It doesn’t matter whether you’re a small local business or a international conglomerate, doing research on the market you plan to serve is paramount to your success.
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I want to talk a little in this post about market segmentation. While it is true that a company can’t be everything to everybody and there will be a certain profile that will define the general customer you will serve, within those assumptions there is huge diversity or segments that you may need to be aware of.
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In keeping with today’s theme of the great manager Zubin Karkaria, I want to show you some of his comments that he made in a forum not too long ago concerning this subject.
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Karkaria:
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“We generally undertake both qualitative and quantitative researches by region to find out the needs, beliefs and perceptions of the customers. Once we find out the needs, beliefs, perceptions of the customer in the region, we break down the same in terms of language.
We create a product, segment it and then we see to it that from the beginning of the experience, from the time that the customer comes to the counter till the end, he gets the same experience that we perceive he needs.”
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“To illustrate, we realised when we did a marketing research through IMRB, that there was a need for specialized tour operator in the Marathi segment. So we created a brand, which we called Bhraman Mandal and advertised in NavBharat Times, Lok Satta, and Maharashtra Times.”
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“If we assume that India is one market and give everybody the same tour, either the South-Indian guy in the bus of fifty will be upset with the behavior of the North-Indian guy or vice versa; hence the need for segmentation.”
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Again we see the genius of simplicity. Even within a market that you serve there will be numerous differences and preferences. To identify these, not only in a huge company, but even within a local, neighborhood area, is crucial to your success. Don’t ignore the diversity of needs and wants within the customer base you serve.
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