New Year’s resolution for marketers

Want to be a better marketer in 2017?   Here is the one key thing to do: Choose one customer segment to focus your marketing efforts on. The problem that I usually come across, when advising companies, is that they do not have a suitable target customer.   Often, they try to sell to everyone. … Continue reading New Year’s resolution for marketers

Consumer segments vs. tribes, and what it means for marketing strategy

In recent (or not so recent years) we have seen the rise of individualism, and the loss of traditional forms of social coherence such as family values, or geographical location. In its place, we have seen the emergence of alternative social arrangements and sub-cultures.   For marketers, this social change has led to the popularisation … Continue reading Consumer segments vs. tribes, and what it means for marketing strategy

Challenges of using social media in target marketing

I wrote before about the findings from research conducted by myself, Moira Clark and Paul Fennemore on how social media enables organisations to obtain very detailed insight about markets and target customers, and to deliver tailored propositions. However, at the moment, there are still a number of challenges preventing organisations from achieving the potential value … Continue reading Challenges of using social media in target marketing

Benefits of using social media in target marketing

The practice of profiling the different needs and preferences of customers in a market, in order to decide which groups to focus on and how best to serve them, is a well established one in marketing. The process may be broadly divided in three steps, namely: Moira Clark, Paul Fennemore and myself set out to … Continue reading Benefits of using social media in target marketing

The state of segmentation and customer engagement research

What does digital mean for the development of target market strategy, segmentation and customer engagement? That’s what several academics discussed today at a workshop combining the interest of two of the Academy of Marketing’s Special Interest Groups (SIGs): the Market Segmentation and Target Market Strategy SIG and the newly formed SIG in Customer Relationship Management … Continue reading The state of segmentation and customer engagement research