Market segmentation by race enables you to determine national origin and cultural specific characteristics of your target market.

Market Segmentation by Races Improves Marketing

Market segmentation by race can greatly benefit you if your target market is predominantly a race other than Caucasians.

That’s because non-Caucasians differ from Caucasians. I’m sure you know that, but do you realize that non-Caucasians differ between and within races.

If you are marketing to a target market composed of a non-Caucasian race, using market segmentation can aid you in determining characteristics specific to your target market and influence the success or failure of your marketing.

For example, if you assume that all African Americans can be reached effectively with the same message, that’s a myth. In reality, characteristics differ for African Americans by social class, gender and national origin segments.

My e-book on market segmentation covers five myths that can destroy your marketing with non-Caucasians. It also includes target market profiles for African, Arab, Asian, Hispanic and Native Americans.

It provides detailed psychographics for each race segment. Knowing these psychographics and other behavioral characteristics will add considerably to your ability to market effectively to race specific target markets.

Market Segmentation Reveals Cultural Differences Between Races

Marketing across races requires that you know the cultural differences between races. These differences are exaggerated when people live in another country. To learn more about Implications for Global Market Segmentation, click on the link.

You can read about my site on Hispanic medical marketing here.

You can get a free trial of my automatic target market program by completing the form below:

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Posted 3-19-08: Market Segmentation
by Race Market Segments

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Market segmentation will help you to better understand your target market if you know its members’ education level.

Education Relates to Social Class in Market Segmentation

Education, like occupation, relates to social class and is the second best way for you to determine the most accurate social class for your target market.

Plus, it’s the best way for you to determine social mobility because acquiring a higher education is related to social class mobility. The higher your education level the more likely you are to move into a higher social class, while the lower your education level, the more likely you will stay in the same social class or even move down into a lower one.

Thus, using market segmentation by education can tell you many social class psychographic and behavioral characteristics about your target market.

Education Relates To Occupation in Market Segmentation

Education is also related to type of occupation and job-related skills. As an employer, you probably seek employees:

• who have good communication and conflict resolution skills,

• who work well in teams, and

• who are punctual and responsible.

People with higher educations have more of these desired skills and characteristics. So using market segmentation by education can help you to hire better employees.

Education Reveals Other Characteristics Through Market Segmentation

Education also reveals non-job related characteristics because people with higher educations:

If any of these behaviors are important to your small business, then your target market should consist of people with higher educations.

Using education in your market segmentation, also reveals much about your target market’s media choices, communication styles, effective appeals and other psychographics information that can help you to improve your marketing.

You can get more information about market segmentation by education from my e-book, Know ‘em Sell ‘em: How To Discover The Best Appeals For Your Target Market.

You will discover much about your target markets and the marketing appeals that are most effective with them by including education. The links below will take you to two other pages related to market segmentation by education:

Market Segmentation And Continuing Your Education

Market Research: Student Spending

Race market segments also provide lots of characteristics to use in market segmentation.

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Posted 3-18-08: Market Segmentation
by Education Market Segment

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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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