Don't Just Define Your Market -- Dominate It!

One of the areas many executives misunderstand is market segmentation. You don’t just want to be a player in the market you want to dominate a segment of the market.

Important point: You don’t want to satisfy every customer and you don't want every member of the general public as a customer.

I'll bet you read that at least twice because you couldn't believe your eyes. You can't be all things to all people successfully. I've seen companies offer multitudes of different products and services, no doubt in an effort to try and satisfy every need of every possible customer. This is a wonderful idea in giving great customer service but it begs the question: How can you be great at all of those things? The real answer is you can't. It's best to decide which products and services you can excel at and hit the market hard in those areas.

Which is better, to be an adequate option on a wide range of products thus making you a commodity, or to be the best at a select number of options where everyone sees you as the best at those things?

If your customers shop for what you offer as a commodity, then they have little or no loyalty and will shop everyone else as well, which means you are only seen as an option.

When you dominate a market segment through proper positioning as the best in those products, people will seek you out as the best in this area. Loyalty is high when customers seek you out for specific services. This is how you get to be the only option for those people.

Good market segments are usually made up of people who think about and buy your products and services the same way.

Ask yourself the following questions:

What are they buying?
Who is buying?
Why are they buying?
How do they buy?
How will they use what they buy?

How you answer these questions will point you in the direction of market segments you may want to hone in on so you can be the dominant player in the market.