Do a good job in market segmentation, not just to make better money. From the long-term development of enterprises, it includes short-term significance, medium-term significance and long-term significance. Only by grasping the strategic characteristics of different stages can we implement effective tactics.
First, in the short term, the magic weapon of market segmentation is to create a market and form a non-competitive state, so as to quickly absorb the purchasing power of the market. At present, it is a breakthrough war, aiming at the weak links or gaps of the other side's defense line. In the medium term, it will be transformed from a breakthrough war into a positional war, which is the key to whether a market segment can become a "super engine" of an enterprise. Finally, in the long run, from positional warfare to scale warfare and protracted war, the key lies in whether the characteristics of goods are consistent with the enterprise concept, which is the relationship between parts (goods) and the whole (brand concept). In the long run, the enterprise concept is an indestructible front, and the characteristics of goods must obey the concept, which is the watershed of the sustainable development of enterprises and the real internal strength of making brands.
Second, the four principles of market segmentation
Let's take Sofitel negative ion shampoo and other products as examples to talk about how to do a good job in market segmentation.
Sofitel entered the shampoo market at that time, and the market was in chaos. The concept of shampoo is flying all over the sky, and several hills such as dandruff removal, moisturizing, hair care and black hair are crowded with major enterprises. Foreign legions (Procter & Gamble, Unilever, etc. ) and local corps (Fang La, Hao Di, Jacquard Show, etc. ) Fighting on all fronts, advertising war, price war, promotion war and channel war all went into battle, and enterprises fought fiercely at the tactical level.
1, jump out of competition and find a market
Changing thinking is the premise of doing the right thing. The disadvantage of this idea is that the enterprise is caught in front of the opponent, which leads to homogenization and ends in failure. Those homogenized goods that are still alive at present are not because the goods themselves are good. Therefore, for the melee battlefield, our suggested idea is to "jump out of the competition to find the market" and give up the opponent's practice, so that it will not be subject to the opponent's position. This is simple to say, but enterprises often do this wrong thing involuntarily. The most important thing is to find the blank spot in the market and establish your own position. What is softer is to give up the four positions of dandruff removal, moisturizing, hair care and black hair, and find the blank market of negative ions by yourself. Eye mask is also to give up the opponent's moisturizing, supplement vitamins C and E, and find a blank market of "China Eye-catching". On the other hand, many color screen mobile phones are swarming with color screens, and as a result, most of them have failed.
2. Return to the origin of demand
Usually people only pay attention to the development of this industry and ignore other industries, but we think carefully why some goods in other industries sell so well, which must meet a great demand, and if the customers facing the demand are the same as or close to their own customers, it must mean hidden business opportunities. In this case, it is necessary to break the professional thinking, industry thinking and pan-industry observation thinking to develop the concept of goods. Since the source of demand for shampoo is beauty, a look at hairdressing salons shows that negative ion straight hair is the most popular in recent years, which has become a new means to satisfy beauty. Negative ions make people believe in the results, so negative ions are introduced into shampoo to meet the needs of busy modern people for beauty beauty with convenient features. Then the commodity concept developed from this is "showing the external beauty of hair".
3. Become a category spokesperson
If the original product concept is a "breakthrough war", then becoming a category spokesperson is a "positional war", which is also the key to whether a market segment can become a "super engine" of an enterprise. Every product that becomes a category spokesperson has its own positioning, which has well promoted the development of the enterprise, such as Colgate's "oral care expert", melatonin's "gift giving" and the "lonely and elegant humanity" of Left Bank Cafe. However, in the customer's cognition, Sofitel's focus is not on making customers remember negative ions, which is wrong, but on "beautiful hair", which will help to establish a positioning, which is based on three aspects: fundamental, unprofessional and growth.
The fundamental performance is that customers always need the beauty of hair, which is reflected in the appearance, such as straight hair; No, it shows that there is no one but me. Go to dandruff to buy Head & Shoulders, nutrition to buy Pan Ting, and fire bureau oil to buy Shu Lei. If you need a beautiful appearance, find a softer one; Growth performance is that this is a long-term demand, and negative ions are just a gust of wind. The introduction of free ions and ceramic ions, negative ion shampoo is difficult to sell, and only making a fuss about negative ions is the result of lack of long-term planning. Recently, Sofitel's hair growth is easy. If we cut into the market with the positioning of "hairdressing and beauty", we will get twice the result with half the effort. Unfortunately, we have not.
4. Establish your concept.
An enterprise without thinking can't win scale wars and protracted wars, because there is no front. When an enterprise has only one regiment and one division, it can have its own advantages in attack and defense through positional warfare, mobile warfare and annihilation warfare. If an enterprise wants to go up the stairs and has many teams, it must have ideas. Liu Bei's idea is "benevolence", Mao Zedong's idea is "liberation" and George W. Bush's idea is "bringing freedom". Only clear and simple ideas can build a front.
Third, do a good job in market segmentation should avoid misunderstandings.
1, the misunderstanding of brand extension.
Concentrate on launching a series of products at will. For example, when Sofitel successfully established itself in negative ion shampoo, it launched four shampoos, including facial cleanser, skin cream and even health food behind eye mask, and Le Cai launched Le Cai toothpaste. What are the disadvantages of this method?
The point here is that the key to customer purchase is not demand, but cognition. For a simple example, there are hundreds of kinds of toothpaste in the supermarket, all of which can meet the demand (to prevent tooth decay). Why do most people only buy Colgate? Just because customers have a good understanding of Colgate, products, enterprises and so on. The key to the success of a commodity is that the customer has established a clear cognition, and the subsequent commodities, while maintaining the name, help to raise the degree of attention, but can not clearly strengthen the customer's cognition of the commodity, so that the power of the commodity will be weakened.
2. Ignore the misunderstanding of the commodity itself.
Mainly manifested in the unattractive image of most commodities, including commodity names and packaging. If you can't do this, the explosive communication concept will also be affected. Good names and corresponding packaging will show strong sales power at the terminal and make more customers accept it faster.
Take "My Health Diary" published by 16 7- 1 1 in April this year as an example. The social background is that SARS has swept across Taiwan, and people are in a panic, expecting to help them enhance their immunity and get daily health (this is the fundamental demand). It is the most convenient way for busy modern people to supplement appropriate health food every day, including vitamin C, among which propolis can be said to be a natural antibiotic, and trace element zinc can promote cell repair. However, these nutrients will be consumed in the process of human body's operation and metabolism, so they need to be ingested every day to maintain the daily needs of the body, and the body has enough immunity to block foreign pathogens. Then providing health every day has become the most favorable commodity concept.
The concept of commodity determines what is the most valuable commodity, and the concept of communication determines how the commodity will be perceived by customers. An important principle is to express basic needs concisely and directly. My health diary is not only unique and easy to remember, but also important for people to know at a glance how to supplement their health every day.
3. Give up the misunderstood position.
The main reason is that enterprises hold the mentality of "don't put all your eggs in one basket". With some money, they are busy spending money in various fields. Both Vanke and Vantone in the early days proved that this was not feasible. It is worth referring to "don't put all your eggs in one basket, put all your eggs in one safe". The safe is in that position. When you succeed in a commodity, don't move, just stay.
4. Misunderstanding of the core concept of the enterprise
Reflected in the core concept of enterprise being big and empty. Generally, enterprises that need to show their image are doing better in their respective fields. This sense of accomplishment and ambition is easy to express. Although they are modest and sincere, they still can't attract customers' interest and even dislike them. Tens of millions of films have such a reaction in the end, which really needs deep thinking. To sum up, the ideas that enterprises like to talk about now are "pursuit", "effort", "intention" and "achievement". In layman's terms, it seems that if you don't make yourself look like a three-good student and a five-good youth, you won't see anyone.
Now take 7- 1 1 in Taiwan Province Province as an example, and see what its prototype is and how to embody it, so as to win the dominance of the retail industry in Taiwan Province Province. 7- 1 1 started with selling daily necessities and gradually introduced the service concept of convenience stores. With the rise of large shopping centers, all kinds of cheap supermarkets and grocery stores, if 7- 1 1 only plays the role of convenience stores, it can't compete with shopping centers and supermarkets in scale, and it can't form advantages in cost and variety. For the grocery store,
7- 1 1 Although it can't get the upper hand in scale, it can keep innovating because it is small. Although it can't go deep into residential areas, it can be opened nearby to provide modern and rich convenience products to attract residents. 7- 1 1 is like a rich and kind neighbor, constantly bringing forth new ideas. Therefore, the prototype of 7- 1 1 is a caregiver, taking convenience as the main responsibility and taking care of busy modern people.
The prototype of the brand must contact with customers through various channels in order to realize the prototype recognition in customers' hearts. At present, even from the customer's point of view, it is difficult to ensure a unified and continuous contact with customers through various channels. Let's see how 7- 1 1 conveys the prototype from the aspects of goods, pavement and communication.
Today's business philosophy must conform to the prototype. In the past, some people talked about the core value and spiritual proposition of the brand, which means prototype. More importantly, we must master the prototype system in order to have the ability to customize brand value comprehensively, comparatively and pertinently. The most important thing here is to rely on market research and chart reasoning. These tools developed in the west are used rigidly by some people. In the market of great transformation, customers actually have no idea about their own needs and desires. The survey can only be used as a reference at most. The key is to be curious about human nature, society and the world. The best and most effective ideas will not come from MBA or Harvard, but from the deep heart. An entrepreneur who wears a tie all day and seldom laughs can't come up with touching ideas.