If you start with the idea that brand loyalty means people feel a connection to a brand because they believe the brand understands and meets their needs – both expressed and latent needs – then it makes sense to incorporate market segmentation into your approach in developing the full brand strategy. In other words, market segmentation strategy and brand loyalty are intertwined.
A good market segmentation strategy lays the groundwork for brand loyalty by identifying:
• The most valuable market, channel, product and customer segments
• Key decision makers and influencers
• Critical needs and wants for each segment
• Future needs
• Measures of customer satisfaction and loyalty
• Brand and competitive equity benchmarking
• Value proposition alternatives for each segment
• A trade-off analysis for features vs. price
Your brand can’t deliver value unless you understand what your audiences consider valuable. And the more granular you get in your understanding of your audiences, the easier it is for your brand to meet diverse needs, move into new areas via brand extensions, and continue to be relevant and useful to your audiences in the future. In addition, a robust market segmentation strategy can help you align the enterprise and focus resources on the most profitable targets so that they can be served and cultivated in a way to drive loyalty and hence brand value.
By: Mark Shevitz, Senior Brand Strategist
