Week 4 – Discussion Forum

Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Refer to the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric under the Settings icon above for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.

Tip: This week, you will have one main discussion forum post. Your discussion forum posts are due on 2 different days. You need to work harder to submit well-examined and thoroughly analyzed initial posts, one of which is due on Thursday of the week, and the other is due on Saturday of the week. Please dedicate enough time to each forum question and make sure you use your “critical thinking” and your “analytical/problem-solving” mind. Understanding these concepts will be vital in order to complete your final project in Week 5.

Finding and Targeting Your People

Prior to beginning work on this discussion forum,

Read

Chapter 7 of the course text, Principles of Marketing.

Instructions:

Geodemographic Segmentation: Finding Your People

Geodemographics is a common and effective means to segment potential customers. Leveraging both demographic (e.g., gender, age, income, marital status) and psychographic (e.g., habits, hobbies, spending habits, values) data, households can be classified into segments; and the relative attractiveness of these segments for your product or service can be determined.

In this discussion forum, you are going to take the geodemographic system Claritas and determine which segment best describes you. Then, exploring map data, you will assess how common your segment is for where you live and where you could live among more people like yourself! Finally, with knowledge of your segment’s profile, you are going to suggest a promotion for your internship brand targeted specifically to your segment.

Part 1

Visit the Claritas’ ZIP Code Look-Up

Links to an external site..
- Enter your zip code and hit submit.
- Review the information including the “Households by Income”, “Household Composition”, “Population by Age”, and “Population by Race & Ethnicity.”
Discuss, in detail, to what extent does this information match you and your household and how common your segment is where you live.

Part 2

Now it’s time to think deeper about segmentation and targeting to market your proposed product or service for your internship company.

Visit the Claritas’ Segment Details
Links to an external site.
- Once you click on the “Narrow segments” filter, you see a list of demographic, geographic, and lifestyle criteria for segmentation to turn on or off.
- Turn on a few filters that match best to your target markets to see narrower segment categories.
- From the narrower selection, click on one or two of the segments and review the information.
Explain how the segment fits as a target for your proposed product or service.
- What are the lifestyle and media traits of that segment?
- How would you use this segment information for promoting your product or service to your targeted individuals?
Be sure to use subject headers for each of the questions asked.
Review the Level Heading section of Introduction to APA
Links to an external site. resource from the Writing Center for more information.
Your initial post must be at least 350 words.
Be sure to properly cite your textbook in accordance with the APA: Citing Within Your Paper

Links to an external site. guide.

Guided Response:

Respond to at least three of your fellow marketers by Day 7 (Monday).
- Find peers who picked a different segment than you.
- Argue why their identified products or services would be more, equally, or less appealing to your segment.
- Peruse their segments’ summary pages as necessary.
You are encouraged to post your required replies earlier in the week to promote more meaningful discussion and collaboration between you and your fellow marketers.
Continue to monitor the discussion forum through Day 7 (Monday), and respond to anyone who replies to your initial post.

Skills Learned This activity helps you practice the following industry-required skills:

Marketing/Web Analytics
Problem Formation/Solving
Analytical Skills

Helpful Tips:

If you see many segments or no segments, it means that you need to reconfigure your filters.
- With a few tries, you should be able to narrow it down to less than five to 10 categories.
Do I have to use my internship brand for this assignment?
- Please do, as this will enhance your understanding of their marketing practices.
My internship brand doesn’t market products targeted to my segment. What should I do?
- Be creative, and make one up!