Direct Marketing & Customer Segmentation

The use of customer segmentation and data for better targeting, efficiency and ROI is a leading trend in direct marketing today. The more accurate and targeted the database, the higher the response rate. The higher the response rate, the better the marketer's ROI. The key is maintaining list hygiene and identifying market segmentation.

Market segmentation is the segmentation of markets into homogenous groups of customers, each of them reacting differently to promotion, communication, pricing and other variables of the marketing mix. Therefore, every segment can be addressed with an individually targeted marketing mix.

Typically marketing strategists consider the 4P's: Product, Price, Place, Promotion and possibly some additional "Ps" such People, Processes and Product Interest. When preparing your marketing strategy or marketing mix follow these steps:

Market Segmentation
1.) Identify the customer's needs and market segments
2.) Develop profiles of resulting market segments

Identify Target Markets
3.) Evaluate and rank each identified segment
4.) Select the best target segment or segments

Positioning
5.) Identify the different advantages in each segment
6.) Develop and select positioning concepts to attract the identified segments

Marketing Planning
7.) Develop a marketing mix for each segment according to the chosen position (advertising, print, direct mail, interactive, social media, etc.)

Have you considered how best to position your message to address and satisfy customer needs?