Identifying Target Customers

Vocabulary flashcards covering customer segmentation, strategic and tactical targeting, positioning, and marketing approaches from Chapter 4.

Segmentation

The process of dividing the market into groups of customers based on characteristics.

Market Segment

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

Targeting

The process of identifying the market segments that a company wants to pursue.

Positioning

The process of creating a clear, distinctive idea of what the company represents in the consumer's mind relative to the competition.

Geographic Segmentation

A segmentation method based on location criteria, such as continents (North America, Asia, Europe, Africa) or U.S. regions (Pacific, mountain, central, south, mid-Atlantic, northeast).

Demographic Segmentation

A segmentation method based on quantifiable population characteristics, specifically age, gender, and income.

Psychographic Segmentation

A segmentation method based on consumer psychological attributes, specifically lifestyle, self-concept, and self-values.

Benefits Segmentation

A segmentation method based on the specific advantages consumers seek, such as convenience, economy, and prestige.

Behavioral Segmentation

A segmentation method based on customer actions and usage patterns, specifically occasion and loyalty.

One-for-All Strategy

A marketing approach where a company creates a single offering for all customers, which is often ineffective because an 'average' customer might not exist and competitors customize offerings for specific segments.

One-for-Each Strategy

A marketing approach where a company creates customized offerings for each customer, which is often ineffective because companies lack resources to create value for every customer and not all customers create value for the company.

Strategic Targeting

A component of targeting that identifies customer need(s) the company aims to fulfill with its offering, involving tradeoffs by choosing to target some customers while ignoring others.

Tactical Targeting

A component of targeting that identifies effective and cost-efficient ways to communicate and deliver an offering to strategically viable customers.

Target Compatibility

A strategic targeting criterion defined as the company's ability to create superior customer value.

Target Attractiveness

A strategic targeting criterion defined as the ability of a given segment to create superior value for the company.

Customer Persona

A fictional representation of the prototypical target customer based on needs, demographics, and behavior, which helps managers view target customers as real people.

Profile-only Targeting

A targeting approach that is problematic because customer segments with similar demographic or geographic profiles can have different needs and vary in their ability to create value for the company.

Mass Marketing

A 'one size fits all' marketing strategy that does not recognize the diversity of customer needs.

One-to-One Marketing

A customized marketing approach enabled by the internet to efficiently tailor offerings to individual customers.