The concept of STP, which stands for segmentation, targeting, positioning. It is the basis of brand building models. STP model was developed by Philip Kotler and published in the most classic marketing textbook “Marketing Management” in 1997.

The first element of the model, segmentation, is the division of the entire market of consumers into homogeneous groups with similar needs and behaviors. Proper segmentation allows not only to create a product that meets the needs of a particular segment, but also to build an effective marketing policy, which contributes to the correct brand positioning.

In order to segment the consumer market, it is necessary to choose a criterion, on which segmentation will be carried out. Classically there are 4 principles of segmentation:

descriptive segmentation;
segmentation by benefits;
behavioral segmentation;
segmentation by lifestyle.

Each of the principles of segmentation has its own strengths and weaknesses, so the choice of segmentation method depends on the characteristics of a particular market. Descriptive or socio-demographic segmentation assumes that people with different socio-demographic characteristics have different needs for goods and services.

For example, men and women may have different needs for clothing, cosmetics, and vitamins. Adolescents and the elderly have different entertainment needs. In addition to gender and age, common descriptive characteristics include income, geographic location, education level, occupation, marital status, and family size.

Changes in society along these lines have a significant impact on shopping behavior. For example, the increase in the number of working women has led to the emergence of products such as convenience foods and food constructors to save time; the general increase in life expectancy has led to the emergence of a new segment of the elderly who want to live actively, engage in sports and travel.

Differences between segments by descriptive characteristics play an important role in many markets, but there are nevertheless markets where socio-demographic characteristics are not particularly important.

Let’s look at some examples of brand promotion and development strategies: Consumers of Colgate toothpaste can be children, adults, men, or women, so it doesn’t really matter what age group or gender its target audience is.

Conversely, there are markets where two consumers of the same age, gender and income may exhibit completely different behavior and preferences. For example, a man who prefers a BMW car chooses speed, while one who buys a Mercedez chooses comfort.

Thus, segmentation by socio-demographic traits is a good way to describe a segment profile, but should be applied in conjunction with other segmentation variables.

Segmentation by benefits implies the division of consumers by value orientations, by the benefits sought from the purchase. It is the value of the benefits sought that can act as a decisive motivating factor for the purchase. So, if a person is important to quickly and reliably eat, then he is likely to go to McDonald’s. If he cares about atmosphere, white tablecloths with silverware and slow food, then the aforementioned McDonald’s will not be the right place to go.

This method of segmentation requires a detailed analysis of consumers. The reason for this is that the differences between the segments are in the common set of benefits sought by each, rather than in the fact that consumers in one segment want one benefit and consumers in another segment want a completely different benefit.

Of course, most people would like to get as many benefits as possible, but in practice you can’t get “all at once,” so you have to compromise and make sacrifices. And while some benefits may be equally important to all segments, the relative importance of different benefits may vary from segment to segment.

Consumers belonging to the same socio-demographic group may have different value systems. This type of segmentation is based on the concept of goods as a set of benefits and is extremely important for the product policy of the company, because knowledge of the benefits sought by consumers will help to develop new or modify existing products that meet consumer expectations.

Behavioral segmentation involves classifying consumers based on their buying behavior in the market. Most often behavioral criteria include the type of user, volume of purchase and level of loyalty.