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Other Teaching and Training Material
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2014
Marketing Reading: Segmentation and Targeting
by
Sunil Gupta
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Abstract
This Reading introduces two of the integral parts of any marketing strategy: segmentation and targeting. It covers, first, all of the methods, techniques, and variables with which a business first uncovers the full range of its potential customers and then distinguishes between them. It then takes up how a company judges the potential of each market segment, selects the segments worth pursuing, and designs marketing programs to serve them. The Reading includes two interactive illustrations. Both drive the students to think more carefully about segmentation and targeting. The first, "Segmenting the Dog Food Market," shows how successfully marketing a product consumed by dogs depends on first understanding and segmenting their owners. The second, "Segmenting the Market for Early Pregnancy Test Devices," shows how the most important category for segmentation is not demographic or geographic, but concerned rather with consumer psychology and motivation. The Reading also includes a six-part video mini-case study on how GE Healthcare developed and applied segmentation for its Imaging Systems business.
Keywords: behavioral segmentation;
Conjoint Analysis;
demographic segmentation;
geographic segmentation;
market opportunities;
Market segmentation;
marketing;
marketing strategy;
psychographic segmentation;
unethical marketing practices;
United States;
