Week 2 Assignment

Read

· Romaniuk, J. (2012). Five Steps to Smarter Targeting. Journal of Advertising Research, 52(3), 288-290. doi:10.2501/JAR-52-3-288-290. (HERE)

· Yankelovich MindBase Segments (scroll about half way down the page). http://thefuturescompany.com/what-we-do/mindbase/ 

· Strategic Business Insights. (n.d.). US Framework and VALS tm types. Retrieved from http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/ustypes.shtml.

· Barry, J., & Weinstein, A. (2009). Business psychographics revisited: From segmentation theory to successful marketing practice. Journal of Marketing Management, 25(3/4), 315-340. (HERE)

· Badger, E. (2013, January 28). The wildly different age demographics of U.S. cities. Retrieved from http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/01/wildly-different-age-demographics-us-cities/4512/.

· Clow, K. E., & Baack, D. (2005). DEMOGRAPHICS. Concise Encyclopedia of Advertising, 59. (HERE)

· Porta, M. (2010, June 22). How to define your target market. INC. online. Retrieved from http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/06/defining-your-target-market.html.

· http://www.claritas.com/MyBestSegments/Default.jsp.

Target Markets and Demographics

As you learned in Introduction to Marketing, a product cannot be all things to all people.

There are certain people that like fishing and others that prefer to spend time at the beach.

· Do these people use the same products? Generally, no.

· A family that spends time at the beach will buy swimsuits, sunscreen, water toys, flippers, and masks. The family that takes fishing vacations might shop for waders, poles, long underwear, tackle and bait.

· Will the beach family open a catalog for tackle and bait or shop at a place like Bass Pro?

· A hunting or fishing business would be wasting money sending a catalog to the beach family as it will probably end up in the trash. 

Same goes for advertising--the fishing family will probably skip over the advertisement for a beach umbrella. For most companies, advertising dollars are scarce, so it is important to get the message out to the right people.

Businesses need to target their audiences so that the right consumers receive the right message. 

As Mandy Porta explained in her article, 

· Targeting a specific market does not mean that you have to exclude people that do not fit your criteria from buying from you. Rather, target marketing allows you to focus your marketing dollars and brand message on a specific market that is more likely to buy from you than other markets (2012, para. G). 

According to Porta and other marketing professionals, you can determine your target market by analyzing your customers, examining the competitors, and reviewing the features of your product or service.

· Review the article "How to Define Your Target Market" for questions to ask when determining a target market.

Companies determine their target market by using several different forms of characteristics including behaviorgraphic, psychographic, geodemographic, and demographic. For this lecture, we will focus on demographic targeting.

The most common ways to group demographics are by age, gender, education, family status, income, ethnicity, or race. According to Clow and Baack (2005), the reason for using demographics for market segments is the belief that people with similar characteristics have similar needs. For example, one of the main demographic features that marketers use to determine the communication about a product or service is age. 

· Check out this link for some interesting facts about different age demographics of some U.S. cities. http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/01/wildly-different-age-demographics-us-cities/4512/

Some of the common groupings include children (Preschool, Elementary. Tweens (usually between 8 and 12), and teenagers), Young Adults (Generation X or Gen X usually born between 1965 and 1981 and Generation Y and Millenials born between 1982 and 1996), Middle-aged (35-54), and Mature (over 55). Some additional divisions include The Greatest Generation (born 1901-1924), The Silent Generation (born 1924-1945), and Baby Boomers (born 1945-1965). 

Determining the target market is important to your business to ensure that your marketing and advertising dollars are spent correctly. Using demographics is one way to define your target market.

Psychographics look at more personal characteristics of people. Those will be discussed in the second lecture.

References

Clow, K. E., & Baack, D. (2005). DEMOGRAPHICS. Concise Encyclopedia of Advertising, 59.

Porta, M. (2010, June 22). How to define your target market. INC. online. Retrieved from 

http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/06/defining-your-target-market.html 

Badger, E. (2013, January 28). The wildly different age demographics of U.S. cities. Retrieved from http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/01/wildly-different-age-demographics-us-cities/4512/