Market Segmentation

Market Segmentation: How to do it, how to profit from it is the only book that spells out a totally dispassionate, systematic process fro arriving at genuine, needs-based segments that can enable organizations to escape from the dreary, miserable, downward pricing spiral which results from getting market segmentation wrong.

Nothing in business works unless markets are correctly defined, mapped, quantified and segmented. Why else have hundreds of billions of dollars been wasted on excellent initiatives such as TQM, BPR, Balanced Scorecards, Six Sigma, Knowledge Management, Innovation, Relationship Marketing and, latterly, CRM? The answer, of course, is because of a lack of a structured approach to market segmentation.

Market Segmentation: How to do it, how to profit from it provides a structured, no-nonsense approach to getting market segmentation right. It is an essential text for professionals and students based on a wealth of practical experience and packed with examples and easily used checklists.

1. The state of marketing
• Summary
• Achievements
• Practitioners
• Consultants
• Academics
• Recapturing the high ground
• Review
• References
2. The central role of market segmentation in profitable growth
• Summary
• From tactics to strategy
• Define markets and segments, and understand value
• Determining the value proposition
• Integrated marketing communications
• Delivering the value proposition
• Monitor value
• Marketing's role in value creation
• Review
• References
3. Preparing for segmentation — avoiding the big mistakes
• Summary
• Defintion of market segmentation
• International market segmentation
• Objective of this book
• Segmentation archetypes in companies
• Company archetypes
• Case study conclusion
• Classifying market segmentation in organizations
• Classification conclusion
• Effective market segmentation
• The 'postmodern' customer
• Segmentation team
• Data for segmentation
• Rules for segmentation
• The advantages of segmentation
• Segmentation process summary
• Developing segments
• Prioritizing and selecting segments
• Marketing objectives and strategy
• Segmentation case histories
• Case history conclusion
• Review
• References
• Exercises
4. Determining the scope of a segmentation project
• Summary
• Fast track
• Geographic scope
• Defining markets
• Developing the market definition
• Whose needs are being defined?
• Ensuring the definition is meaningful to your company
• Markets and SBUs
• Sizing the defined market
• Process check
• Case study — Agrofertilizer Supplies
• Further examples
• References
• Exercises
5. Portraying how a market works and identifying decision-makers
• Summary
• Fast track
• Constructing your market map
• Getting started
• Initial quantification of the market map
• Adding junction types
• Market maps in the tabular form
• Market leverage points
• 'Shared' decision-making
• 'Cumulative' decision-making
• Selecting the junction to be segmented
• To include or exclude non-leverage groups
• Testing current views about segments: preliminary segments
• Sizing preliminary segments
• Process check
• Case study
• Further examples
• Exercises
6. Developing a representative sample of different decision-makers
• Summary
• Fast track
• The Components of a 'micro-segment'
• Key Discrimanting Features (KDFs)
• KDF guidelines
• What, where, when and how
• Price
• Profiling and ensuring it is practical
• Profiling — standard categories
• Profiling — additional categories
• Profiling — keeping it practical
• Developing micro-segments
• Getting micro-segments up and running
• Managing micro-segments — keeping control
• Process check
• Case study
• Further examples
• A selection of standard approaches to profiling businesses
• A selection of standard approaches to profiling individuals
• Exercises
7. Accounting for the behaviour of decision-makers
• Summary
• Fast track
• Explaining customer behaviour
• From 'features' to 'benefits'
• Standard, company and differential benefits
• Looking beyond the status quo
• Price
• Micro-segments and their Decisive Buying Criteria (DBCs)
• Defining micro-segments by their needs
• Expressing the relative importance of DBCs numerically
• Techniques for uncovering unsatisfied needs
• Addendum for those intending to test the validity of a current SBU structure
• Process check
• Case study
• Further examples
• References
• Exercises
8. Forming market segments out of like-minded decision-makers
• Summary
• Fast track
• The components of a market segment
• Size of market segments
• Number of market segments
• Building micro-segments into market segments — clustering
• Visual clustering (pattern analysis)
• Mathematical clustering
• Isolating the most important DBCs
• Acceptable differences
• What if…
• Computer-assisted clustering
• Segment checklist
• Profiling revisited
• Checklist questions
• Process check
• Case study
• Case study conclusion
• Further examples
• References
• Exercises
9. Determining the attractiveness of market segments
• Summary
• Fast track
• Portfolio analysis
• The Boston Matrix
• General Electric/McKinsey Matrix
• Segment attractiveness
• Time horizon
• Segmentation team
• Defining segment attractiveness factors
• Weigthing segment attractiveness factors
• Defining the parameters for each segment attractiveness factor
• Scoring the segments
• Plotting the position of segments on the portfolio matrix
• When the final result is not what you expected
• Process check
• Examples
• References
• Exercises
10. Assessing company competitivness and the portfolio matrix
• Summary
• Fast track
• Company competitiveness
• Time horizon
• Competiveness factors
• Weigthing the factors
• Defining the parameters for competiveness
• Scoring your company and your competitors
• Producing the protfolio matrix
• The DPM
• Process check
• References
• Exercises
11. Realizing the full potential of market mapping
• Summary
• Enhancing the information on your market map
• Market mapping reviewed
• Looking to the future
• Further quantification of the market map
• Extending the detail to junction types
• Adding market leverage to junction types
• Detailed market maps in the tabular form
• Review
• Examples
12. Predicting market transformation
• Summary
• Multi-channel strategy formulation
• Future market mapping: analysing industry structure
• New channels
• Reconfiguring the market map
• Towards a future market map in financial services
• Multi-channel integration: channel chains
• Channel choice: the channel value curve
• The prioritization matrix: defining channel strategy
• Determining channel tactics
• Review
• References
• Exercises
13. Setting marketing objectives and strategies for identified segments
• Summary
• Marketing objectives: what they are and how they relate to corporate objectives
• So what is a corporate objective and what is a marketing objective?
• How to set marketing objectives
• Competitive strategies
• Where to start — gap analysis
• New product development
• Marketing strategies
• Marketing objectives, strategies and profitability — valuing key market segments
• Background/facts
• Suggested approach
• Review
• References
• Exercises
14. Organizational issues in market segmentation
• Summary
• Segmentation as a company execise
• Support from the chief executive and top management
• Size and diversity
• Planning for the segmentation process
• Line management support
• Integrating the segmentation process into a marketing planning system and into a total corporate planning system
• Cross-functional involvement
• Successful implementation of segmented marketing
• Strategic integration through the mission statement
• Managerial integration
• Tactical integration
• The human face in segmentation
• Review
• References
15. Using segmentation to improve performance — a case study
• Summary
• GlobalTech
• Background
• The segmentation project
• Strategy development and implementation

At long last, a useful book about practical marketing that can be used! If you're into the subject (and you should be!), you are hard-pressed to put it away. Excellent writing, intelligent examples and practical tips. What more can you ask for?

After reading this, you may make sense of the following:

To achieve our CSFs, we have to define a USP that fulfills the DBC and is based on the KDF of our products, as mapped on the DPM.

Strongly recommeded to anyone that has any relationship to marketing at all (which are most of us).