Customer Value–Driven Marketing Strategy: Creating Value for Target Customers

Customer Value–Driven Marketing Strategy: Creating Value for Target Customers

1. Marketing Strategy

   • Market segmentation involves dividing a market into distinct groups of buyers who have different needs, characteristics, or behaviors and who might require separate marketing strategies or mixes.
   • Market targeting (or targeting) consists of evaluating each market segment’s attractiveness and selecting one or more market segments to enter.
   • Differentiation involves actually differentiating the firm’s market offering to create superior customer value.
   • Positioning consists of arranging for a market offering to occupy a clear, distinctive, and desirable place relative to competing products in the minds of target consumers.

2. Market Segmentation

   • Segmenting Consumer Markets
     • Geographic Segmentation
     • Demographic Segmentation
     • Psychographic Segmentation
     • Behavioral Segmentation
     • Using Multiple Segmentation Bases
     • There is no single way to segment a market. A marketer has to try different segmentation variables, alone and in combination, to find the best way to view market structure.
   • Segmenting Business Markets
     • Consumer and business marketers use many of the same variables to segment their markets. Business buyers can be segmented geographically, demographically (industry, company size), or by benefits sought, user status, usage rate, and loyalty status.
     • Yet business marketers also use some additional variables, such as customer operating characteristics, purchasing approaches, situational factors, and personal characteristics.
   • Segmenting International Markets
     • Few companies have either the resources or the will to operate in all, or even most, of the countries that dot the globe.
     • Companies can segment international markets using one or a combination of several variables. They can segment by geographic location, grouping countries by regions such as Western Europe, the Pacific Rim, South Asia, or Africa.
     • Using intermarket segmentation (also called cross-market segmentation), they form segments of consumers who have similar needs and buying behaviors even though they are located in different countries.
   • Requirements for Effective Segmentation
     • Measurable. The size, purchasing power, and profiles of the segments can be measured.
       • Accessible. The market segments can be effectively reached and served.
         • Substantial. The market segments are large or profitable enough to serve.
           • Differentiable. The segments are conceptually distinguishable and respond differently to different marketing mix elements and programs.
             • Actionable. Effective programs can be designed for attracting and serving the segments.

3. Market Targeting

   • Evaluating Market Segments
     • In evaluating different market segments, a firm must look at three factors: segment size and growth, segment structural attractiveness, and company objectives and resources.
       • Even if a segment has the right size and growth and is structurally attractive, the company must consider its own objectives and resources. Some attractive segments can be dismissed quickly because they do not mesh with the company’s long-run objectives.
   • Selecting Target Market Segments
     • A target market consists of a set of buyers who share common needs or characteristics that a company decides to serve.
       • Undifferentiated Marketing
       • Differentiated Marketing
       • Concentrated Marketing
       • Micromarketing
       • Choosing a Targeting Strategy
       • Socially Responsible Target Marketing

4. Differentiation and Positioning

   • Positioning Maps
     • In planning their differentiation and positioning strategies, marketers often prepare perceptual positioning maps that show consumer perceptions of their brands versus those of competing products on important buying dimensions.
   • Choosing a Differentiation and Positioning Strategy
     • Identifying Possible Value Differences and Competitive Advantages
       • Choosing the Right Competitive Advantages
         • Selecting an Overall Positioning Strategy
           • Developing a Positioning Statement
   • Communicating and Delivering the Chosen Position
     • Once it has chosen a position, the company must take strong steps to deliver and communicate the desired position to its target consumers.
       • Positioning the company calls for concrete action, not just talk. If the company decides to build a position on better quality and service, it must first deliver that position.