Paul Christ at KnowThis.com wrote this informative article on low cost ways to segment markets:

With the exception of basic commodity items such as home heating oil, a single marketing strategy often does not address the unique needs of all members of a market. Nearly all products and services face markets requiring a segmentation approach in which the overall market is carved up into smaller groups consisting of customers who share similar characteristics.

The exercise of segmenting markets is not always easy, and grows in difficulty as organizations serve greater numbers of customers. Preferably an extensive market research study is undertaken to identify segments. But how can you tackle the problem of segmenting your market if you have neither the time nor the funds to do an intensive segmentation analysis?

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