Segmentation, Focusing on, & Positioning (STP Advertising): The Marketer’s Information

As a content material strategist, I wish to ask my shoppers numerous questions, beginning with, “Who’s your audience?”

However are you aware what reply I at all times dread listening to? “Everybody”

Whereas it’s good to consider that everybody can be enthusiastic about buying your services or products, this definition (or lack thereof) creates far more be just right for you and likewise does a disservice to your precise goal market. That is the place segmentation, concentrating on, and positioning come into play.

We developed this information that will help you perceive how and why it’s best to make investments time into STP for higher, more practical advertising. Let’s dive in.

At its core, STP advertising lets you higher goal your advertising messages and higher serve your buyer base.

This is an instance: I as soon as created a advertising technique for a health attire model. Somewhat than attraction to all health fans throughout the board, the model wished to focus on a selected section inside their goal market: feminine yoga followers of their 30s and 40s. 

In the end, our advertising marketing campaign was far more environment friendly and cost-effective since we knew our viewers, the place to succeed in them, and what messages would resonate.

Conducting an STP Advertising Evaluation

STP permits you to take a big, nameless viewers and outline how your completely different merchandise (or completely different parts of the identical product) relate to particular client segments inside that bigger viewers — thus understanding how one can place your product(s) and messaging to seize the eye of every section.

Let’s unpack every a part of the segmentation-targeting-positioning mannequin.

1. Segmentation

Segmentation refers back to the strategy of dividing your viewers into smaller teams primarily based on sure traits. This course of permits you to group your particular person viewers members into comparable teams so you may higher talk your merchandise, options, and advantages which may be most related to them.

You possibly can section your viewers primarily based on a number of of those standards:

• Demographics, which generally reply the query of who your purchaser is (e.g. age, gender, training, location, and occupation)
• Psychographics, which reply the query of why your purchaser buys (e.g. priorities, persona traits, and beliefs and values)
• Life-style traits, reminiscent of hobbies, leisure preferences, and non-work actions
• Habits, reminiscent of model loyalty, channel preferences, and different procuring habits

Segmentation might sound a little acquainted to a different course of we frequently focus on right here on the HubSpot weblog — creating purchaser personas.

Whereas the 2 are very comparable,  purchaser personas enable you to create a handful of buyer profiles that signify your broader viewers. Segmentation permits you to cut up your viewers into numerous teams, every of which you’ll be able to uniquely goal.

For instance, let’s say Paws & Tails is a Chicago pet-sitting firm that gives pet-sitting, canine strolling, and boarding providers. Given the huge variety of pet homeowners within the metropolis, they should section their viewers into smaller teams to raised perceive how one can place their providers.

Based mostly on their analysis and present buyer base, they cut up their viewers into three foremost segments:

• Phase A is made up of high-income pet homeowners who work typically and want daytime canine strolling and pet pop-in visits.
• Phase B is made up of middle-class people and households who journey and want in a single day boarding or pet-sitting providers.
• Phase C is made up of older pet homeowners and retirees who need assistance caring for his or her pets.

2. Focusing on

Along with your viewers segments in hand, it’s time to maneuver on to the concentrating on part. First, nevertheless, you need to determine which segments are value concentrating on along with your advertising. To decipher this, I wish to ask myself the next questions on every section:

• Is that this section composed of sufficient potential prospects to justify concentrating on? Would it not yield sufficient earnings if the section had been to transform?
• Is it measurably completely different from the opposite segments?
• Is it accessible by all members of Advertising and Gross sales?
• Is your organization outfitted and capable of serve the section? Are there any bodily, authorized, social, or technological limitations that would stop that?

Selecting what segments to focus on is a strategic resolution. Fortunately, sure strategic planning fashions — the PESTLE evaluation is a private favourite — can assist you higher perceive the viability of every section.

It takes numerous work to efficiently goal a section of your viewers. However from my expertise, whether or not you’ve recognized two segments or ten, don’t really feel the necessity to goal a couple of section directly. In actual fact, I’ve discovered that concentrating on separately can assist you higher place your advertising for every particular section.

Following our instance from earlier than, Paws & Tails conducts analysis to raised perceive its Chicago viewers. Paws & Tails finds that Phase A makes up 60% of its market measurement, Phase B makes up 30%, and Phase C makes up 10%. Furthermore, Phase A has a better common earnings and is prepared to pay extra for pet-sitting and strolling providers. Due to this, they select to give attention to Phase A.

3. Positioning

At this level, it’s best to perceive the demographics, psychographics, motivations, and ache factors of the segments you’ve chosen to focus on, which may present a spot to start out in terms of positioning your services or products.

First, take a step again and look at your services or products by the attitude of your chosen section. If you happen to had been of their footwear, why would you select your product over a competitor’s? What options or advantages are most related to you, primarily based on the motivations and ache factors you’ve recognized?

This data is essential to defining your model positioning and understanding the way it stacks up subsequent to your opponents. One method to perceive the place you, effectively, stand is by constructing a positioning map, which is “the visible plotting of particular manufacturers towards axes, the place every axis represents an attribute that’s identified to drive model choice.”

The section you select to focus on ought to dictate what two attributes you plot in your positioning map. For instance, let’s say Paws & Tails decides Phase A selects pet-sitting manufacturers primarily based on two attributes: service space and reliability.

By understanding 1) what the goal section deems most essential for model choice and a pair of) the place its opponents succeed (and fall quick), Paws & Tails is ready to establish an open market alternative and place its advertising to greatest match the wants and objectives of its viewers.

Utilizing Segmentation, Focusing on, and Positioning in Advertising

The STP mannequin is a priceless addition to any advertising technique, no matter your business, product, or viewers. It prioritizes environment friendly and efficient advertising and ensures you’re delivering solely essentially the most related, focused messaging throughout the board.

It additionally performs an essential position in growing different methods, reminiscent of your purchaser personas, buyer lifecycle levels, and core model proposition.

By main with a consumer-centric strategy like STP, you may make certain that each inch of your advertising is related to your viewers — thus, rising the chance that they convert, buy, and turn into lifelong prospects.

Examples of Nice Market Segmentation and Positioning

Manufacturers are segmenting, concentrating on, and positioning their audiences and advertising consistently, oftentimes with out us (customers) even noticing. Ever seen a model or product and thought “Huh, that’s good for me” or “Wow, proper place on the proper time”? Yeah … you’ve been topic to the STP mannequin.

Let’s assessment just a few examples of nice advertising segmentation and positioning.

1. Panera Bread

With numerous quick informal eating places on the map, it’s arduous to determine the place to eat whenever you’re within the temper for a fast meal. For some motive, Panera Bread at all times involves thoughts (at the least for me).

Panera has efficiently cornered the “health-conscious” and “climate-conscious” section of the quick informal eating business. Is Panera’s meals so completely different from different quick informal choices? Not totally.

However by branding themselves with the attitude that “we consider that good meals, meals you may be ok with, can convey out the perfect in all of us”, Panera stays top-of-mind as a spot to get high-quality meals, quick.

2. AllBirds

Like eating opinions, there are so many shoe manufacturers in the marketplace. However AllBirds didn’t let that cease it from carving out a brand new area of interest in a busy area filled with comfy, energetic shoe choices.

How did AllBirds place itself to set itself aside from the competitors? By elevating its eco-consciousness and inserting that entrance and middle in its advertising. In line with the AllBirds web site, the model “crafts with planet-friendly pure supplies, like merino wool and eucalyptus timber, as a result of they’re our greatest likelihood for a sustainable future.”

At first look, AllBirds footwear don’t look too terribly completely different from different working or strolling footwear. Nonetheless, its viewers section that cares about sustainability and earth-conscious merchandise is aware of the distinction.

3. Billie

Now not can companies merely section their audiences by “males” and “ladies” — the people inside every broad gender group fluctuate an excessive amount of, and razor model Billie took be aware of this.

In an effort to extinguish the “pink tax,” Billie markets cost-friendly razors and related merchandise. Furthermore, they work to normalize physique hair and different forgotten or shamed elements of girls’s our bodies.

By this positioning, Billie is ready to set their merchandise aside from opponents and create a powerful, optimistic group round their model.

4. Hinge

The world of on-line courting is a busy, unusual place. From Tinder to FarmersOnly.com, there appears to be a spot for everybody to fulfill, effectively, anybody. Hinge got here on the scene solely a handful of years in the past, but it has skyrocketed to the highest of the listing of the preferred and dependable courting app.

Time and time once more, I’ve heard that Hinge is a favourite as a result of it works — that means it helps folks meet folks and make actual relationships. You wouldn’t assume a courting app would place themselves to finally be pointless, however that’s precisely what Hinge has carried out. In actual fact, its mission assertion is to “[build] an app that’s designed to be deleted.”

By placing the wants and wishes of its viewers entrance and middle, Hinge has created a extra reliable, in-demand on-line courting expertise and set itself aside from its opponents.

The Case for Utilizing STP Advertising

The segmentation-targeting-positioning mannequin is designed that will help you higher goal your advertising messages and higher serve your buyer base. It’s a win-win for you and your prospects!

This text was initially printed October 29, 2020 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.