Segmentation & Differentiated Marketing

We encapsulate the business activities of segmentation and differentiated marketing into a broad management discipline we call “market management”. Which means just what is implies – managing based on markets (or market segments). Market Management is a business planning and management process that focuses the activities of the firm on satisfying the needs of selected groups of customers and prospects. It is the “connective tissue” that ties segmentation, to differentiated marketing and differentiated product management.  Read our series of Market Management briefs.

There are six areas of emphasis in this service area. These activities are documented as a workflow below:

• Market Management – facilitations involving setting business goals for the market management initiative.  Initial definition of “things in play” in the process as defined and understood by the senior management team (what may be changed).  Agreement on a plan to establish a segmentation team.
• Segmentation– involves working with a client team to lead the process of defining segments based on needs and selecting markets for differentiated strategy via some form of portfolio analysis. Providing research consultation or research services for a deep qualitative and quantitative research program engaged to inform segmentation. This results in defined segments with known properties (size rate of growth, etc.).
• Portfolio Management – This activity results in defining segments targeted for some specific growth strategy (invest, harvest, dominate, exit, etc.). Targets and goals associated with the segments (which become the basis for segment planning).
• Segment Planning – expands the working team into a set of segment teams developing requirements for deploying the direction and goals set in portfolio management. A structured process of planning defines requirements across the traditional mix from product to distribution to communications. Each segment plan includes some form of financial case.
• Segment Management – facilitation defining ongoing organization, people, culture, and process and miscellaneous support to during implementation (session facilitation, training, etc.)
• Differentiated Product/Service Management – facilitation working with product management to modify existing implicit or explicit processes that will enable developing products and/or services based on differentiation strategy.

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