Individual 1 – Segmentation

IBM 3262 Interactive Marketing Cal Poly Pomona LCS

1 of 2

Individual 1 – Segmentation Pre-Work

• Review chapter 3 of your text and your notes from in-class material.

• Read the case study on Virginia Beach Tourism (pp. 126-134).

• Select one of the following tourist destinations for your assignment and research the

destination, what it offers, what is unique about it, and why people enjoy visiting (i.e., why

consumers decide to spend time and dollars within the selected destination).

o Santa Monica: https://www.santamonica.com/

o Santa Ynez Valley: https://www.visitsyv.com/

o Yosemite: https://www.yosemite.com/

Assignment Identify and personalize 2 market segments in the leisure traveler category - B2C, anyone traveling for

pleasure and not business whose main motivation is vacation. The segments will be based on your

selected destination, the information provided by each destination’s official visitor/tourist website, and

other resources including data on why this audience has a high propensity to visit and spend money at

this location (e.g., travel and tourism research, review sites, and more).

Nature of Market Segmentation Remember the criteria for segments, noted on p. 108.

Sources/References/Citations Include data to support your segment selections. Use credible and authoritative sources. Employ the

CRAAP test to find credible material.

Original Work Examples of how Virginia Beach targeted segments are in the text. The examples in the textbook case

study of how they target DO NOT represent examples of segment descriptions; your assignment is to

provide segment descriptions with data to back up your recommendations.

If the segments you create sound too close to someone else’s work (i.e., duplication rather than original

work based on research and critical thinking), your submission will be challenged; you may receive a

score of zero and further action may be taken. Consider examples from Claritas PRIZM® and from our in-

class exercise.

Include the Following in Your Submitted Work • Brief, 1 page or less, introduction summarizing how your recommendations meet market

segmentation criteria: homogeneous, heterogeneous, and substantial in size.

• Two B2C segments you recommend targeting for your selected destination. Detailed

requirements for each segment can be found on the next page.

IBM 3262 Interactive Marketing Cal Poly Pomona LCS

2 of 2

Include within each segment:

• A creatively descriptive name for the segment. Have fun. You can do better than the textbook!

• Description of each segment. Be specific. 2-3 paragraphs are sufficient if you are concise.

Communicate clearly who has the highest propensity to buy. Flex your marketing muscles.

• List the segmentation bases/variables used for the descriptions (e.g., social factor,

psychographic, behavioral, etc.; refer to pp. 109-122).

• At least 1 image per segment depicting people representing the segment.

• The basis - reasoning or rationale - for each segment. Include data to support the basis. Your

segments must align with what each destination offers.

• Work cited or used for research, even if you are not directly citing. Include image sources.

Important: Segmentation bases and the basis (reasoning or rationale) are two different things.

Grading You start with 10 points. 2 points will be automatically deducted for omitting references or for no

introduction summarizing how your recommendations meet market segmentation criteria. Remaining

points will be maintained for clear articulation of segment descriptions and a relevant, referenced basis

for each segment. Any material omissions typically result in 1-3 points deducted per item. Points may be

deducted for a poor segment description (e.g., vague) or incongruence. 1 point will be deducted for

each missing or lazily titled segment name, list of segmentation bases, or image.

Due Date Refer to the Course Schedule in the Syllabus. Submit your assignment through Turnitin via Blackboard.

Late assignments will not be accepted.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------

Data to Support Recommendations What is the basis (different than segmentation bases) of your recommendations? What available data

support the segment as practical and substantial in size? Here is an example using pet owners as the

target audience. Within the overall target audience, you would select/identify specific segments and

supply corresponding details or characteristics of the pet owners in your segment(s).

Segment 1 might include “Nothing is Too Good for My Baby” dog owners.

• Attributes might include demographic, geographic, lifestyle, product consumption, media

consumption, and certainly financial behaviors based on the segment title.

• A starting point for data might include how much U.S. dog owners spend per month/year:

https://www.petfoodindustry.com/articles/7255-survey-examines-us-pet-ownership-

demographics. A better data point would be the high end of the spending spectrum, given the

attributes of the segment.

• A cross reference would include the number of U.S. households that have a dog for a pet:

https://www.iii.org/fact-statistic/facts-statistics-pet-statistics.

• Do some marketing math to figure out the segment viability or how meaningful this group is to a

marketer/brand/organization.