How To Do Strategic Segmentation – Step 3: Identify Unmet Needs

Strategic segmentation is a process for developing strategies that appealing to specific customer groups, increasing you effectiveness in serving that group in a way that is both profitable and sustainable. The first two steps in the strategic segmentation process are to identify key audience characteristics that define subgroups and to understand the core motivations that influence how those subgroups will engage with your organization.

The next step in the strategic segmentation process is to identify any unmet needs that represent an opportunity (or a threat) for you to serve those customers. Unmet needs are important because they are the source of discontent (whether known or not) that will cause someone to want to change. If that person is already a customer, then unmet needs can be a threat because it may be their relationship with you that they change.

But the other side of...

Creative Thinking for Dummies

There is a lot being written these days about the role of creativity in business and ministry. I get the feeling that creativity is viewed as the Holy Grail of skills.

The truth is that everyone is capable of being creative. Yes, there are those who are extremely gifted, but these people are hardly worthy of being idolized.

Here are three principles for effective creative thinking that any individual or organization can follow:

1. Separate Ideation from Evaluation

“There no stupid ideas, just stupid people.” The process of coming up with ideas (ideation) needs to run its course. Even obviously bad ideas can lead to good ideas. But nothing shuts off the creative process like judging the merits of each idea as it is presented. For more effective brainstorming...

How To Do Strategic Segmentation – Step 2: Understand Customer Motivations

We’ve covered how strategic segmentation can help you develop effective strategies for appealing to specific customer groups in a way that is both profitable and sustainable. At this point you’ve identified key audience characteristics that allow you to both classify subgroups of your audience and inform ways that you can relate to those groups with your products and services.

The next step in the strategic segmentation process is to understand the different motivations that lie behind their decisions and behaviors.

Understanding Customer Motivations

In Strategic Market Management...

How To Do Strategic Segmentation – Step 1: Segment The Market

Strategic segmentation is a technique for analyzing your customers/audience in order to develop unique strategies for serving customer groups that share common characteristics. The value of segmentation is it provides clarity about how you can best appeal to specific customers and what it will take to develop and maintain valuable relationships with them.

So how do you go about strategic segmentation?

Like all things strategy, you can do a little or you can do a lot depending on your needs, sophistication and available resources. What I’m going to present is a general outline for performing a segmentation, you can do as much or as little in each step as is appropriate for your needs.