In marketing promotion, how should the market be segmented to be effective?

This chapter expands on the previous overview, mainly discussing some principles and methods in the four stages of market segmentation-target market-differentiation-positioning. If you read carefully, you will find many valuable standards and methods.

For example, when you segment the market, have you ever thought about whether this segmented market is effective?

Many people simply segment the market mechanically without considering the effectiveness of this market. The criteria for effective segmentation are mentioned on page 204 of this book: measurable, accessible, large-scale, differentiated, and actionable.

For example, there is an APP called Tangdou Square Dance, which segments the population and specifically targets square dance enthusiasts. This market is measurable and large, and we can see it with our eyes. At the same time, there are still differences. For example, the needs of people who dance national standard dance or street dance are completely different from those who dance square dance, so there are differences.

The square dance market is also accessible. For example, by finding every square dance leader through door-to-door promotion, a large number of square dance people can be effectively influenced. Some entrepreneurs only focus on products and often don’t think about how to approach their own market segments. In the end, they find that promotion is an impossible task.

Speaking of differences, we can give a negative example.

For example, if a car brand wants to segment its products based on people’s height, can tall and short people constitute two market segments? First, if I really develop cars for people over 1.9 meters tall, then the scale of this market segment is not large enough, and it is not cost-effective to build cars specifically for it; second, the product features developed based on market segmentation based on height may not be sufficient to elicit a particularly strong response from target consumers, and then this segmentation is not differentiated. Because consumers are more concerned about the differences in appearance, power, fuel consumption, etc.

In the second part, target market selection, you need to evaluate the market segments you have selected. At this point you need to consider three categories of factors: size and growth potential, structure and attractiveness, and company goals and resources.

An entrepreneur approached me through Xingxing. He made a notebook for business trips, which was very small and used Microsoft’s system. It was called “Book One” and sold for around 5,000 yuan. My first judgment is that this market is not big, and my second judgment is that the growth potential is limited, because it is easy to replace this product with a peripheral such as IPAD, but it does have a market.

So my advice to him is, don't be sentimental, don't expect to build a big company, it's okay to just make money, after all, selling 20,000 units can bring in 100 million in revenue. And even if they grow bigger, if big companies discover this market, they will crush small businesses like theirs as soon as they come in.

It is precisely because the scale of this market segment is not large enough that large manufacturers have not entered this market.

I have a friend who runs a font design company called Zaozi Gongfang. I am their honorary chief brand officer. This market is not big at the moment, but it will be a huge market in the future. Why? Because currently more than 95% of the companies that use their fonts have never paid for the copyright. They are very Buddhist and have been creating characters for the past ten years. They do not rely on lawsuits to increase their income like Visual China. Even so, their income is growing steadily and significantly every year. This is a good market because once a font is created, they can collect royalties for a long time. This kind of business is a friend of time.

As an honorary brand officer and a native of Weifang (Zaozi Workshop's headquarters is in Weifang), I hereby call on all businesses to proactively contact Zaozi Workshop to pay the usage fee when using Zaozi Workshop's fonts.

I used to have a subordinate who was not that smart, but the good thing was that he was dedicated and would do it once he decided on something. He entered a very niche market, helping people install operating systems for computers and mobile phones remotely, doing transactions on Taobao, and also helping them buy cars and houses from scratch in their own cities. But this market segment is not big, it’s just a small business.

When there are already Mobike and Ofo, it is difficult to start a business in the shared bicycle market because there are already strong and aggressive competitors in this market, and the profit margins in this market are not enough, so it is a less attractive market segment. However, it is obviously irrational that so many institutions and entrepreneurs are rushing in.

Of course, you can also argue that Didi and Hello have already been included.

Yes, but most of the other shared bikes are dead. Because this battlefield is destined to be a battle of capital in the end. If you don’t have enough ammunition to fight, that is, if you don’t correctly assess the company’s own resources and capabilities, your choice of market will still be wrong.

JD.com can spend money to run an unprofitable book e-commerce business, but you can’t, and neither can Dangdang. Because JD.com is using its side business to compete with Dangdang's main business, JD.com's books can be used as a traffic-generating product, but Dangdang's cannot. This is a reflection of the company's strategic goals and capabilities.

There is a sentence in Part 3, "Differentiation and Positioning": Marketers must understand customer needs better and deliver more customer value than their competitors. Only companies that can effectively differentiate and position themselves to provide superior customer value to their target markets can achieve competitive advantage.

We recently served a client headquartered in Suzhou, called "Qifensian".

They look like a milk tea shop, but actually their main product is mango drinks such as mango sago. They are the first brand to make mango sago into a freshly mixed cup drink. They currently have more than 200 stores and their turnover is very high.

Please be sure to understand the meaning of differentiation. It is not the brand that brings differentiation, but differentiation that brings the brand.

Mango sago is a new blue ocean that was opened up when everyone was busy making milk tea. Of course, this thing seems to be easy to learn, so a large number of mango sago appeared in the Suzhou market. So how can we further differentiate ourselves from Qifensweet? I can’t tell you at the moment, it’s a trade secret.

By the way, the strategy and visual presentation of Qifentian were done by Suzhou Hezhonghe. There was a misunderstanding on Weibo a few days ago. Some people mistakenly thought that we did it. No, we are currently providing some other services.

The milk tea market can actually be called the market for freshly brewed cup beverages. If you still find it difficult to differentiate yourself, please pay attention to "A Yogurt Cow". They make cup beverages based on yogurt and have more than 1,000 stores.

The sponsor of my public account is Piaohan Yigemao, an expert in community business strategy training, which is also a niche market.

In my previous article, I wrote about my pessimistic view on advertising companies. Today, I will write something positive for you. In fact, as long as advertisers can provide good enough and differentiated value through transformation, they can also do very well.

There is an advertising man named Yu Yihong and his wife is Wang Xiaobai. They find it painful to do advertising because the advertising industry is painful. Then he started a differentiated business, which was to provide storefront design services specifically for catering brands, while Wang Xiaobai focused on menu design.

The doorhead is a huge billboard that attracts customers. How can you make people want to come in when they see the doorhead? This is the secret of door front design, but as an advertiser and designer, do you understand it? Almost most people don’t understand. Most advertisers only know that a clean and white logo should look classy, ​​but such a storefront will not attract customers.

You see, advertisers who do well can only make money by providing differentiated and valuable services. I wonder what those sour readers in the comment section yesterday thought?

There is a reason why some people make money, and it is not just because of good luck.

I hope you can find your market segment and differentiate yourself.

Author: Xiaoma Song

Source: Xiaoma Song (ID: xiaomasong999)