What is STP marketing?

STP Marketing: Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning is a marketing model of three steps that monitors the products or services you offer and how you manage to convey the benefits of your offerings to your target market. The marketing model requires you to segment your audience, target each segment, and position your products according to what the audience is looking for. 

1. Segmentation: Dividing a target audience into smaller groups with the help of distinct characteristics.
2. Targeting: Making a decision on which segment needs to focus first.
3. Positioning: Product positioning is based on a marketing mix that will appeal to the target segment of the audience. 

The STP marketing model is effective since it uses smaller groups of a customer base. This allows businesses to tailor their offerings to align with the expectations of a selected group. 

What’s the STEP Formula?

The concept of STP marketing can be easily remembered with the help of the following formula:

• Segmentation + Targeting Equals Positioning

The formula illustrates how each segment chosen needs a tailored marketing mix and positioning to ensure the model achieves success. 

3 Key Benefits of STP Marketing

1. Increase in sales: By creating target segments of the audience, it is easier for brands to cater to a select group’s needs and meet their requirements. This allows them to boost the number of sales they make. 
2. Reduces unnecessary costs: By selecting target groups, brands can focus advertisements only on the chosen audience instead of a large group. It helps in cutting down excessive costs on advertising and other marketing means. 
3. Better opportunities: By identifying target groups to focus on, brands can access better opportunities for their business. They can create personalized marketing methods, better shopping experiences, higher customer interaction, and more, which will help create goodwill and improve the brand’s position in the relevant industry. 

9 Factors to Consider Before Developing an STP Marketing Process

Market definition:

Since the global market is far too vast to start catering to, it is helpful to break down potential audiences into smaller groups. This can be done by defining your Total Available Market (TAM), Serviceable Available Market (SAM), and Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM). After breaking down, the SOM is the portion to which you can effectively reach out to for marketing.

Market segments:

After defining your SOM, you need to consider the different segments you want to make for your audience. The most common market segments are – geographical, demographic, behavioral, and psychographic. You can use variables on top of these niche divisions to narrow down the target group you want to focus on for marketing.

Segment profiles:

Segment profiles can be thought of as customer personas, a detailed description of people who fall into your target groups. Profiles can be made by defining the group’s needs, decision-making, behaviors, traits, etc. These help with making better comparisons before making the final STP strategy.

Commercial attractiveness:

Research and cross-reference your data with market trends, consumer trends, etc. to help understand which target segment will bring the best gains for your brand. This will help narrow down the target market for the final strategy.

Target segment:

Based on the attractiveness, choosing the target segment is the next consideration for the STP strategy. It helps make marketing decisions based on the needs, requirements, behaviors, etc. of the chosen group of the audience.

Positioning:

The positioning of your brand is what will help you speak to your target segment in the best way possible. You could position your brand based on category, consumer, competitor, or price. Choosing the most suitable method will help you achieve a higher reach with the target audience. 

Marketing mix:

Consideration of the 4 Ps that you would want to implement in your STP strategy. Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. In a marketing mix, you will have to consider the product you want to sell to your target segment, the price at which you can gain the most sales, the location at which you will have high reach, and how you can promote your product to your target segment.

Evaluation of elements:

Before making the final STP strategy. It is necessary to evaluate the target segment, the behavior, and their responses to competitors in the market. It will allow brands to understand how consumers react to similar products, and if the current marketing mix chosen is most feasible to move forward with. 

Brand identity:

After collecting all information on the target segment, it is necessary to have a brand identity to promote to the audience. Brand identity involves all elements that will make your business recognizable amongst the segment, such as logos, slogans, campaigns, and more. 

Conclusion

The STP marketing model is an effective way in which brands can strategize their marketing practices to the most suitable target audience. It helps improve consumer relationships, boost sales, and build a reputation amongst competitors in the market.