Characteristics of People and Organizations

The characteristics of people fall into two major categories: (1 geographic and demographic, and (2) psychographic (lifestyle and personality), graphics are more useful in describing consumer segments than in identifying Nevertheless, these variables are popular because available data often relate demographics to the other segmentation variables shown in Exhibit 4-2. Geographic location useful for segmenting certain kinds of product-markets For example, there are regime differences in the popularity of transportation vehicles, in .several states the most \ vehicle is a pickup truck. The "truck belt" runs from the upper Midwest south Texas and the Gulf Coast states. The Ford brand is dominant in the northern half of! Truck belt, while Chevrolet leads in the southern half. Demographic variables describe buyers according to their age, income, education occupation, and many other factors. Demographic information helps to describe groups of buyers such as heavy users of a product or brand. Demographics used in combination with buyer behavior information are useful in segmenting markets, selecting distribute channels, designing advertising strategies, and other decisions on marketing strategy. Lifestyle variables indicate what people do (activities), their interests, their opinion and their buying behavior. Lifestyle characteristics extend beyond demographics offer a more penetrating description of the consumer.6 Profiles are developed us lifestyle characteristics. This information is used to segment markets, position products and guide the design of advertising messages. An array of specialty magazines enables companies to identify and access specific lifestyle segments. For example, Peterson Publishing Co. publishes 23 mantles 9 bimonthlies, and 45 annuals.7 its magazine portfolio includes Motor Trend, (mountain bikes), Circle Track, and Teen magazine. Specialty magazines match buyer lifestyle interests with articles that correspond to the interests. Subscriber profiles companies to match their market target profiles with the right magazine's). Many oft specialty magazines conduct subscriber research studies that are useful to comp targeting lifestyle segments