Who would have thought that the day back from a holiday that praises the dismantling of segmentation in our society would be spent discussing the important of segmentation. The good doctor preached equality among all peoples past present and future but in the classroom we begin to realize that not all consumers are created equal and by segmenting we can tailor to those most profitable for our business.
Segmenting nowadays is not so black and white, no pun intended. I previously thought that S.T.D.P. was much more simple and less research intensive than what we discussed in class. In fact it is quite involved and segmenting effectively could be the difference between a home run of a marketing campaign and a triple play that sends your team reeling back to the bench. The entire S.T.D.P. process can be viewed in a parallel to a financial instrument in that you want the most return for each dollar spent marketing. The only difference here is that marketing's return is entirely based upon how effective you are at addressing the customer's needs and how your product matches them.
Perhaps the Largest misconception I had about S.T.D.P. was the nearly infinite amount of attributes, characteristics, and demographics that a marketing team can segment their customer pool by. This could be overload unless you focus on those segments you believe are most profitable, or fit best with your overall strategy. By effectively using the S.T.D.P. process the company is enabled to better address customer needs and concerns through their marketing efforts. In addition by clearly stating what differences in tastes and preferences each consumer group has the company can tailor a product that addresses the difference in needs for each group. Companies typically version their products to address the needs of each group. A good example is the iPod.
Apple has effectively used the S.T.D.P. process to not pool their customers into groups based upon needs and preferences but also translated this knowledge into products for each of these groups. Take for example the athlete that doesn't want to pay a high premium to listen to music during their workouts, nor do they want to fiddle with the contraption a midst handling weights or intense cardio exercises. Enter the iPod shuffle, a portable device with no selection screen that is small enough to keep from hindering the athlete during their routine. Another example of a customer group would be musicians, entertainment employees, and music aficionados. These consumers value large amount of memory on their device, easy navigation through their vast library, while still valuing portability and an aesthetically pleasing product. Enter the iPod Classic. This version of the iPod can pack up to 160GB of your favorite music, seasons of your favorite tv shows, audition tapes, anything you would need for an entertainment inclined individual. In addition it makes use of Apple's scroll technology and menus to make navigation easy and personalized. By Using S.T.D.P. and creating various product lines to address the consumer groups discovered through this process not only has Apple been able to better appeal to consumers than their competitors but it has also allowed Apple to version even further to address subgroups within customer segments.
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