Niche marketing:

Concentrating all marketing efforts on a small but specific and well defined segment of
the population. Niches do not 'exist' but are 'created' by identifying needs, wants, and
requirements that are being addressed poorly or not at all by other firms, and developing
and delivering goods or services to satisfy them. As a strategy, niche marketing is aimed
at being a big fish in a small pond instead of being a small fish in a big pond. Also called
micro marketing.
Mass marketing:
An attempt to appeal to an entire market with one basic marketing strategy utilizing mass
distribution and mass media, also called undifferentiated marketing.
Or
The production and distribution of a product intended to be sold to a relatively high
proportion of the population.
e.g.
Products advertised during national television programs may reach consumers throughout
the entire country. As long as these products are available nationwide, advertising to such
a huge demographic can be a good marketing strategy. Consumers seeing products
advertised on television commercials are often more likely to choose them over similar
store products that weren't promoted. Showing television viewers the actual product and
communicating benefits such as getting sparkling white teeth by using Brand X
toothpaste has been shown to increase sales of advertised products. As the
commercials are repeated, the repetition helps to create brand recognition.
Undifferentiated marketing:
market coverage strategy whereby a company ignores differences within a market and
attempts to appeal to the whole market with a single basic product line and marketing
strategy. Undifferentiated marketing relies on mass distribution and mass advertising,
aiming to give the product a superior image in the minds of consumers. It is cost effective
because there is only one product line to be produced, inventoried, distributed, and
advertised. Also the absence of segmented market research lowers the costs of consumer
research and product management. See also concentrated marketing differentiated
marketing; mass market.
Or
Undifferentiated Marketing
Undifferentiated marketing treats all buyers, or potential buyers, as a homogeneous
group. Another term for undifferentiated marketing is mass marketing. Rather than
producing different marketing strategies for different segments of society, or even
different products for different groups, undifferentiated marketing attempts to reach all
potential buyers using one marketing strategy. In this way, undifferentiated marketing
treats all segments of the population the same, and the strategy is to use one approach that
aims to appeal to as many people as possible.
The Benefits of Undifferentiated Marketing

A company can benefit from undifferentiated marketing in several ways. This marketing
strategy does not require the same level of research into consumer tastes as other types of
marketing. While differentiated and concentrated marketing are both research-intensive
approaches, undifferentiated marketing requires an understanding of the largest possible
segment of the population on a basic level to achieve mass appeal. In addition,
undifferentiated marketing allows a company to appeal to a much wider audience than
other marketing strategies.
Undifferentiated Marketing Drawbacks
The downside to this marketing approach is that it makes the assumption that everyone is
more or less the same. Undifferentiated marketing assumes a high degree of similarity in
peoples tastes, motivations for buying and expectations. This can lead to a significant
amount of overgeneralization in a society where people tend to have different tastes. As a
result, undifferentiated marketing strategy may fall flat or even turn off certain groups of
people, thus becoming counterproductive.
e.g.
Print Advertising:
Magazines, flyers and coupon campaigns can be differentiated or undifferentiated. For
example, an ad placed only in a magazine for mothers of preschoolers that claims the
product makes moms life easier has a concentrated or niche market. Print advertising can
also reach the masses when an ad is more general in nature, such as a soft drink ad that
says the product is refreshing. This type of mass market ad would go into several
different types of magazines and would target more than one segment of the population.
Individual Marketing:
Individual marketing is defined as tailoring products and marketing programs to the
needs and preferences of individual customers. In this marketing strategy, products are
customized to suit each person. individual marketing can be called as customized
marketing or one-to-one marketing.individuals can directly talk with the suppliers or the
manufacturers for fulfilling their wants for the required product.Because of the rapid
growth in the information technology sector people can log on to the websites-looking for
the information and evaluations of products or service offers for customizing their
products.they can design their own products also.best example for individual marketing is
dell.in dell website you can customize your owm laptop ar even you can design your
owm laptop based on your requiments.
e.g.
One company that has been using this strategy for over a decade now is Build-A-Bear
Workshop. When thinking about which company succeeds using individual marketing,
Build-A-Bear came to me. When I brought my 7-year-old sister to the workshop, she had
a difficult time making decisions. That's because Build-A-Bear has over a hundred furry
friends to select from, numerous possible outfits and accessories for the stuffed animals,
and multiple different sounds to place into the bear along with its stuffing. Young boys
and girls get excited when going to the workshop because these furry friends are tailored
to their liking. A typical customer walks in, selects an animal, chooses a sound to be
placed in it, stuffs the animal, grooms it, then selects an outfit (or multiple) for his/her

new friend. After creating a furry friend, a customer names it and receives a unique birth
certificate. Every customer walks out with a friend that is different from the friends of
previous and future customers. Every customer customizes a friend to their preferences,
and every customer is more satisfied this way.
Local marketing:
Local marketing is the customization of marketing mix variables to the
store level based on consumer, competitor, and store characteristics.

Segmentation:
Geographic segmentation:
Collecting and analyzing information according to the physical location of the customer
or other data source. Geographic segmentation is often used in marketing, since
companies selling products and services would like to know where their products are
being sold in order to increase advertising and sales efforts there. See also demographic
segmentation
Demographic:
Market segmentation based on differences in demographic factors of different groups of
consumers. It is one of the five common segmentation strategies, and aims to define
specific niches that require custom promotion.
Or
Segmentation generally divides a population based on variables. Thus demographic
segmentation too has its own variables such as Age, gender, family size, income,
occupation, religion, race and nationality.
Demographic segmentation is one of the most commonly used forms of segmentation as
it is clearly identifiable. The variables used for Demographic segmentation help divide a
large population into specific customer groups.
Each and every individual has an age, gender, income etc. Thus for mass marketing, this
becomes one of the best ways to diversify individuals. This also helps in analyzing lots of
data in shorter time for market research as well as for promotions.
Some of the variables of Demographic segmentation are
1) Age One of the first variable of demographic segmentation is age. This is because
consumer needs and wants change with their age. A youngster might want a mobile
phone but an earning professional will want a communicator with lots of extra features
such as email and file editing support. Thus even though the basic functionality of the
product is same, the wants are different. This is the primary reason for using age as a
variable in demographic segmentation.
2) Life cycle stage Closely connected to age, the life cycle stage of a consumer group
defines what will be the need of that particular customer. Example a toddler will need

infant food, a child will need dolls and toys, a middle age customer will need insurance
and investment plans and finally an old age person might need retirement plans. This
demographic segment cannot be said as an Age segment because these customers are in
specific phase of their Life.
3) Gender Men are from mars and women are from Venus. So naturally their
preferences differ. Where men might want the latest in technology, women might desire
the latest in Fashion (point is debatable nowadays) There are several products which are
gender focused such as deodorants, clothing, accessories, footwear and even automobiles.
Women are gaining acceptance even in under developed economies and this has seen an
increasing focus on women along with men as customers.
4) Income BMW, Mercedes, Ferrari, these cars have customers who are much more
quality and luxury conscious then others. So what would be the target group of such
products? The high income customer. Similarly, in FMCG, you will see many brands and
products which are targeted towards the Sec B and Sec C customers. Thus, income too
can be used to define a customer group from a population. These customers are generally
divided as Sec, Sec B and Sec C customers depending on their income and purchasing
power.
5) Religion, Race, Nationality Ever seen the advertising of a mass brand like Coca cola
or Pepsi. Although these two brands have their own global advertising, but they also have
specific advertising in each country which they enter. The messages of these
advertisements are completely different and are based on the local customs, religions as
well as nationality. With the tremendous increase in international business, there is also
an increase in the usage of demographic segmentation on the basis of religion, race and
nationality.
Psychographic:
Segmentation is used mainly to target a certain group from within a population.
Psychographic segmentation is one which uses peoples lifestyle, their activities, interests
as well as opinions to define a market segment. Psychographic segmentation is quite
similar to behavioral segmentation. But psychographic segmentation also takes the
psychological aspects of consumer buying behavior into accounts. These psychological
aspects may be consumers lifestyle, his social standing as well as his AIO. Do refer more
to Activities, interests and opinons.
Here aresome factors which help divide a population based on psychographic
segmentation.
Lifestyle There are various segments which have become popular in retail but one of
the most popular segments is the lifestyle segment. Everyone has different clothing habits
based on their lifestyle. The customer might be school going, college going, office going
or other. Thus by lifestyle we mean, where does the customer stand in his life cycle.

Similarly, the lifestyle of a rural area customer might be different from urban areas. That
is how automobiles carry out promotions. More of BTL promotions are carried out in
rural areas where rugged automobiles are more in demand and ATL promotions are
carried out in urban areas where esteem and buying power plays a major role. Thus a
consumers lifestyle can put him in one separate segment as per the marketer.
Activities interests and opinions A subset of lifestyle, activities interests and opinions
also affect consumer buying behavior. Click here to read more on Activities interests and
opinions.
Values attitudes and lifestyle Another concept which is a subset of the lifestyle segment
is values attitudes and lifestyles. Click here to read more on it.
Social class Different consumers fall in different social classes. This depends mainly
on their buying power. The buying power is affected by the background of the customer,
his income as well as his spending habits. The customer will always buy to maintain his
social class. Thus premium brands like gucci, longines or others always target the Sec A
segments because they know that these would be the classes capable of buying their
products. These brands have to keep in mind both Lifestyle as well as social class.
Personality Personality in psychogaphic segmentation is dependent on both lifestyle
as well as social class. A person will have a rich personality only if he has high buying
power as well as the taste in clothes to maintain such a lifestyle. Thus the term Brand
personality came into effect. The reason for that is that different brands target different
personalities. A simple example would be if i ask you what comes in mind if i talk about
a Harley davidson biker more commonly known as Hogs. They would be people
unshaven, tall, manly who like to live a rough lifestyle. Thats the personality built for
harley over time. Thus brands target their customers even based on their personality.
Overall, these factors are intangible in nature and need in depth market research to
determine which lifestyle or social class to target. There are companies which are
dedicated to the art of psychographic segmentation.
Behavorial:
Behavioral segmentation divides a population based on their behavior, the way the
population respond to, use or know of a product. Consumer behavior is a subject studied
in depth over time in marketing management. This is mainly because there are several
factors which a consumer takes into consideration before taking a decision. Thus
consumer decision making is affected by his behavior and that is exactly how the
behavioral segments are targeted.
Lets take a simple example of behavioral segmentation. I am writing this article in the
month of December which is Christmas time. Christmas is on the 25th of December.
Would you start targeting your segment on the 23rd or 24th of December? You will
probably start targeting that segment from 1st December itself. After Christmas we have

new year. Thus both of the occasions are such that companies would have to finalize
which behavior they want to target. They cannot target both as it leaves only 6 days for
the marketing of new year. Example Hotels and restaurants will target new year as they
will have more customers over the new year which is a moment of outdoor celebration
whereas Christmas is more of a family celebration. Several other mass marketing
companies strategically target Christmas and new year.
Forms of Behavioral segmentation
Buying on occasions As mentioned in the above example, buying on occasions is the
first form of behavioral segmentation. Products such as chocolates and premium foods
will sell on festivals. Similarly, confectioneries will sell when there is a party. Thus these
products are generally targeted by behavioral segmentation.
The best example of targeting buying on occasions is Hallmark cards greeting cards for
all occasions. The primary targeting of hallmark was that be it any occasion, you will find
the right kind of card for you. Thus you have the perfect option to express yourself.
Benefits sought Several products are targeted towards the benefits sought by the
customer. Recently, there has been a war between Colgate and sensodyne to target the
people who have sensitive teeth. Similarly, there are other toothpastes which are targeted
towards whitening of teeth. Hair shampoos are targeted towards split ends, anti dandruff
or others.
The above examples explain what is the role of benefits in behavioral segmentation. Thus
a marketer can divide a population based on the benefits they seek within a product.
Loyalty There are two ways to grow a business. First is to acquire new customers and
second is to retain your existing customers. The more loyal your customer is to you, the
more your customer base will increase. Thats one more kind of behavior which
marketers target. The strategies for brand loyal customers is very different from that used
for acquiring new customers.
The best example of behavioral segmentation by loyalty is observed in the hospitality
segment wherein airlines, hotels, restaurants and others give their best to provide the best
service possible such that they can retain their customer. The hospitality sector is the one
with the best loyalty programs ever. Thus the loyalty of the customer can also be used for
behavioral segmentation.
Usage rate In residential or commercial segment, the usage can be demonstrated in the
form of heavy usage, moderate usage or lesser usage. Lets take the example of beauty
parlors or personal care. There are some customers who use a lot of personal care
products whereas others do not use personal care products much. Thus depending on their
usage the customers can be targeted.

Another example of usage rate segmentations can be seen in the electronics as well as the
FMCG industry in industrial buying. FMCG and electronics works on the basis of a
channel with dealers and distributors. In these segments, the maximum discount goes to
the one who buys the maximum whereas others get lesser profits as they also get lesser
discounts.
Any product which is not targeted towards the masses generally used behavioral
segmentation. It is also an excellent form of segmentation for products which are niche in
nature and are targeted towards the wants and demands of customers.