Targeting

Part of STP - Segment-Target-Postion

Targeting is the second stage of the SEGMENT "Target" POSITION (STP) process. After the market has been separated into its segments, the marketer will select a segment or series of segments and 'target' it/them. Resources and effort will be targeted at the segment.

The first is the single segment with a single product. In other word, the marketer targets a single product offering at a single segment in a market with many segments. For example, British Airway's Concorde is a high value product aimed specifically at business people and tourists willing to pay more for speed.

Secondly the marketer could ignore the differences in the segments, and choose to aim a single product at all segments i.e. the whole market. This is typical in 'mass marketing' or where differentiation is less important than cost. An example of this is the approach taken by budget airlines such as Go/

Finally there is a multi-segment approach. Here a marketer will target a variety of different segments with a series of differentiated products. This is typical in the motor industry. Here there are a variety of products such as diesel, four-wheel-drive, sports saloons, and so on

What is Marketing?
Some basic definitions of marketing and the marketing concept
There are many definitions of marketing. The better definitions are focused upon customer orientation and satisfaction of customer needs. Marketing is the social process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others. Kotler. Marketing is the management process that identifies, anticipates and satisfies customer requirements profitably. The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). The CIM definition (in common with Barwell's definition of the marketing concept) looks not only at identifying customer needs, but also satisfying them (short-term) and anticipating them in the future (long-term retention). The right product, in the right place, at the right time, at the right price Adcock. This is a snappy and realistic definition that uses McCarthy's Four Ps. Marketing is essentially about marshalling the resources of an organization so that they meet the changing needs of the customer on whom the organization depends. Palmer.

This is a more recent and very realistic definition that looks at matching capabilities with needs. Marketing is the process whereby society, to supply its consumption needs, evolves distributive systems composed of participants, who, interacting under constraints technical (economic) and ethical (social) - create the transactions or flows which resolve market separations and result in exchange and consumption. Bartles. This definition considers the economic and social aspects of marketing.

The Philosophy Marketing and the Marketing Concept.

The marketing concept is a philosophy. It makes the customer, and the satisfaction of his or her needs, the focal point of all business activities. It is driven by senior managers, passionate about delighting their customers. Marketing is not only much broader than selling, it is not a specialized activity at all It encompasses the entire business. It is the whole business seen from the point of view of the final result, that is, from the customer's point of view. Concern and responsibility for marketing must therefore permeate all areas of the enterprise. Drucker. This customer focused philosophy is known as the 'marketing concept'. The marketing concept is a philosophy, not a system of marketing or an organizational structure. It is founded on the belief that profitable sales and satisfactory returns on investment can only be achieved by identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer needs and desires. Barwell. The achievement of corporate goals through meeting and exceeding customer needs better than the competition. Jobber. Implementation of the marketing concept [in the 1990's] requires attention to three basic elements of the marketing concept. These are: Customer orientation; An organization to implement a customer orientation; Long-range customer and societal welfare. Cohen. Now that you have been introduced to some definitions of marketing and the marketing concept, remember the important elements contained as follows:

Marketing focuses on the satisfaction of customer needs, wants and requirements. The philosophy of marketing needs to be owned by everyone from within the organization. Future needs have to be identified and anticipated.

There is normally a focus upon profitability, especially in the corporate sector. However, as public sector organizations and not-for-profit organizations adopt the concept of marketing, this need not always be the case.

More recent definitions recognize the influence of marketing upon society

Targeting Influences
For targeting audiences, you need to consider the two kinds of environment that influence targeting. These are the internal environment and the external environment. The internal environment is based on the principles that your firm or business is built on, such as the objectives, values, mission and vision. On the other hand, the external environment includes the following sub environments: social, economic, demographic, task, political, cultural, global, natural, technological and legal. The objective is to determine the buyers geographic behavior, psychological behavior, and demographic behavior, and to create a complete customer profile based on what is called the 4 Ps: product, price, place and promotion. Ultimately, knowing who the potential customers for your firm is the main goal. The products that should be offered is also determined, and each is designated to a specific segment that will find these products useful. The next step is proper product positioning. If your firm has already developed a good segmentation and targeting strategy, the next step is to create a positioning strategy. This means finding a good strategy that properly put a brand in front of customers that will respond to it. This gives your firm a positive image and be competitive in the market. Positioning comes in several forms, such as promotion, product, price, advertising, publicity and selling differentiation positioning.

Kinds of Targeting Strategies

A firm looks for potential market segments. Once its determined these segments, it will then proceed on targeting segments with services or products which consumersbelonging to that segment would most likely respond to. In other words, a firm targets the needs of the consumers within each segment. There are several targeting strategiesto achieve this. The following are some of them. Niche or concentration marketing a firm can choose to target one specific niche (a group of customers) with similar interests in the overall market. All of the firms advertising resources is poured into this niche. For example, Jordans, a cereal firm,

targeted a small group of customers that preferred organic products. Niche marketing works best for small businesses that dont necessarily have to target large audiences. The disadvantage of course, is the limited sales growth, and a decline in sales can easily kill that firm. Mass or undifferentiated marketing a firm may sell products or services and target them to the entire market. The premise is that customers have identical or very similar needs. Low costs production can allow a firm to have mass production. The high volume of sales should compensate for the cheap price per unit product. The disadvantage of this type of marketing is that nowadays more people would pay premium prices to have products personalized for their own needs. Differentiated or selective marketing each segment in the market is targeted to supply products that fit the common needs of consumers in each market. Thus, a lot of brands are made for one firm. Consumer satisfaction is likely to go up because consumer needs are met more closely, and consumer loyalty is at a high. Risks are also spread; as one brand declines the rest are not that much affected. The disadvantage is that customers may be confused by the various brands presented them. Its also more expensive to advertises not just one brand but several brands

Finding and Selling your Target Market

While mass advertising became popular, it was only beneficial to firms that had the resource to advertise in a large scale. Businesses realized that in order to be successful they need to do two things: know who their customers are, and second, know who are the customers who will buy their products. As a business, you cant assume that everyone will buy your product. That kind of assumption will only make your business fail, as it leads you to make wrong decisions, prices, and marketing strategies. Firms are successful when they acknowledge only a few are willing to buy their products or services. By doing so, all resources are directed towards knowing those people and finding ways to target them. Thats how to make your business stronger; by identifying your target market. Dont sell products that try to please all. Make very specific goals and decisions for market planning. Furthermore, understand that people buy products because they want to satisfy their needs, want to solve problems, and want to feel good about themselves. Use this information to know what kind of products you want to sell.

Contextual targeting is the practice of aiming your advertising efforts

directly at the audience who is interested in your product. At its core, it is an advanced form of context advertising online or a smart form of context advertising based on the content that is provided within a website. The aim of contextual targeting is to place your advertisements on web pages that deal specifically with your product so that you reach only consumers who are interested in your product or service instead of a wide range of people who may have little interest in what you are selling. A great example of contextual targeting is Google Adwords which works by scanning the content of a webpage and then placing advertisements on the page that are directly related. For example, you may visit a website that is largely about hot dogs, but instead of receiving advertisements about canines, you receive ads about the food item because contextual targeting is smart enough to define the difference in the terms and context of the word dog. Placing your marketing projects in the hands of a group that offers contextual targeting or placing advertisement on your website using contextual targeting is a great way to receive higher profits for your business because you are focused directly on your target audience. Of course, there is some human logic behind contextual targeting and a great deal of that comes from extensive behavioral research. By identifying the way people browse the web it becomes easier to identify what contextual advertising venues are the best for reaching a target audience. There is of course some subjectivity in contextual targeting as there is in any marketing venture, but if a reliable service or consultant agency is used than generally the results of contextual targeting include doubling profits by at least half. With contextual targeting growing in popularity, especially since Google offers the service, it is almost essential to use a part of the concept in all online marketing projects or risk falling behind in the competitive market. From small to large businesses and organizations marketing strategies are getting much more competitive online, so it is important to utilize every tool that is at your disposal for success including contextual targeting. With the right marketing team or a specialized consultant group contextual targeting can be used to cater your advertisement to a target audience instead of waiting for your target audience to find your information, product, or service.

Time On Target
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(Redirected from Time on target)

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Time On Target (TOT) is the military co-ordination of artillery fire by many weapons so that all the munitions arrive at the target at precisely the same time. The military standard[who?] is plus or minus three seconds from the prescribed time of impact. In terms of place, the historical standard was for the impact to occur within one circular error probable (CEP) of the designated target. CEP is the area on and around the target where most of the rounds will impact and therefore cause the maximum damage. The CEP depends on the caliber of the weapon, with larger caliber munitions having greater CEPs or greater damage on the target area. With the advent of "smart" munitions and more accurate firing technology, CEP is now less of a factor in the target area.

[edit]Origins
The theory of TOT was first developed by the US Army shortly before World War II to help improve the effectiveness of artillery firepower, but the levels of communication and co-ordination required to achieve it were not reliably established until after WWII[citation needed] It had been found during the World War I that most of the casualties in an artillery bombardment occur within the first few seconds. During the first few seconds however troops may be in the open and may not be prone. After that enemy troops have gone prone and/or sought cover. This dramatically lessens the casualties from shrapnel or high explosive blast. World War II Allied artillery units were often trained to fire their guns in a precise order, so that all shells would hit a target at the same time, delivering the maximum possible damage.

[edit]Practice
When multiple artillery units are firing it is important to coordinate the TOT so that all units participating have their rounds land in the target area at exactly the same time as late arriving rounds do proportionally far less damage than the initial ones. The TOT calculations thus include distances of participating units and the speed (muzzle velocity) of projectiles involved. A shorter TOT usually means a smaller or less important target, and the deployment of less artillery or aircraft. A longer TOT means that the target is large or extremely important, so preparations for a massive bombardment or air strike will take longer. As field artillery encompassed fire support, TOT also encompassed all delivery systems: close air support, naval gunfire, attack aviation, and direct fire ground systems. Therefore, TOT now

designates the exact time and place where all weapon systems now focus firepower to destroy or neutralize the enemy target

Targeting Strategies
JANUARY 18, 2010 in BE HA VI OU RA L T AR GE TI NG

What are Targeting Strategies?

Targeting strategies are generally used in terms of advertising as ways to maximize sales profits by directing marketing projects directly at the most likely consumer base. There are several differenttargeting strategies but the basic goal of each remains the same, to identify the target market or audience who is most likely going to be interested in buying your product so that you reach the people who will make a purchase. In general, the aim is to spend money reaching only consumers who want your services instead of a wide audience out of which only a few people may be interested in your services or products.

Different Kinds of Targeting Strategies

Along these lines, some of the most popular and frequently used targeting strategies areconsumer marketing strategy, behavioral targeting, contextual targeting, and segment marketing. The common link of most of these targeting strategies is based around identifying the needs of your target audience and tailoring your marketing efforts so that you meet their needs and wants. Of course, in order for any of these strategies to work to their best they also require the proper consumer research to identify who your target audience is.

Offline Targeting Strategy

A popular offline targeting strategy is to create a brand name and style that carries a stigma that your target audience can identify with. For example, back in the nineties when the economy was still healthy Abercrombie and Fitch marketing affluence and exclusivity at middle class society and as a result created a clothing label out of thin air that was the requirement for all teens and college kids. Their success did not happen overnight as they participated in wide consumer research strategies throughout their period of success to provide what they deemed their audience wanted.

Advertise to your Target Audience!

For an online business, targeting strategies include consumer research that focuses on the willingness of their target audience to spend versus the relative need they have for a product. It also focuses on the

consumer behavioral habits of consumers which are roughly defined as browsing habits. Then, the real trick is placing marketing advertisements in an area where the target audience surfs that is directed at the research that defines what will make them bite. While it is a twofold process, the payout is that most browsers will take the chance to look at the product offering and maybe purchase versus a wide scale marketing effort that only succeeds in a few people taking a glance

target value
Definition
Aimed-for output from a process, or result from ameasurement.

target stock level

Definition
The amount of inventory required to meet all demand.

target risk
Definition
The prospective policyholders, divided by race, age, sex and other demographics.

target start date

Definition
The calendar date on which a project or goal is to be initiated. This is an estimated date that can be adjusted as the day approaches to launch the new project or endeavor.Project managers set target start dates to begin a project, but often have to delay and set an "actual start date" when all unforeseen obstacles have been removed. Also called projected start date.

targeting strategy
Definition
The selection of potential customers to whom a businesswishes to sell products or services. The targeting strategy involves segmenting the market, choosing which segmentsof the market are appropriate, and determining the products that will be offered in each segment. A business offering multiple products can determine if the various segments should receive one generic product (such as inmass marketing), or if each segment should receive a customized product (multi-segment), based upon themarket's diversity, maturity, the level of competition and the volume of sales expected. Also called targeting

target price
Definition
An opinion of an analyst or investor about the future priceof a security. Analysts typically offer target price opinionsfor the next 12 months.

target population
Definition
A particular group of people that is identified as the intended recipient of an advertisement, product, orcampaign. Also called target audience.

target market identification

Definition
The process of a marketer in identifying the most profitable areas to offer a new product or service. Target market identification looks at characteristics including disposable income, age, and level of education.