differentiated marketing
differentiated marketing
ortargeting strategy
a MARKETING STRATEGY for a product which is based on the use of a variety of MARKETING MIX formats (different prices, advertising messages, retail outlets, etc.) each aimed at a particular group of customers in the market, i.e. MARKET SEGMENT. Contrasted with an UNDIFFERENTIATED MARKETING STRATEGY, which applies the same marketing mix formula right across the market, the differentiated approach attempts to customize its marketing mix for each particular segment in order to maximize its appeal to the buyers constituting those segments.This approach is best suited to a market in which the product being sold is capable of being differentiated either by physical variations of the product itself or by its psychological appeal (see PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION), and where buyers demand a substantial amount of product variety In these cases, differentiated marketing is usually much more successful than an across the board approach in boosting sales. However, the targeted approach may prove to be unduly costly in terms of both higher production Costs (for example, with smaller production runs a firm may be unable to lower costs through exploiting economies of scale) and marketing costs (for example, the need to finance a number of separate ADVERTISING and SALES PROMOTION budgets). See CONCENTRATED MARKETING or TARGETING STRATEGY, INTERNATIONAL MARKETING, MARKET SEGMENTATION.