 40s age range.

Teenagers
According to the Cambridge online dictionary, a teenager is a person from the ages of 13 to 19.

They are seen to be the most materialistic out of all the generations. Copying each other and competing to have the best toys, clothes and shoes is an everyday event. Image is very important to this age group as they are trying to fit in and impress everyone else.

The Life Cycle:
Childhood
Early Maturity
Middle Age
Late Maturity

(Admap 1997)

Generation Y



This is a label for people born during the 1980s and early 1990s. People in Generation Y are usually referred to as “echo boomers” because they are the children of parents born during the baby boom (“baby boomers”). The children born during this period have had constant access to technology such as computers and cell phones during their youth has caused employers to update their job spcifications and requirements and strategies in hiring in order to include technology into it. They are basically anyone who has been born in this millennium and is sometimes called millenials.

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/Generation-Y.html

This generation is said to be as large as 78 million people in the UK alone. Gen Y can be split into three age groups:
*Young Adults
*Teens
*Tweens

This generation is very based around the computer and internet. Nowadays, businesses have grasped on to this and decided to market their products heavily on the internet. Apart from the obvious pop up adverts, or side bars, social networking sites have become the massive rage. Websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Bebo and Myspace is where companies go online and create fan pages, pay ordinary people to mention their brand in their status, or start up new products. Myspace has become most popular for their music and discovering new talent. Twitter has become widely used with celebrities and bloggers, where as Facebook has very popular with groups on celebrities and products, whether its good or bad. The main objective for these busiensses and people is just to create some sort of talk about themselves. Some Facebook groups are even made by the company themselves. An example of this is the one about bringing the chocolate bar, 'Wispa' back. It works and it is the easiest way to reach this generation.



This advert is aimed the Generation Y as firstly it shows teenagers as the main characters. A common issue is facial acne at this age and also the fact that teenagers are usually self concious. The advert, smartly targets that and has a hidden message that using Clearasil will help to overcome the feeling of being self-concious and become confident and cool. The humour sense of the ad, too attracts the viewer as humour is something they relate to.



This is my most favourite advert out at the moment and is targeted at both males and females of the Generation Y. Apart from the fact that Adidas is a young brand, the sneaky peaks of very famous celebrities who are in the interest of all fellow generation Ys are all featured. David Beckham is probably the biggest one, followed by Snoop Dogg, Whitney Port, N Dubz, Oasis and many more recognisable faces. Also, from listening to friends talk; a lot of them have mentioned this advert saying how much they love it and thought it was really cool.



This Dior Perfume ad is targeted at the younger generation oppose to adults. Even though, Christian Dior is usually aimed at the wealthy, and most of their perfume range is aimed at older people, the particular Miss Dior Cherie range of perfume is usually bought by the late teens or young adults (myself for one). This specific advert for it shows a very famous high fashion model who most girls would not remember by name but she has a very familiar face as she is seen in many print ads as well as fashion catwalk shows. The print in the bottom of the page, 'Luxury of Freedom' is giving a sense of a teenager who cant quite be free but would like to experience it. Although the model is well above her teens, she is dressed to look pure and innocent, wearing a light creamy pink colour to show sweetness and nativity. The fact her shoes are off show freedom and a sense of rebelliousness which is what teenagers tend to do. Someone living in a house as big as her (in the background) would not usually walk around barefoot, however she seems to be so free, she doesn't care. This is something a lot of teenagers would look up to. They would love to have a lot of money, a big house, nice car, be tall, beautiful yet still not let this overpower them and control them and still be free.

Marketing to the Over 50s

The Over 50s usually include the retired, pensioners or people who have small part time hobby jobs; all of which tend to not have their children reliant on them any more as they have left home.

From this pie chart below, the number of people aged 65 and over is very little in comparison to the amount of people from the ages of 20-64. This is in 1901 which could be the reason why there were so many people of the younger generation. At that time families used to have five or six children.



This chart now shows a large change in all groups as it is 1951. The over 65+ have increased, with the 20-64s taking up most of the chart and with the least is the under 20s. This is around the time my parents were young and I remember him saying how little money they had. The reasoning to why the there were so little people under 20 could relate to the fact that people had became smarter and realised that too many children is a struggle when you don't have a lot of money.




In 2011, the group 20-64s have still dominated more than half of the population however the biggest change is with the 64+ who have increased significantly.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4045261.stm

During one of our Lectures we were put into groups and given a sheet with different groups of colour on them. One, being for children, one for 20s to 40s and then one for 50s+. The colours on the 50s+ page had a lot of creams and lilacs and lavender colours. This is the stereotype people associated the older generation with. Our task was to name a wall painting business and the colours on the page in which would attract our target market. Obviously names for the paint colours included ones such as 'lovely lavender'. Christmas cards and general card aimed at 50+ usually have some sort of lavender on it and perhaps a bouquet of flowers in a glass vase. They tend to be very simple.

The information below was found off a man called Andy Ownen's article to marketing to over 50s http://www.andyowen.co.uk/art5.html

He mentions that in the 30 years after this millennium, the over 50s sector will see an astonishing growth of 50% as well as almost half the population in the year 2030 being over 50 which includes 26% of the whole UK population over pension age.



He also found that the 'third-agers' can be divided into five lifestly groups (from a TGI sruvey):

*Thrifty Traditionals - this includes 17% of the age group. They tend to be not well off and have a very strict budget for every penny. They tend to watch a lot of TV and read tabloids.

*Outgoing Fun Lovers - They contribute to another 20%. They are magazine oriented, enjoy travelling, eating out, entertaining and tend to be above the average TV viewers.

*Astute Cosmopolitans - They add up to 18% of this age group. They tend to have the most money, like to read newspapers and specialist & lifestyle magazines. They also go abroad for holidays and don't tend to watch that much television.

*Apathetic Spenders - they consist of 22% more of the group. They take on debt through credit cards and usually do not take part in foreign holidays.

*Temperate Xenophobes - These make up the remainder of the sector. They love the Radio Times and most particularly do not like foreign food or travelling abroad and are heavy TV users.

This sector is said to be the most Currently, the over 50's sector is the most prosperous out of all the other marketing groups as 36% of all over 50s have an excess income of 20,000 pounds. The Henley Centre have estimated that 80% of the country's wealth is from the 50+ group.



This advert is aimed at the over 50s market. Firstly by the fact that everyone actually in the clip is over 50. The attire include the typical over 50s clothes with pastel colours and pearl earrings. When the transformation takes place, that nanny is wearing a silver glittery dress which looks almost 60s/70s based style. How the advert shows the nannies knitting the Shreddies is a hilarious stereotype of how everyone's grandmas knits! The older generation also like humour which is light-hearted and not rude which is exactly what this advert reflects. The backgroud music is also nostalgic to them as it reminds them of their younger days. It is clear to see this certain group of over 50s is in the category of 'Carefree' as they tend to act young and flirtatious. They seem to enjoy themselves and reverted back to teenagers. Even the man at the end in the red car is behaving like a forward, hormone raging teenage boy.

Social Class

Social class is the division of society made up of people possessing certain common social characteristics (lecture slideshow)

The groups include:
UPPER
UPPER MIDDLE
MIDDLE MIDDLE
LOWER MIDDLE
WORKING CLASS
UPPER LOWER CLASS
POVERTY CLASS

Most people think that class is all to do with the amount of money someone has in the bank. That is not true. It is said that class is dictated by money, education (qualifications), occupation and family background. Someone can be born into a specific class and change into a different class when they have grown up later in life. Someone originally born in a working class family with a Northern Accent who recently became a millionaire is not automatically upper class. This is because he/she would still speak like a working class citizen, dress like one and act like one. Similarly, someone who is born upper class and later on in life fails miserably in a job and declares bankrupt is not automatically categorised as working class because he/she would still speak the Queen's English, eat the same, and act the same.



This video was shown during the lecture which generalises the stereotypes and descriptions of each class.

Mintel also shows the socio economic groups
A (Upper Middle)
B (Middle Class)
C1 (Lower Middle)
C2 (Skilled Working)
D (Working Class)
E (Lower Class)

This next video shows the stereotypical family of each class. Working class families tend to have a lot more children than upper and middle. Middle class families have 1-2, and upper class families have 2-3.





During the Lecture, 3 boards were also made by sticking images out of newspapers and magazines which related to each class. The board for working/lower class consisted of cheap cars, cheap supermarkets, discount phones, the Labour party candidate Gordon Brown, Football and teen pregnancies. These all were seen to relate to the working class as they tend to be interested in these things. Football is there main sport and along with it on the board came an article on a father dying during a match as an opposing fan had thrown a bin on him. This too relates to this class as there is usually more violence and swearing. Cheaper phones and cars come into the equation as this is what they can afford.



The middle class however, are in between. They like luxuries, but they also like there discounts. They also tend to copy the upper class a bit by trying to seem a bit more well off. A lot of middle class families can now afford to send their children to private schools if the state school in their catchment area is struggling. They also tend to buy nice cars but balance it out with modest food and holidays.



Upper class includes luxury cars, big houses and a favourite sport of Rugby, Tennis and golf. This is a contrast to the working class who are favourable to football. There children almost all go to private schools in which some board and their holidays are usually extravagant.