Market segmentation by occupation helps you to determine the most accurate social class for your target market.

Occupation Reveals Social Class For Market Segmentation

Occupation, rather than income, is the most important predictor of social class. If you know how people in your target market earn their income, you can use market segmentation to reveal their social class.

That’s important because social class reveals your target market’s concerns, values, attitudes, consumer habits, information needs and other psychographic characteristics.

If your target market members are in a different social class than you are, you may find it difficult to communicate effectively. Thus, creating successful marketing messages demands that you recognize social class differences.

Social Class Reveals Target Market Characteristics

The following occupation information illustrates some of the differences by social class market segments for you to consider as you plan your marketing:

• Upper class - generally don’t work, but live off their investments. Some manage large corporations.

• Middle class -work with their minds in professions that serve the upper class. They educate the children, provide medical care, and manage investments for the upper- and other middle-class people. These professionals exercise considerable control and creativity in their jobs.

• Lower class - work with their hands in routine, uncreative jobs over which they have little control.

As you can see from the above list, occupation is important because it helps to determine the social class of your target market. Social class information will then help you to discover the best appeals for your target market.

Using market segmentation in this way reveals characteristics that you can use to market across social classes.

By using my matrix market segmentation process, you can determine social class characteristics from your target market’s occupation and learn psychographics, behavioral and other characteristics about your target market’s social class.

You can learn more about education characteristics to even better determine social class.

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Posted 3-17-08: Market Segmentation
by Occupation Market Segment

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Market segmentation by gender considers how men and women differ by born physiological differences and learned socialized differences.

Market Segmentation Reveals Differences Between Men and Women

I’m sure you know that men and women are different, but do you consider these differences in your marketing? To market effectively, you must be aware of these differences because they influence men and women to:

• value and purchase different items,

• seek different kinds of advice from different types of people,

• select different exercise and recreation activities, and

• manage and feel about money differently.

Market segmentation by gender reveals that men and women respond differently to marketing messages, and different marketing appeals influence them differently.

Market Segmentation Reveals Difference Between Types of Each Gender

Men and women divide into types that also differ, and I cover several types for each gender in my e-book: Know ‘em Sell ‘em: How To Discover The Best Appeals For Your Target Market.

Market Segmentation by Gender – An Illustration

To illustrate, let me tell you a story about my great
grandmother. Her name was Mary Ann (Turner) Scott. Her father was Elias D. Turner, a Confederate Colonel during the Civil War.

After the war ended, but before most of the Confederate soldiers returned home, Union soldiers were plundering Confederate territory.

The Turners had little left besides their home and a milk cow named
Bessie. With little food, Bessie was instrumental to the family’s
survival. When Mrs. Turner got word that the Union soldiers were in
the area, she told 10-year-old Mary Ann to take Bessie to the woods
until after the Union soldiers had left the area.

While in the woods hiding with Bessie, a Union soldier found Mary
Ann and tried to take Bessie, but Mary Ann wouldn’t let go of
Bessie’s reigns. In an attempt to get her to turn loose of the
reigns, the soldier whipped her arms, but Mary Ann held on tightly.

He warned her that if she didn’t let go, he’d cut her. Still Mary
Ann held tightly to Bessie’s reigns. So he did cut her arms with
his bayonet. Still Mary Ann refused to release Bessie.

Realizing that he’d have to kill the girl in order to get the cow,
the soldier gave up and left. Scared but victorious, Mary Ann,
later returned home with Bessie in tow.

My mother told me this story as her mother told it to her. Now I
tell my granddaughters this story, always with a reminder that they
come from a long line of strong women.

Now it hasn’t always been a compliment to be called a strong woman,
much less a strong-willed woman, but such women have always existed. They have been and continue to be one of our nation’s strongest assets.

Just as my great grandmother differed from many women of her time, women today differ from one another.

If you’re considering these differences in your marketing messages, they’ll be more relevant and more appealing to your target market.

Besides gender differences, you’ll be surprised at how much you can learn about people from their occupations.

To get a free trial on my automatic market segmentation program, complete the form below:

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Posted 3-14-08: Market Segmentation by Gender

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Lifestyle as a basis for market segmentation provides many characteristics to help you better understand your target market.

I use SRI research for lifestyle as a basis for market segmentation in my e-book, but other approaches are available. I like SRI2 because it divides people into eight lifestyles based on their resources and orientations.

Lifestyle As A Basis for Market Segmentation Examples

• Actualizers have the highest resources and are oriented toward change. They value image as self-expression, are successful, active, sophisticated, take-charge people with high self-esteems.

• Fulfilleds have high resources and are principle-oriented. They seek knowledge and consistency between their behavior and world views, and they value homes and functional, durable products.

• Believers, like Fulfilleds, are principle-oriented, but have fewer resources than Fulfilleds. They value order, knowledge and responsibility and are conservative, conventional, traditional and predictable.

• Achievers have high resources and are status-oriented. They seek social standing and security through their achievements.

• Strivers, like Achievers, are status-oriented, but have limited resources. Because they have few resources, Strivers feel cheated and seek approval of others to validate themselves.

• Experiencers have high resources and are action-oriented. They are practical, constructive, and conservative, while suspicious of new ideas and government intrusions.

• Makers are also action-oriented but have low resources. They are vital, enthusiastic, impulsive, rebellious, socially and politically opinionated.

• Strugglers have the lowest resources of all Americans. Many are unemployed. Those who do work earn poverty wages. Thus, their struggle to meet immediate survival needs overcomes all other psychological attributes.

Knowing these eight lifestyles will help better understand your target market. So it’s worth considering lifestyle as a basis for market segmentation.

Another post that relates to lifestyle is by neighborhoods. You can access this post below:

Market Segmentation By Neighborhoods

You can also better understand your target market with gender characteristics.

<You can get a free trial of my automatic market segmentation program and see how it uses lifestyles, by completing the form below:

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Posted 3-13-08: Lifestyle As A Basis for Market Segmentation

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Market segmentation by life stages can help you learn about your target market.

When you know your target market’s age range, you can use market segmentation to learn about what your target market considers important.

Every adult needs to accomplish similar tasks as they move through different age ranges or life stages. When you know the age range of your target market, you can include life stage in your market segmentation to discover the tasks that your target market members must deal with and what they consider important. This information will help you to better design marketing appeals for your target markets.

All people move through at different stages in their adult lives. People in each life stage share characteristics and tasks with other people in that life stage. These shared characteristics remain somewhat common in spite of the generation presently in the life stage.

Market Segmentation By Life Stage Reveal Career Tasks

Provisional Adulthood – Choosing a career and entering the workforce.

Early Adulthood – Progressing in their career and settling into work.

Middlescense – Reexamining work.

Age of Mastery – Adjusting to realities of work and approaching retirement.

Age of Integrity - Disengaging from paid work and searching for new achievement outlets.

Market Segmentation By Life Stage Improves Marketing

Knowing which life stage your target market members are in, tells you the most important tasks and responsibilities that concern your target market members. This information helps you to create marketing messages and activities that speak and relate to what they are experiencing.

For instance, all teenagers and young adults in the provisional adulthood stage (18-29), strive for independence, value their friends more than their families, and are sometimes rebellious.

You can use similar life stage tasks to better understand and market to your target market. It’s easy with market segmentation.

You can also read about Lifestyle As A Basis for Market Segmentation.

You can get a free trial of my automatic target market program and see how it uses life stages by completing the form below:

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Posted 3-12-08: Market Segmentation by Life Stage Market Segments

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Market segmentation notes differences between generations that help small business owners to discover the best appeals for their target markets. World War II women, represented by the picture above, differ from all other generations of adult women in the USA today.

Market segmentation by generations enable you to determine characteristics of your target market.

Market Segmentation By Generations Is Based On Historical Influences

These historical influences cause differences between generations.

Knowing these historical influences and the resulting differences by generations characteristics enhance your marketing.

Market Segmentation By Generations Reveals Four Adult Generations

The four adult generations in the USA today, from the oldest adults to the youngest, are:

1. The adaptive generation, represented by today’s WWII Generation, become active problem solvers in order to adapt to major historical and economic changes.

2. The inner fixated idealist, represented by today’s Baby Boomers, are indulged kids, me-oriented youth, and mid life moralizers.

3. The reactive generation, represented by today’s Generation Xers, include under-protected youths, alienated risk takers who burnout young, mellow into pragmatists and become conservative at middle age, and caustic as elders.

4. The civic generation, represented by today’s Generation Y, are protected by adults and become strong-willed, moral, serious, and optimistic with age.

Market Segmentation For The WWII Generation

The present adaptive generation is called the World War II Generation or WWII Generation for short.

You can best market to this generation by understanding the differences it and other generations and between the older and younger in this generation.

• Those born from 1901 to 1924 are active, confident problem solvers, intelligent and have a sense of optimism.

• Those born from 1925 to 1942 want to stay young and are attracted to adventure.

Both groups become less materialistic as they age, but still comprise important target markets, especially for those in the health care and home improvement industries.

Market Segmentation For Baby Boomers

The present inner-fixated adult generation is called Baby Boomers.

Market segmentation research reveals that Baby Boomers believe they are important. To market to them successfully, you must recognize their need to feel important, and their drive and individualism.

Baby Boomers are smart consumers. Because of the Baby Boomer generation’s size, businesses have long catered to its members with customized and personalized products and with niche marketing.

So if you want to market to Baby Boomers, you need to market to niches of them with personalized products and excellent service. You also need to use market segmentation to determine characteristics that differ between older and younger Baby Boomers.

Market Segmentation For Generation X

The present reactive generation is called Generation X.

Market segmentation research reveals that Generation X members distrust their elders, especially Baby Boomers. They also don’t respect people just because of their positions.

If you want to do business with Generation X members, you have to earn their trust and keep it. You can reach them best by word-of-mouth because they don’t trust traditional media.

If you reach them, earn and keep their trust and provide the products they need, you will find Generation X members to be materialistic and rabid consumers.

They are especially important to business-to-business companies because Generation X members are starting their own businesses at three times the rate of Baby Boomers.

Market segmentation provides additional characteristics to aid you in marketing to this elusive generation.

Market Segmentation For Generation

The present civic generation is called Generation Y.

Marketing to Generation Y isn’t easy because its members have few shared experiences, and their tastes constantly change. Plus, their media preferences differ from all other generations.

Still market segmentation reveals many characteristics that help you to market to them effectively.

And because of the large size of Generation Y, and how much its members spend, it’s a profitable market. Generation Y members spend $95 billion annually.

Market Segmentation For Generation Conclusion

Present generations differ from one another because each generation experienced different historical events, were raised differently and were given different social missions.

This requires a different type of marketing for each generation. So if you want to market your products and services successfully, you must know the generation of your target market and its distinguishing characteristics.

You can also read distinguishing characteristics by life stages.

You can discover more about how and why generations differ with individual reports on each generation.

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Posted 3-11-08: Market Segmentation by Generations

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