Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning

Marketing Process:

The process of 

- analysing marketing opportunities

- selecting target markets

- developing the marketing mix, and

- managing the marketing efforts are collectively called marketing process.

To succeed in today's competitive marketplace, companies must be customer centered, winning customers from competitors, then keeping and growing them by delivering greater value. Each company must divide up the total market, choose the best segments, and design strategies for profitably serving chosen segments better than its competitors do. This process involves three steps - market segmentation, market targeting, and market positioning.

Figure: Factors influencing company marketing strategy.

Market segmentation: Dividing a market into distinct groups of buyers on the basis of needs, characteristics or behavior who might require separate products or marketing mixes.

Market segment: A group of consumers who respond in a similar way to a given set of marketing efforts.

Market targeting: The process of evaluating each market segment's attractiveness and selecting one or more segments to enter.

Market positioning: Arranging for a product to occupy a clear, distinctive and desirable place relative to competing products in the minds of target consumers.