The end of another year already! We wanted to share some of our favourite 2022 blog posts, that we hope will be helpful going into 2023:
The 7 rules of creating market segments
In order to make better use of your marketing dollars, we recommend that you narrow down your market into specific customer groups (anywhere from one to four groups) that will be most profitable and accessible to target.
Our rules for creating customer segments? Glad you asked. Essentially, your segments should be basically different from one another, but members of each segment should be basically the same.
Understanding your target market
When visualizing your target market, consider the following main elements:
Demographics – Age, income, gender, education, family status, income level, occupation, social class, ethnicity.
Psychographics – Lifestyle, personalities, attitudes, opinions, values.
Geographics – Cultural, climate, regional and national differences, population density, population growth rate.
Behaviours – Buying patterns, usage rate, price sensitivity, brand loyalty, benefits wanted.
The 7 rules of customer segmentation
Rule #1 Each segment should be measurable; you should know how many potential customers you have.
Rule #2 Each segment should be large enough to be profitable.
Rule #3 Each segment should be basically different from other segments; they should be unique.
Rule #4 Members of a segment should have common, unsatisfied needs.
Rule #5 Each segment should have strong growth potential.
Rule #6 Each segment should be suited to your company’s goals and capabilities.
Rule #7 Each segment should be accessible through communication and distribution channels; you have to be able to reach them with your message.
How to implement your small business branding and marketing strategy
So you’ve created a branding and marketing plan for your small business that you’re really proud of. Congratulations! However, you’re not done yet – now you have to put those great plans into action.
Once you have a clear strategy for the branding and marketing of your small business, it’s important to put together an implementation plan to make sure everything gets done properly.
Here are the steps we suggest you take to develop a solid marketing implementation plan:
- Set your clear and measurable business objectives (for example: 12 new clients in six months, or $250,000 in sales in 12 months).
- Make sure you segment your market.
- Pick one or two segments and make sure you understand what needs they have.
- Define your product, pricing, promotion and place strategies.
- Create an implementation schedule.
- Create measures of success along the way.
- Create your marketing budgets and decide how much to spend and track those expenses.
- Evaluate your strategy. How did you do? Is there anything you could have done differently?
Do you have any branding and marketing strategy advice for your fellow entrepreneurs? What steps worked for you?