Segmentation, Focusing on, & Positioning (STP Advertising and marketing): The Marketer’s Information

As a content material strategist, I prefer to ask my purchasers a whole lot of questions, beginning with, “Who’s your target market?”

However have you learnt what reply I all the time dread listening to? “Everybody”

Whereas it’s good to imagine that everybody could be fascinated with buying your services or products, this definition (or lack thereof) creates far more be just right for you and in addition does a disservice to your precise goal market. That is the place segmentation, focusing on, and positioning come into play.

We developed this information that can assist you perceive how and why you need to make investments time into STP for higher, simpler advertising and marketing. Let’s dive in.

At its core, STP advertising and marketing lets you higher goal your advertising and marketing messages and higher serve your buyer base.

This is an instance: I as soon as created a advertising and marketing technique for a health attire model. Somewhat than enchantment to all health lovers throughout the board, the model wished to focus on a selected section inside their goal market: feminine yoga followers of their 30s and 40s. 

Finally, our advertising and marketing marketing campaign was way more environment friendly and cost-effective since we knew our viewers, the place to achieve them, and what messages would resonate.

Conducting an STP Advertising and marketing Evaluation

STP permits you to take a big, nameless viewers and outline how your totally different merchandise (or totally different parts of the identical product) relate to particular client segments inside that bigger viewers — thus understanding learn how to place your product(s) and messaging to seize the eye of every section.

Let’s unpack every a part of the segmentation-targeting-positioning mannequin.

1. Segmentation

Segmentation refers back to the strategy of dividing your viewers into smaller teams primarily based on sure traits. This course of permits you to group your particular person viewers members into related teams so you’ll be able to higher talk your merchandise, options, and advantages that could be most related to them.

You’ll be able to section your viewers primarily based on a number of of those standards:

• Demographics, which generally reply the query of who your purchaser is (e.g. age, gender, training, location, and occupation)
• Psychographics, which reply the query of why your purchaser buys (e.g. priorities, character traits, and beliefs and values)
• Life-style traits, resembling hobbies, leisure preferences, and non-work actions
• Conduct, resembling model loyalty, channel preferences, and different procuring habits

Segmentation could sound a little acquainted to a different course of we frequently talk about right here on the HubSpot weblog — creating purchaser personas.

Whereas the 2 are very related,  purchaser personas assist you to create a handful of buyer profiles that symbolize your broader viewers. Segmentation permits you to cut up your viewers into numerous teams, every of which you’ll uniquely goal.

For instance, let’s say Paws & Tails is a Chicago pet-sitting firm that gives pet-sitting, canine strolling, and boarding providers. Given the huge variety of pet house owners within the metropolis, they should section their viewers into smaller teams to raised perceive learn how to place their providers.

Based mostly on their analysis and present buyer base, they cut up their viewers into three important segments:

• Phase A is made up of high-income pet house owners who work usually and want daytime canine strolling and pet pop-in visits.
• Phase B is made up of middle-class people and households who journey and want in a single day boarding or pet-sitting providers.
• Phase C is made up of older pet house owners and retirees who need assistance caring for his or her pets.

2. Focusing on

Along with your viewers segments in hand, it’s time to maneuver on to the focusing on part. First, nonetheless, you should resolve which segments are price focusing on along with your advertising and marketing. To decipher this, I prefer to ask myself the next questions on every section:

• Is that this section composed of sufficient potential prospects to justify focusing on? Would it not yield sufficient income if the section have been to transform?
• Is it measurably totally different from the opposite segments?
• Is it accessible by all members of Advertising and marketing and Gross sales?
• Is your organization outfitted and capable of serve the section? Are there any bodily, authorized, social, or technological limitations that would forestall that?

Selecting what segments to focus on is a strategic choice. Fortunately, sure strategic planning fashions — the PESTLE evaluation is a private favourite — can assist you higher perceive the viability of every section.

It takes a whole lot of work to efficiently goal a section of your viewers. However from my expertise, whether or not you’ve recognized two segments or ten, don’t really feel the necessity to goal a couple of section without delay. In reality, I’ve discovered that focusing on one by one can assist you higher place your advertising and marketing for every particular section.

Following our instance from earlier than, Paws & Tails conducts analysis to raised perceive its Chicago viewers. Paws & Tails finds that Phase A makes up 60% of its market dimension, Phase B makes up 30%, and Phase C makes up 10%. Furthermore, Phase A has the next common earnings and is keen to pay extra for pet-sitting and strolling providers. Due to this, they select to deal with Phase A.

3. Positioning

At this level, you need to perceive the demographics, psychographics, motivations, and ache factors of the segments you’ve chosen to focus on, which may present a spot to begin relating to positioning your services or products.

First, take a step again and study your services or products by the angle of your chosen section. In case you have been of their footwear, why would you select your product over a competitor’s? What options or advantages are most related to you, primarily based on the motivations and ache factors you’ve recognized?

This info is necessary to defining your model positioning and understanding the way it stacks up subsequent to your rivals. One method to perceive the place you, properly, stand is by constructing a positioning map, which is “the visible plotting of particular manufacturers in opposition to axes, the place every axis represents an attribute that’s recognized to drive model choice.”

The section you select to focus on ought to dictate what two attributes you plot in your positioning map. For instance, let’s say Paws & Tails decides Phase A selects pet-sitting manufacturers primarily based on two attributes: service space and reliability.

By understanding 1) what the goal section deems most necessary for model choice and a couple of) the place its rivals succeed (and fall brief), Paws & Tails is ready to determine an open market alternative and place its advertising and marketing to greatest match the wants and objectives of its viewers.

Utilizing Segmentation, Focusing on, and Positioning in Advertising and marketing

The STP mannequin is a priceless addition to any advertising and marketing technique, no matter your trade, product, or viewers. It prioritizes environment friendly and efficient advertising and marketing and ensures you’re delivering solely essentially the most related, focused messaging throughout the board.

It additionally performs an necessary position in growing different methods, resembling your purchaser personas, buyer lifecycle levels, and core model proposition.

By main with a consumer-centric strategy like STP, you’ll be able to make certain that each inch of your advertising and marketing is related to your viewers — thus, growing the probability that they convert, buy, and change into lifelong prospects.

Examples of Nice Market Segmentation and Positioning

Manufacturers are segmenting, focusing on, and positioning their audiences and advertising and marketing consistently, oftentimes with out us (customers) even noticing. Ever seen a model or product and thought “Huh, that’s good for me” or “Wow, proper place on the proper time”? Yeah … you’ve been topic to the STP mannequin.

Let’s evaluation a number of examples of nice advertising and marketing segmentation and positioning.

1. Panera Bread

With numerous quick informal eating places on the map, it’s arduous to resolve the place to eat while you’re within the temper for a fast meal. For some motive, Panera Bread all the time involves thoughts (at the very least for me).

Panera has efficiently cornered the “health-conscious” and “climate-conscious” section of the quick informal eating trade. Is Panera’s meals so totally different from different quick informal choices? Not solely.

However by branding themselves with the angle that “we imagine that good meals, meals you’ll be able to be ok with, can deliver out the very best in all of us”, Panera stays top-of-mind as a spot to get high-quality meals, quick.

2. AllBirds

Like eating opinions, there are so many shoe manufacturers available on the market. However AllBirds didn’t let that cease it from carving out a brand new area of interest in a busy area stuffed with snug, lively shoe choices.

How did AllBirds place itself to set itself aside from the competitors? By elevating its eco-consciousness and inserting that entrance and heart in its advertising and marketing. Based on the AllBirds web site, the model “crafts with planet-friendly pure supplies, like merino wool and eucalyptus bushes, as a result of they’re our greatest probability for a sustainable future.”

At first look, AllBirds footwear don’t look too terribly totally different from different working or strolling footwear. Nonetheless, its viewers section that cares about sustainability and earth-conscious merchandise is aware of the distinction.

3. Billie

Not can companies merely section their audiences by “males” and “ladies” — the people inside every broad gender group range an excessive amount of, and razor model Billie took notice of this.

In an effort to extinguish the “pink tax,” Billie markets cost-friendly razors and related merchandise. Furthermore, they work to normalize physique hair and different forgotten or shamed components of girls’s our bodies.

By way of this positioning, Billie is ready to set their merchandise aside from rivals and create a powerful, constructive neighborhood round their model.

4. Hinge

The world of on-line courting is a busy, unusual place. From Tinder to FarmersOnly.com, there appears to be a spot for everybody to fulfill, properly, anybody. Hinge got here on the scene solely a handful of years in the past, but it has skyrocketed to the highest of the record of the most well-liked and dependable courting app.

Time and time once more, I’ve heard that Hinge is a favourite as a result of it works — which means it helps folks meet folks and make actual relationships. You wouldn’t assume a courting app would place themselves to finally be pointless, however that’s precisely what Hinge has accomplished. In reality, its mission assertion is to “[build] an app that’s designed to be deleted.”

By placing the wants and wishes of its viewers entrance and heart, Hinge has created a extra reliable, in-demand on-line courting expertise and set itself aside from its rivals.

The Case for Utilizing STP Advertising and marketing

The segmentation-targeting-positioning mannequin is designed that can assist you higher goal your advertising and marketing messages and higher serve your buyer base. It’s a win-win for you and your prospects!

This text was initially printed October 29, 2020 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.