Marketing Management: The Big Picture

chapter six

TARGETING

“… and moreover conjure you by that object which of all others in this life you have most loved, or are most in love with, to tell me who you are …”

Cervantes Saavedra, M. de. (1793).

The History and Adventures of the Renowned Don Quixote, 6th ed. corr. London: Printed for A. Law, W. Miller, and R. Cater. Vol.1, p.169.

After studying this chapter you should be able to:

1. Explain the benefits of understanding the target audience
2. Create benefit plots to identify areas of strategic opportunity
3. Describe the purpose of the target audience description
4. Draft a complete target audience description
5. Integrate targeting with other strategic decisions of the firm

Target Stores: Increased Profitability through Accurate Targeting

Most of our consumer-products purchases are driven by routine rather than conscious choice. Such accurate targeting of us during the brief periods when we may change our habits can lead to a gold mine for marketers. Researchers have found that key periods of cognitive awareness occur around big life changes, among which perhaps none is more important than the arrival of a new baby. Tired new parents look for easy ways to consolidate tasks, and for a “one-stop-shop” retailer like Target, calculating how to capture this population can mean attracting a whole new group of people who might flock to Target for years to come.

To reach this goal, ...