Dear Friends,
Have you ever thought about segmentation as something more than just targeting your audience and creating buyer personas?
Before I dive into this, let me assure you that what I’m about to share isn’t the usual talk or course material about targeting. It doesn’t mean I’m exceptional, but rather that I’m digging deeper into the marketing foundations to give you insights you rarely come across. I value your time and effort, so I aim to provide quality time while you’re reading this.
Let’s get to the point:
You probably know that segmentation has many fundamentals, like dividing your target audience based on:
- Gender
- Demographics
- Geography
- Income
- Lifestyle
- Culture
These are the basics, right? But what I want to discuss to make this truly quality time is how to leverage these segmentations and link them to the product life cycle as part of your marketing strategy. This strategy should be customized for the specific business, not just following pre-set steps. 😉
It’s well-known, my friend, that any business—whether selling products or services—goes through a product life cycle. It starts at zero sales, then grows as sales increase. This stage is called growth, followed by other stages like maturity, where the business reaches its peak. At this point, it neither grows further nor maintains its position, eventually leading to decline. That’s essentially the concept of the product life cycle.
Now, about the maturity stage:
This is when the business reaches a level of satisfaction with the target segment, meaning the segment has become saturated, and it’s hard to attract new customers. For instance, in a small market like Kuwait, you’re dealing with a limited population of around 3 million. It’s easy to hit saturation. The solution here is to either develop the product further or introduce a new product line targeting a different segment.
So, what’s the solution?
I’d be disappointed if you don’t connect the dots. The solution is to revisit your segmentation strategy, develop it, and create new segments to target.
There are several approaches, such as:
- Micro-Segmentation:
Break down your primary segment into smaller, more specific sub-segments. - New Demographic Segment:
Expand to a location or demographic you haven’t reached yet. - New Gender Segment:
For example, if you’re selling women’s perfumes, start introducing a men’s line.
You get the idea, right? This way, you can keep your business in the growth stage for as long as possible, delaying the transition to maturity or decline. That’s the goal of any business and your role as a marketer—to ensure sustained growth and market presence.
Let me know in the comments what topic you’d like me to cover next in strategic marketing planning. 😉👇
And if you’re a business owner looking to create a custom long-term and short-term marketing strategy and train your team on it, feel free to reach out via WhatsApp: https://wa.link/zhpky1.
