Does Internet Marketing enable more effective targeting and segmentation?

There are markets for all goods and services produced, otherwise businesses would have no reason to produce them. However, markets do not contain individuals or businesses that are all the same. For example, although we say that there is a market for cars, cars come in all sorts of sizes, shapes, colours and styles. This reflects the fact that we as consumers have different preferences, different budgets, different tastes and different reasons for buying. I might buy a car because I want something reliableto get me to and from work; someone else might buy a car because they want people to know they are a success in their business.

One of the functions of marketing is to make sense of the different groupings within markets. This process is called segmentation. By segmenting markets, businesses are able to see particular charactaristics within them and target products and marketing tactics to suit that segment. The proces works like this.

1. Segment the market by using market research.
2. Identify customer needs within each segment.
3. Target chosen market segments, using the tactics available from the seven Ps of the marketing mix.

Segmentation and targeting online is undertaken using a number of different variables:

• demographic
• psychographic
• economic
• usage-based.

There are some comprehensive sources of web trends and analyses. Three of these are:

• http://www.clickz.com/
• www.nua.ie/surveys
• http://www.webtrends.com/

Demographic

Demographics are about the make-up of your population. We can study population trends all over the world. Another form of demographics is internet demographics and this directly relates to internet marketing. In internet terms, it is useful for businesses planning an online strategy to know how many internet customers there may be.

Potentially, a website gives a business global reach. However, levels of 'internet penetration' very widely, depending on the proportion of the population within different countries and continents having access to the web. To make a well-informed decision about targeting requires an understanding of internet access and availability in different countries.

A number of services give comprehensive data about internet facts and figures. Nielsen NetRatings, for example, provides statistics on home internet use by country.

Psychographic

This kind of segmentation uses lifestyle and personal characteristics as a way of segmenting a market. It addresses the question 'What are our possible customers like?' Using this basis, an online business can blend its marketing tactics to suit the segment. Psychographic profiles of different internet users are bases on detailed research, carried out by marketing services companies.

Economic

On a global basis the economic prosperity and conditions within different countries determine the extent to which e-commerce is likely to succeed in them. A business considering an online strategy that depends on an increasing volume of sales in, say, Eastern Europe, would do well to acquaint itself with economic data about the area.
Usage-based

This kind of date informs business leaders about how the internet is being used in different parts of the world.