Strategic Marketing - Assignment PDF

Running Head: STP 0
STRATEGIC MARKETING

STP 1
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
The practice of Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning.........................................................2
Segmenting Market (Split & Conquer)......................................................................................4
Targeting....................................................................................................................................5
Positioning..................................................................................................................................6
STP Critique...............................................................................................................................7
STP Application.........................................................................................................................8
Recommendations....................................................................................................................13
References................................................................................................................................14

STP 2
Introduction
Due to the globalization, the world is getting smaller and interconnected and this makes
marketing a crucial ingredient for the success of the business and its survival (Schilke,
Reimann and Thomas, 2009). In any organization, marketing segmentation plays an
important role with an ability to recognize customer in matching with their products.
Acknowledging the fact that not every product fit all sorts of customers, the companies need
to analyse diverse taste and preference of the customers and move away from the era of mass
marketing or from the quote by Alfred sloan “a car for every purse and purpose” (Friedman,
2014). In this era, segmentation, targeting and positioning are the major three aspects
significant for the decision planning process. These aspects help the business enterprise in
identifying and selecting of the potential customers and assess the benefits linked to the
products that need to offer in the market.
In this report, the first part is a critical analysis in relation to the various approaches and
functions and importance of STP. In the second section, an exposure of these concepts is
made on several organizations so as to gather better insight into the approaches. Moreover,
the last section presents various generic recommendations that can be exploited by any
organizations in relevancy with the concept of STP.
The practice of Segmentation, Targeting and
Positioning
The principle - segmentation, targeting, positioning (STP) - is the core of strategic marketing.
One can see the outline of these elements in figure 1. STP position itself with key benefits as
it helps in the marketing communication plans, development of personalized and important
messages to various customers and giving the capability to the marketer to prioritize
propositions.

Figure 1
Source: (Kapferer and Bastien, 2012)
STP 3
In the process of segmentation, it includes massive data and customers ranging from
customer demographics, profiles, incomes, preferences, and on the top – changing needs of
the customers. Various challenges also having impact on the process, which impose
restriction to have an effective marketing, mix in relation with product, price, place and
promotion for the satisfaction of customer and the process (Keh, Nguyen and Ng, 2007).
However, there are numbers of literature in relation to the marketing segmentation, which
guide the manager to achieve its objectives and goals.
Positioning of a brand in accordance with the needs of the customers is crucial as of its
unique characteristics, in shaping the customer preference and make the customer loyal
towards the brand (Fuchs and Diamantopoulos, 2010). It side line the customer to what the
customer really want as of any specific product or service, for example, if a car of the
customer is nearly fuel empty, the customer will not consider which petrol station needed to
be chosen for the purpose of refuel.
Segmenting Market (Split & Conquer)