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...

Facebook Community Pages and Church Social Media Strategy, part 1

In April, Facebook quietly introduced “Community Pages“, a new feature that creates common pages for interests, activities, and entities. According to the Facebook blog:

Community Pages are a new type of Facebook Page dedicated to a topic or experience that is owned collectively by the community connected to it. Just like official Pages for businesses, organizations and public figures, Community Pages let you connect with others who share similar interests and experiences.

Amid the outcries against Facebook’s aggressive push to allow public access to all profile data (including personal private information), the introduction of Community Pages has not received much attention. However, this move by Facebook has significant...

It Depends

I’ve noticed that there are two types of strategic thinkers out there:

There are strategic thinkers who hold on very tightly to a preferred approach.

When these strategists are asked their opinion on what a business or church should do, they launch in with the same answer again and again. They are the ones who flood the Internet with tweets and articles chocked full of words like “every”, “should”, and “must”. The act as if their universal truths are the secret to unlocking the potential of the universe. Occasionally they will attempt to justify their approach, drawing weak conclusions from even weaker evidence.

Their confidence in their approach is not unfounded, they usually have experienced success with it in some situations. Of course their faith...

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...

Strategy Quote #002

Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.

–Winston...

Strategy Quote #001

A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.

–Albert...

Strategy Principles – Segmentation

What is Strategic Segmentation?

Segmentation is the strategic identification of different customer/audience groups.

The purpose of segmentation is to identify the best approach/offering for different customer segments by better understanding their behaviors, motivations, and needs.

The key to effective segmentation is to identify groups based on differences in how they respond to your offerings.

Let me explain that a bit…