The 4 PÆs in marketingùalso referred to as the marketing mixùare product, price, place, and promotion (ôMKT 421 Week Oneö 2). The first P, product, is the product that is to be sold. In order to market a product, the marketer has to consider all of the productÆs characteristics and how these conform to what the target customer wants. There may not just be one type of target customer for a product, however; in many cases, the customers that would be interested in a product exist in multiple market segments. ôA market segment is a (relatively) homogeneous group of customers who will respond to a marketing mix in a similar wayö (Perrault & McCarthy 26). Likewise, segmenting a market is defined as ôThe process of splitting customers, or potential customers, in a market into different groups, or segments, within which customers share a similar level of interest in the same or comparable set of needs satisfied by a distinct marketing propositionö (ôMarket Segmentationö).
öIn many cases, a product can appeal to more than one market segment, or section of the market; in these cases, the product is positioned to appeal to each market segment separately, depending on what that market segment wants in a product. For example, a small portable radio might appeal to a teenage girl who wants to listen to her favorite rock star while sitting in the park, a teenage boy who wants to listen to heavy metal while he jogs, and a corporate business executive who likes to stay current on the news while walking to the office from the subway. Each of these groups will respond to a different type of marketing approach, so the people in each group are clustered into a separate segment. Segmenting allows the marketer to hone the marketing approach so that it will be more effective in each segment rather than trying to use one broad marketing appeal that will reach each of these segments at once.
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