Target Market Planning
What you’ll learn to do: Examine retailer decisions based on target market planning
We defined target markets earlier as the segment at which a firm will focus its marketing activity. In the following sections, we will explore how firms tailor their strategies to their target market. It’s important for a firm’s strategy to be designed with the target market in mind in order to make the strategy more successful and the firm more profitable.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
- Define a brand community
- Explain why a retailer would select a differentiated marketing strategy over a mass or concentrated one
- Predict a retail strategy mix based on the characteristics, needs, and attitudes of their customers
Brand Community
A brand community is a community formed on the basis of attachment to a product or brand, stressing the connection between brand, individual identity, and culture. In the advertising and marketing world, “brand community” has become a term used to encompass a brand’s customers, fans, and advocates. Having a strong and loyal brand community can turn a small brand into a success if it is nurtured and appreciated properly. Ad agency Blade Creative Branding writes, “The people out in the marketplace who embrace the values of the brand, as customers and/or purchase influencers, are the brand’s true “owners”.” This philosophy has become especially popular with marketers creating and working on social media campaigns with easier interaction and more opportunities to tap into the brand community to leverage the brand.