STP MARKETING: SEGMENTATION, TARGETING & POSITIONING

ANALYSIS

STP marketing is one of the most popular strategic marketing modules used by
businesses today, and for good reason.

The STP model is an excellent embodiment of the gradual change in focus from a
product-centric approach to a customer-centric approach, which enables companies
to better understand who they are trying to reach and how to position themselves
for success.

But how can you use the STP framework to grow your business?

Read on as we attempt to answer any and all questions you may have about STP
marketing, STP strategies, and anything else you may need to know in order to
apply these tactics yourself.

What is STP?
STP marketing stands for segmentation, targeting, and positioning. It is a three-
step process that allows for the development of a specific and actionable marketing
strategy.

The main principle behind the process is to segment your audience, target each
segmented group according to their preferences and habits, and make positioning
adjustments in your branding and marketing strategies to accommodate their needs
and expectations.

The reason why the segmentation-targeting-positioning process is so effective is

that it breaks down broader markets into smaller parts, making it easier to develop
specific approaches for reaching and engaging potential customers instead of
having to use a generic marketing strategy that would not be as appealing, or as
effective.

HOW TO USE STP IN STRATEGY BUILDING

Using STP marketing in your business may seem complicated, but the process can
be broken down into actionable steps.
First, you need to define the market that you want to reach and create market
segments based on segmentation variables and bases such as age, location,
interests, or almost anything else.

Then, evaluate each segment for viability, looking at how realistic it is to target
them, and choose the segments that show the most promise.

After performing thorough FTP analysis and selecting the most promising segments,
developing a targeting strategy for that market (or markets), and identify the most
promising positioning opportunities for engaging that market.

Let’s take a deeper look at the segmentation-targeting-positioning equation below.

MARKET SEGMENTATION
The process of segmentation is all about identifying distinctive and common traits
between people in your market, which allows you to develop much more relevant
and engaging marketing campaigns.

If you can use audience insights  to identify a specific desire or need in a group of
people in your market, you will be able to focus your message and deliver it in a
way that has a much stronger impact than broader marketing campaigns.
In fact, in saturated and mature markets, you may even discover new opportunities,
highlighting unique benefits to a segment that wasn’t catered to by anyone else.

But what types of segmentation variables can you use for segmentation? Some of
the most common segmentation variables include:

 Demographics: age, gender, marital status, ethnicity, etc.

 Geography: city, region, country, climate, etc.
 Psychographics: personality traits, habits, attitudes, etc.
 Values: politics, religion, cultural beliefs, identifications, etc.
 Life Stages: work status, education status, retirement, etc.
 Behaviors: purchases, interests, clicks, browsing data, etc.
These are just some of the possibilities for segmenting your audience, but they
should provide a pretty good starting point for what you should look at.

MARKET TARGETING
The next step is to look at the segments that you picked to identify the best
opportunities for your business.
First, you will need to look at the size of the segment, which will tell you whether
it’s worth pursuing. After all, the marketing opportunity must be large enough to
warrant running a campaign. Otherwise, it simply won’t be worth the effort.

The next step is to look at whether there are significant markers that set the
segments apart; these can become the basis of an STP marketing campaign.

Be sure to analyze the opportunity from a financial perspective—the profits that you
can expect should exceed the additional marketing budget that would be required to
execute it.

Finally, you must look at whether the market segment is accessible to your
company, and if you will be able to get your marketing messages in front of them.

In the end, the targeting stage is all about identifying the best opportunities for
using the consumer data and insights that you gain during the segmentation stage.
Then, you can optimize the customer journey  and create more relevant and
engaging marketing campaigns.

MARKET POSITIONING
Finally, consider positioning opportunities that will help you respond to an unmet
need or desire in your market that your product can fulfill.

Since you have tangible data about what segments of your audience desire, you
can use those insights to position your product and develop a unique selling
proposition, presenting the right message at the right time.

Using customer segmentation models, you can completely revamp your product
positioning and center your campaign around the most pressing problem that your
audience is facing. With a segmented and specifically targeted audience, your
product positioning can have a much stronger impact, helping your message stand
out in a crowded marketplace.

WHY YOU NEED LUTH RESEARCH FOR YOUR

MARKETING STRATEGY
STP Marketing is a powerful tool. However, identifying segmentation and targeting
opportunities, not to mention finding the right positioning angle, are all complex
processes that require the collection of large amounts of data and insights, as well
as an expert understanding of how markets function.
That’s where Luth Research comes in. We can help you perform a thorough and
comprehensive STP marketing research , using our own data and intelligence tools
to provide more accurate insights into your audience, and help you run smarter
campaigns. The end result? You have the best strategy possible for delivering
results to both your business and your customer base.
If you want to learn more about Luth Research, call us at 800.465.5884 or fill out
our simple contact form . We are always happy to answer your questions and help
you find the best way to approach marketing strategies specific to your business’
needs.
Pricing in Marketing
Definition: Pricing is the method of determining the value a producer will get in the
exchange of goods and services. Simply, pricing method is used to set the price of producer’s
offerings relevant to both the producer and the customer.

Every business operates with the primary objective of earning profits, and the same can be
realized through the Pricing methods adopted by the firms.

While setting the price of a product or service the following points have to be kept in mind:

 Nature of the product/service.

 The price of similar product/service in the market.
 Target audience i.e. for whom the product is manufactured (high, medium or lower class)
 The cost of production viz. Labor cost, raw material cost, machinery cost, inventory cost,
transit cost, etc.
 External factors such as Economy, Government policies, Legal issues, etc.
Pricing Objectives

The objective once set gives the path to the business i.e. in which direction to go. The
following are the pricing objectives that clears the purpose for which the business exists:
1. Survival: The foremost Pricing Objective of any firm is to set the price that is optimum and
help the product or service to survive in the market. Each firm faces the danger of getting ruled out
from the market because of the intense competition, a mature market or change in customer’s
tastes and preferences, etc.Thus, a firm must set the price covering the fixed and variable
cost incurred without adding any profit margin to it. The survival should be the short term objective
once the firm gets a hold in the market it must strive for the additional profits.The New
Firms entering into the market adopts this type of pricing objective.
2. Maximizing the current profits: Many firms try to maximize their current profits by
estimating the Demand and Supply of goods and services in the market. Pricing is done in line with
the product’s demand in the customers and the substitutes available to fulfill that demand. Higher
the demand higher will be the price charged. Seasonal supply and demand of goods and services are
the best examples that can be quoted here.
3. Capturing huge market share: Many firms charge low prices for their offerings to capture
greater market share. The reason for keeping the price low is to have an increased sales resulting
from the Economies of Scale. Higher sales volume lead to lower production cost and increased
profits in the long run.This strategy of keeping the price low is also known as Market Penetration
Pricing. This pricing method is generally used when competition is intense and customers are price
sensitive. FMCG industry is the best example to supplement this.
4. Market Skimming: Market skimming means charging a high price for the product and
services offered by the firms which are innovative, and uses modern technology. The prices are
comparatively kept high due to the high cost of production incurred because of modern
technology. Mobile phones, Electronic Gadgets are the best examples of skimming pricing that are
launched at a very high cost and gets cheaper with the span of time.
5. Product –Quality Leadership: Many firms keep the price of their goods and services in
accordance with the Quality Perceived by the customers. Generally, the luxury goods create their
high quality, taste, and status image in the minds of customers for which they are willing to pay high
prices. Luxury cars such as BMW, Mercedes, Jaguar, etc. create the high quality with high-status
image among the customers.

Thus, every firm operates with the ultimate objective of earning profits and, therefore, the
price of a product must be set keeping in mind the cost incurred in its production along with
the benefits it offers for which people are ready to pay extra.

Related Terms:
1. Pricing Methods
2. Peak Load Pricing
3. Going-Rate Pricing
4. Transfer Pricing
5. Perceived-Value Pricing
How to Create a Social Media
Marketing Strategy for 2019 and
Beyond

Alfred LuaProduct Marketer @ Buffer

 8 min read

The key ingredient for doing social media marketing  well is having a strategy.

Without a strategy, you might be posting on social media platforms for the sake
of posting. Without understanding what your goals are, who your target
audience is, and what they want, it’ll be hard to achieve results on social media.
Whether you want to grow your brand through social media  or to level up as
a social media marketer , developing a social media marketing strategy is
essential.

Here’s one way to do it.

How to create a social media marketing strategy

It’s interesting to note that a social media marketing strategy and a social media
marketing plan  have a lot of crossovers.

You can think of it this way: A strategy is where you’re headed. A plan is how
you’ll get there.

One of the simplest ways to create your social media marketing strategy is to ask
yourself the 5Ws:

1. Why do you want to be on social media?

2. Who is your target audience?
3. What are you going to share?
4. Where are you going share?
5. When are you going share?

To help you create your strategy, I have made a simple social media marketing
strategy template . Feel free to use, adapt, or modify it as you see fit (after making
a copy of it).
Here’s another interesting point about strategy (or strategies): You can also have
a strategy for each of your social media channels, such as a Facebook marketing
strategy , an Instagram marketing strategy , and so on, which all lead up to your
overall social media marketing strategy.

But let’s start with your overall strategy.

1. Why does your business want to be on social media?

The very first question to answer is the Why.

This relates to your social media goals. Are you on social media to promote your
products? To drive traffic to your website? Or to serve your customers?

In general, there are the nine social media goals  you can have:

1. Increase brand awareness

2. Drive traffic to your website
3. Generate new leads
4. Grow revenue (by increasing signups or sales)
5. Boost brand engagement
6. Build a community around your business
7. Provide social customer service
8. Increase mentions in the press
9. Listen to conversations about your brand

You’ll likely have more than one social media goal, and that’s fine.

Generally, it’s great to focus on just a handful of goals unless you have a team,
where different people or groups within the team can take on different goals.

For example, at Buffer, the marketing team uses social media both to increase
our brand awareness and drive traffic to our content while our Advocacy
team uses social media to provide timely customer support .

2. Who is your target audience?

Once you have figured out your Why, the next thing to consider is your target
audience.

Understanding your target audience will help you more easily answer the
following questions on what, where, and when you are going to share.

For instance, if a travel and lifestyle brand (like Away) knows that its target
audience loves to read about new places and travel tips, it could share such
content on its social media profiles.
A great exercise to try here is to build marketing personas.

There are many different ways of building marketing personas. My personal

favorite approach is to, again, use the 5Ws and 1H.

 Who are they? (E.g. job title, age, gender, salary, location, etc.)

 What are they interested in that you can provide? (E.g. entertainment,

educational content, case studies, information on new products, etc.)

 Where do they usually hang out online? (E.g. Facebook, Instagram, etc. or

niche platforms)

 When do they look for the type of content you can provide? (E.g. weekends,
during their daily commute, etc.)

 Why do they consume the content? (E.g. to get better at their job, to become
healthy, to stay up to date with something, etc.)

 How do they consume the content? (E.g. read social media posts, watch videos,
etc.)

You likely don’t have to start from scratch. If your business has been running for
a while, you most probably already have a good sense of your target audience.
What might be helpful is to write it down so that you can share it with the team
or use for your future reference.

To help you with developing your marketing persona, Kevan Lee, our Director of
Marketing, have written a complete guide to marketing personas .

3. What are you going to share?

When you see this question, you might be thinking about the types of content to
share. For example, do you want to share videos or images?

But hold on for a second!

We’re talking about your social media marketing strategy here so let’s take a step
back and think on a higher level. Instead of the types of content to share,
“theme” might be a better word.

Here are a few brands and their theme(s):

 MeUndies, an underwear brand, shares photos from their customers and photos
of their products on their Instagram profile .

 Huckberry, an outdoor and adventure brand, shares their editorial content and
high-quality photos of the outdoors on their Facebook profile .

 Burrow, a luxury couch brand, mostly shares memes on their Instagram profile .

If you scroll through the social media profiles mentioned above, you might have
noticed that the brands have more than one main theme. Having a handful of
themes is perfectly fine as it gives you the space to share a range of content to
keep your audience engaged without being seemingly unfocused
What Is Product Marketing Management?
April 18, 2020  - 6 min read

Listen
In a field as vast and diverse as Product Management, there are so many different types of
Product Manager. One of the most common, aside from a regular PM is a Product
Marketing Manager. If you’ve been job hunting for a while, you’ve probably seen this title
pop up time and time again.

Today, we’re going to take a closer look at the role, how it differs to a PM, and how Product
Marketing fits into development.

What is Product Marketing?

Product Marketing, much like digital and traditional marketing, involves getting the product
to market and making sure it reaches the right customers.

When we hear the word ‘marketing’, it’s usually followed by things like ‘social media’,
’email campaigns’, and ‘blogging’, but Product Marketing is so much more than that!

Product Marketing sits at the intersection between Product, Marketing, and Sales.
You might be wondering why it’s so important. But without marketing, you wouldn’t have
found your way onto this article! You might have chosen a completely different phone to the
one you have now. You might have a different favorite brand of coffee, or be working for a
completely different company!

Marketing tells the story of a product, and helps communicate what the brand stands for.
People use the products they buy as a way to tell a story about themselves.

If you have a competitor who has a remarkably similar product to yours, it’s your storytelling
– your Why – which will set you apart and help you find your customers.

You might also be interested in:  Understanding Product-Market Fit

What Does a Product Marketing Manager Do?

A Product Marketing Manager owns the positioning, messaging, and branding of a product.
They will also gather and process customer feedback, and manage some aspects of customer
relations after launch.

You might also be interested in:  Branding for Builders by Fmr Netflix VP of Product

That’s a lot of good words, but on a day-to-day basis, what does a Product Marketing
Manager actually do?

Essentially they work on moving customers through a funnel that converts them from a
general audience, into loyal fans.

You may have seen this funnel before:

A Product Marketing Manager will constantly be working on different tasks for customers at
these three levels of the funnel.
  Acquisition: Getting the customers attention, making people aware that your product exists
and peaking their interest.
o Social media, newsletters, blogs, copywriting
 Engagement: Getting people involved in your community of fans.
o Events, CTAs, lead scoring, special offers/campaigns
 Retention/Conversion: Either keeping customers around (for subscription models) or
converting them into paying customers (for one-time purchases).
o Building growth loops with Product

A common misconception of Product Marketing is that it focuses mainly on acquisition.

However there’s no point attracted new customers if you can’t keep them! Marketing works
to nurture customers throughout their journey with a product in order to keep churn rates
down.

Product Marketing is difficult to define because it varies from company to company, and it
can even vary between different products! For example, Product Marketing for Google’s
Pixel phones and GSuite may be completely different in the way they operate.

Here are some examples of Product Marketing Management responsibilities at Google and
Fitbit:

Product Management vs Product Marketing Management

What are the differences?

You could say that a Product Manager is the voice of the product within the company, and a
Product Marketing Manager is the voice of the product to the outside world.
A Product Manager is more focused on getting the product built. They’ll work more directly
with engineers, own the roadmap, and make decisions about what features get made and
who will be the ones making them.

When it comes to launch they ask themselves very different questions. A PM asks themselves
“does the product solve the problem?” but a PMM asks “how will we tell people it solves
the problem?“

At launch, they’ll work with sales to create the launch plan. This may include creating demos,
social media content, email announcements, landing pages…anything that helps get the word
out! It doensn’t matter how great the product is if nobody knows it exists! Owning and
creating the go-to-market strategy is one of the most important parts of the Product Marketing
Manager role.

How do they work together?

While their roles don’t overlap necessarily, a PM and PMM will find themselves working
together. Both have to have a deep understanding of the customer, so analysing and sharing
information together keeps them on the same page.

One of the more tangible things they’ll work on together are buyer personas, which help
define users. A PM will use these to inform how the product should be made and how it can
best solve user problems, whereas a PMM will use them to work out how to best reach the
users. There’s no point trying to engage with your core audience on TikTok if they’re 70+
years old!

What is the Job Like (And How to Get One!)

Let’s get into the nitty gritty.
A Product Marketing Manager is very similar to a Product Manager in terms of salary and
scope. Any place with tech will have PMM jobs, with the highest concentration in tech
centres like San Francisco, London, Berlin, and Bangalore.

The average US salary for a PMM is $114,000 as of 2020, and may go up as high as
$181,000 for bigger tech companies.

For the interview, you should prepare the answers to some typical Product Marketing
interview questions. Such as:

 Tell me about some memorable marketing campaigns which you admire

 What was the marketing strategy like at your previous company?
 Which channels would you choose to market the launch of X?
 Do you think there are any untapped marketing resources out there?

You might also be interested in:  I Make $200K as a Product Marketing Manager: The
Salary Series

Transition to Product Marketing

If you’re currently a Product Manager but would like a job with more creative flair, Product
Marketing might be the one for you.

The best way to make any transition is within your own company. You could start by asking
a current PMM to grab a coffee and talk shop. Many larger companies organize rotational
shadowing schemes which would allow you some exposure to the role.

When applying for a role, try to highlight any experiences you’ve had which correlate with
PMM responsibilities. Have you had any previous experiences working closely with a
marketing team?

Product Marketing is also a brilliant stepping stone for marketing professionals to break into
Product, as you’d be working closely with the Product team. Things like working on a go-to-
market and launch strategy will put you in a great position to make the move, compared to
other marketers who haven’t.