ABSTRACT
Marketers make informed decisions about segmentation and targeting based on internal, secondary, and primary data sources (see Exhibit 8.1). Marketing segmentation is the process of aggregating individuals or businesses along similar characteristics that pertain to the use, consumption, or benefits of a product or service. The result of market segmentation is groups of customers called market segments. We use the word groups loosely here. A market segment can actually be of any size from one person to millions
of people-an important point because the technology of internet marketing allows companies to easily tailor market mixes for targeting individuals. It is also important to note that segments are worth targeting separately only when they have bigger differences between them than within them. For example, if internet users behave differently at work than at home, marketers can capitalize on these differences by targeting each as a separate segment-otherwise why bother separating these users into two targets with different marketing mix offerings?
