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December 2006 | |
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| Back to top | What Happened..
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Random ThoughtsAuthentic Aussies For some time now, "authenticity" has been touted as one of the most desirable attributes of brand aimed at youth markets. Recent studies by Australian companies such as Principals and Onion Communications are suggesting that authenticity has gone mainstream in Australia. Is this really new? Australians have always been quick to spot fakers and phonies. In a recent survey of values, Onion Communications found that Australians' regard the following at the key attributes of the Australian character: honesty (19%), open mindedness (17%), larrikinism (16%) (see Australian dictionary), individuality (15%), generosity (13%), determination (9%), trustworthiness (7%), fun (4%), modesty (1%). The Australian character is more mature and business-minded than stereotypes of surfers at Bondi Beach would suggest. A light-hearted but slightly mischievous disregard of authority perhaps helps Australians stay skeptical of the claims of big business, which brands are often perceived to be part of. Brand integrity - the keeping of brand promises - is one of the fundamental principals of marketing. But, as noted above, this is not really anything new. The research reinforces the idea that brands which seem to be in touch with reality, reflecting values which most Australians hold, and brands which have integrity are the ones which are likely to have the brightest futures. Being fun, full of surprise, and interesting is definitely allowed, however! In short, it's all about the value delivery system: being able to align brand value and customer value.
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| Back to top | Interesting New LinksMs Dewey Search EngineSearch with attitude. Probably a viral marketing exercise from Microsoft, this is a wonderful demonstration of interactivity with superb integration of video in this search engine with a resident hostess. Ms Dewey is your own, quite amusing (and petulant) search assistant who makes your computer feel alive. Check it out and you'll see what we mean.
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| Back to top | Just for FunOur New Word or Phrase
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| Back to top | Minds Eye ArticleSegmentation or Market Fragmentation? Implementing market segmentation strategies without a full assessment of the associated value creation chain and go to market strategies can lead to lower profits and customer dissatisfaction. It has become conventional wisdom to say that mass marketing is crude, unfocused, and wasteful, and that targeted marketing is a much more effective approach to doing business. When doing targeted marketing companies often decide to slice their market into finer and finer segments so that each can marketed to in the most appropriate way, with the most appropriate value propositions. Such segmentation work might analyse customers and prospects across different types of benefits sought, demographics, usage occasions, usage levels, lifestyles, service and sales channel economics, and so on. Clearly any market can be segmented in several ways. There is a problem, however. As a business divides its market into more and more segments, the market opportunities in each segment may become less economically viable - perhaps even less profitable than if the business was using mass marketing techniques. Challenges which arise as a business focuses on an increased number of segments include:
In short, there is less opportunity to leverage a core set of investments and operations right across a large market, and it may get very expensive to compete on multiple fronts. None of these challenges are insurmountable, of course, and although costs may increase so might revenues and profitability. In an ideal situation, the business re-engineers its business processes so that marketing, customer engagement, and product delivery is achieved by new processes and systems which can absorb and overcome customer segment complexity. Some businesses are able to change their processes to achieve the ultimate: tailoring a substantial part of their marketing at the individual level while also mass customising the products and solutions according to each individual's preferences. However, for most businesses (and particularly for smaller ones), too much segmentation can over-stretch the business and create unwanted costs. So why Segment? In the first place, segmentation exercises are always valuable in generating customer insight. The more you focus on understanding the nature and complexion of the market you are targeting, the more likely it is that you will target the right customers, get your go-to-market strategy right, establish the right dimensions along which you position the business, engage with your customers through the right channels, and build customer experiences that reinforce your brand. Secondly, if you do not understand the segments - active or dormant - that exist among your target customers (and existing ones), then you will be outmaneuvered by competitors who are ahead of you. And, fundamentally, you need to know if you can indeed treat your target market as a homogenous group. If not, there may be major differences between groups of potential customers which will cause you to waste money on marketing communications and channel development. Additionally, you may not having have any relevancy or impact to a large chunk of your potential market; or worse - your messages and activities could be off-putting to them and weaken any other relationships you have with these customers. Having the information that comes from performing a segmentation analysis will always be valuable. Only by working through comprehensive business plans will the economic wisdom of following through on alternative segmentation strategies become apparent. Once a clear picture develops, decisions need to be made on target markets, positioning, go to market strategy, customer engagement processes, and product strategies - all of which flow from the segmentation analysis. Fragmenting marketing activities through ever finer segments is only one possible solution. For example, businesses may find it is more profitable to have a mix of some individually managed segments and some "aggregate segments" where customer differences are understood but "umbrella" strategies are followed.
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They Wouldn't Do That... Would They?Search Engine Submission ServicesMany businesses will have been tempted to attract more visitors to their website by using the services which submit details of your website to hundreds of search engines around the world. Sometimes this is part of a "Search Engine Optimisation" service, other times you might acquire a software tool which handles most of the effort for you. Submitting your website details to hundreds of search engines sounds like a good idea, until you start getting the spam. Quite a number of these are so poorly used that the owner's main business is actually on-selling email lists of webmasters. In practice, certainly on the English-speaking web, well over 90% of all searches are made using less than 10 search engines. The key ones which you need to be on are: Google Search, Yahoo! Search, MSN and Windows Live Search, AOL Search, Ask.com search, Lycos, My Way Search, Earthlink search, and Comcast search. Key regional sites include Baidu (China) and Rediff (India). Note that not all of these search engines allow you to register your website directly, they prefer to rely on web crawls and WhoIs databases (a separate topic!).
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