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.

What do you think? Please share your thoughts and comments below.

Photos from Shutterstock.

  Filed under: International Marketing

Cindy King

Comments

• 

  des6898 · 29 January, 2009 · 

  Interesting blog. But any discussion of trends when it comes to generations needs to include Generation Jones, given how much buzz it’s creating.

  As many nationally influential voices have repeatedly noted, Obama is part of Generation Jones, born 1954-1965, between the Boomers and Generation X. Google Generation Jones, and you’ll see it’s gotten a lot of media attention, and many top commentators from many top publications and networks (Washington Post, Time magazine, NBC, Newsweek, ABC, etc.) are specifically referring to Obama, born in 1961, as part of Generation Jones.

  Great op-ed on exactly this topic a couple of days ago in USA TODAY:
  http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20090127/column27_st.art.htm

  • 

    Cindy · 29 January, 2009 · 

    Yes, I was a little devious.

    I actually did not complete the list of generations on purpose. I am one of these international marketers observing from far. I was hoping for a more knowledgeable American marketer to jump in and share his knowledge.

    Thank you for doing so.

• Is Social Media Changing Business Networking? · 6 February, 2009 · 

  [...] more International Web Marketing articles here: – More Segmentation = More International Sales – Likability For International And Social Media Communication – Choice Of Social Media For [...]

• New Marketing Taints Old Networking Tactics · 13 February, 2009 · 

  [...] more International Web Marketing articles here: – More Segmentation = More International Sales – Likability For International And Social Media Communication – Choice Of Social Media For [...]

• How Was Your Week 5 In 2009? : Get International Clients · 21 February, 2009 · 

  [...] More Segmentation = More International Sales [...]

• 92% More Visitors In March With One Tip From The ProBlogger Book · 2 April, 2009 · 

  [...] – New Marketing Taints Old Networking Tactics – Is Social Media Changing Business Networking? – More Segmentation = More International Sales – Likability For International And Social Media Communication – Choice Of Social Media For [...]

• How One Tip From One Book Increased My Web Marketing Results · 2 May, 2009 · 

  [...] – New Marketing Taints Old Networking Tactics – Is Social Media Changing Business Networking? – More Segmentation = More International Sales – Likability For International And Social Media Communication – Choice Of Social Media For [...]

• The Secret Way To Enter International Marketing · 13 May, 2009 · 

  [...] More Segmentation = More International Sales [...]

• What Is Marketing? · 13 May, 2009 · 

  [...] More Segmentation = More International Sales [...]

• Your International Marketing Choice · 13 May, 2009 · 

  [...] More Segmentation = More International Sales [...]

• International Article Marketing · 13 May, 2009 · 

  [...] More Segmentation = More International Sales [...]

• My Own Case Study - Small Business Flexibility · 13 May, 2009 · 

  [...] More Segmentation = More International Sales [...]

• What Is Your Definition Of International Web Marketing · 13 May, 2009 · 

  [...] More Segmentation = More International Sales [...]

• The Difference Between An eMarketer And A Geek Marketer · 13 May, 2009 · 

  [...] More Segmentation = More International Sales [...]

• Mindset Differences Between Offline Marketers And Online Marketers · 19 October, 2010 · 

  [...] More Segmentation = More International Sales [...]