STP - Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning

Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning are the building blocks of Branding and it deciphers how the marketer identifies the potential customer , profiles them , targets them and positions his offering inthe mind of the customer.

Segmentation : It is the process of dividing the target customers into a set  of homogeneous groups on the basis of their demography, geography and psychography.

1. Demographical Segmentation : On the basis of their age, gender, family size and income groups.. Demographic segmentation variables are amongst the most popular bases for segmenting customer groups. This is partly because customer wants are closely linked to variables such as income and age.

2. Geographical Segmentation : On the basis of the grographical ares they belong to. For instance, Rural or Urban.

3. Psychographic Segmentation : On the basis of theirculture and lifestyle.

Targeting : Target Market consists of a set of buyers who share the common characteristics that the brand, in this case Vicks decides to serve.

Criteria for Targeting

Ø  Who buys our product?

Ø  Who does not buy it?

Ø  What need or function does it serve?

Ø  What are customers buying to satisfy the need our product serves?

Ø  What price are the paying?

Ø  When is the product purchased?

Ø  Where is it purchased?

Ø  Why is it purchased?

The Target Strategy opted by Vicks is the ‘ Mass Market Strategy’. 

Mass marketing is a marketing philosophy and method in which a single, wide-ranging marketing strategy is developed to target the greatest number of people, rather than one designed to target each specific population segment.

P- Product M - Market

	M1	M2	M3
P1	0	0	0
P2	0	0	0
P3	0	0	0

Positioning: Positioning is the act of designing the company’s offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the minds of the consumers. 

It is the place the product occupies in consumers’ minds relative to competing products. Its typically defined by consumers on the basis of important attributes. A brand could be positioned on different attributes; examples of which are given below:

Bases for Positioning:

- Features: Physical traits and perfirmance

- Benefits: Feviquick, Nerolac paint, Fairglow Soap

- Usage: Chawanaprash for body resistance, pulsur for specific areas

- Parentage: Sony Vaio, Tata Indica, Fiat Palio

- Manufacturing process: Fabindia hand crafted

- Ingredients: 100% cotton, 100% woollen

- Endorsement: Lalita Ji Surf Ad, Sachin 'Boost is the secret of my energy'

- Pro-Environment: canon made from recycled material

- Product class: Dove as moisturizer not as toilet soap, Pears as glycerin soap

- Price/Quality: Zenith computers, "Multinational quality, Indian price"

- Country or geographic area: German engineering, Bansari sari

Positioning of Vicks VapoRub:-   Vicks VapoRub is positioned along Mother's Love platform 

Who am I? Vicks VapoRub is a rub for cold

What am I? VapoRub pioneered the concept of " Touch therapy" linking it to the rubbing of VapoRub on the child's chest. Its key benefits include :

1. Clearing blocked nose
2, Cough relief
3. Body ache relief
4. Head ache relief.
5. Relaxing muscle stiffness
6. Easing breathing difficulty.

For whom am I? VapoRub was initially targeted at children but later the company found out that it is used mostly by adults.

Why me?.
VapoRub also ranks best among the consumers in the following parameters : Non greasy, Smells better, Long lasting relief.

Advertising & Promotions: -

Vicks had traditionally targeted itself at mothers, as a ointment for the benefit of their children.  All their advertisements, beginnng their entry into the Indian market have focussed on the Parent-Child relationship.

A very old Print Ad

This ad describes the famous 'Touch Therapy :-

******************************************************

A modern advertisement

Even today in India, Vicks employs the same strategy, now widening itself to include fathers in their TV ads. Interestingly,  fathers enter when the mother is away, reliably applying the product to their child's chest - to the child's instant relief.

*********************************************************

Vicks attributes its success to its careful positioning, which they believe has built up their brand, even internationally.

*************************************