Let’s start with a quick definition – customer segmentation is the process of dividing your customers into groups with similar behaviors or attributes that are relevant to how you market, build products, and offer services.
In my video about what customer segmentation is and why you should care, I use a pizza story analogy. Imagine for a moment that you are fulfilling your life long dream of opening a pizza store.
Some investors, analysts and myself are wondering if another dot-com bubble with high-flying valuations of social networks with questionable or unsteady revenue models is being created.
Facebook has yet to live up to all of the hype that it received before going public. Is Twitter next?
A team from the University of Basel in Switzerland released a paper in 2012 discussing research they had conducted on the impact of firm-created word of mouth communications versus user-generated social media content. The objective was to determine which type of content has the greater effect on consumers’ attitude towards brands and purchase intent. In other words, what’s driving your sales? The content that you create or the content that consumers create?
The research was based on 20 best-selling brands from the tourism, telecommunications and pharmaceuticals industries and also considered the role of traditional advertising such as television.
There has been a lot of talk over the last two weeks about the Super Bowl ads and which ones were the best. As far as I’m concerned, the best ads are the ones that address a business need and move the sales needle.
The problem with a lot of the popular ads is just that they are funny. At times, it seems as if Super Bowl advertisers are just competing with each other to be the funniest or most talked about. Yes, that can translate into dollars but not always. Although Budweiser’s “Horse and Trainer Reunited” topped USA Today’s Ad Meter, I’m curious if it did much to move the sales needle.
(Caveat: I recognize that the creative brief for the Budweiser ad may have contained other objectives)
Mercedes-Benz’ “Soul” ad featuring Willem Dafoe was the best ad in Super Bowl XLVII because it’s designed to meet both of the criteria mentioned above.
In high school, we had a class project to introduce a new product in our school store. We decided to launch a branded beanie as the weather was turning cold and football season was in full swing.
As part of our market research, we surveyed students to determine color preferences. We showed color samples and the overwhelming response was for blue beanies with a minority wanting white.