Marketers are on the path towards more segmentation. This is true today and it is also true for the years to come.
The Bad News
In an economy of downsizing and increasing job responsibilities, this is probably bad news for most marketers.
You see, segmentation means more number crunching. You know, the roll up your sleeves type of task.
Segmentation will involve number crunching even if your company invests in good software to track the numbers. These software solutions simply need to be used properly to get the right information out of them… and this also involves rolling up your sleeves.
Why Segmentation?
As a cross-cultural marketer segmentation is part of my world.
This is easy to understand. International marketing has always inherently involved market segmentation. The geographic segmentation is obvious and businesses rapidly understand the need for cultural segmentation.
But I also notice other marketing segmentation trends. And there are a few of them today.
Generational Marketing
The generational marketing trends in North America talk about Boomers, Generation X’ers, Generation Y’ers.
This generational marketing can be challenging for some marketing segments where Boomers are tech savvy for example. And it can be confusing for some international marketers where markets are not as clearly defined.
Segmentation can help you find the answers you need for effective marketing.
Ethnic Marketing
The election of President Obama has placed ethnic marketing in the limelight, even if this trend was well established prior to this.
Researchers have recently highlighted how several leading countries, including the US and France, will have ethnic majority populations in our lifetime.
This means that marketers will need segmentation to improve their ethnic marketing. Ethnic marketing will definitely be needed during this period of change.
And again segmentation is key to ethnic marketing.
More International Sales
The good news is that as marketers are being forced to the task of segmentation, budgets and processes will be aligned to meet these needs.
The improvement and development of segmentation will benefit international sales. Businesses will be able to apply these processes to developing international sales more effectively.
And this is something I am looking forward to. Several current marketing trends will help businesses in developing their international sales.
Earlier this week I wrote about the similarities between good international communicators and good social media communicators. With the rise of customer-centric marketing and social media, this also means that more people will have the soft skills needed for international business development.
With soft skills and good measurement processes international sales will be easier to target.
More On International Web Marketing
- Define International Marketing
- How Too Many Contributions Spoil International Communications
- International Article Marketing
- International Email Marketing
- International SEO For Quick Results
- Marketing Segmentation
- Mindset Differences Between Offline Marketers And Online Marketers
- More Segmentation = More International Sales
- My Own Case Study – Small Business Flexibility In An Online World
- The Difference Between An eMarketer And A Geek Marketer
- Ways To Enter International Marketing
- What Is Marketing?
- What Is Your Definition Of International Web Marketing
- Your International Marketing Choice
She is who I turn to when I have questions and you should too"
-- Chris Garrett, co-author of the "Problogger" book
