Market Segmentation

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Market Segmentation This document prepared and presented by Business Resource Software, Inc.

Market Segmentation The purpose for segmenting a market is to allow your marketing/sales program to focus on the subset of prospects that are "most likely" to purchase your offering. If done properly this will help to insure the highest return for your marketing/sales expenditures. Depending on whether you are selling your offering to individual consumers or a business, there are definite differences in what you will consider when defining market segments.

Category of Need The first thing you can establish is a category of need that your offering

Climate

Examples of offerings might be dehumidifiers in areas near the ocean or snow plows in northern areas. Time related factors

Some services in this category are vacation related industries in summer and tax planners in the spring. Language

An example of a language specific service is a Spanish TV channel. Status in the industry

You might want to target businesses that are the technology leader or revenue leader or employee satisfaction leader, etc. Accessibility

To minimize promotion and sales expense you may want to target urban rather than rural or local rather than national prospects. Future potential

A good example is how Apple Computer supplied products to schools at all levels to condition students graduating into the marketplace. Ability to make a quick purchase decision

Targeting individual purchasers versus business committees can significantly reduce marketing expense and increase the probability of a quick close. Access (or lack of access) to competitive offerings

Cable TV business's significant investment in their service delivery system has allowed a