At any given time you’ll find me reading 3-4 books (fiction and business) at the same time. That might seem unusual to some people, but I read as I need information or have a new interest. Having a Kindle (and associated apps!) makes it really easy for me to jump between books too.

One of the books that I have been reading on and off is Marketing 3.0: From Products to Customers to the Human Spirit by Philip Kotler, Hermawan Kartajaya, and Iwan Setiawan.

The hierarchy of marketing as Kotler, Kartajaya and Setiwan see it is:

Marketing 1.0 – Product-Centric Marketing

• Objective: Sell products
• How Companies See the Market: Mass Buyers with Physical Needs
• Key Marketing Concept: Product Development

Marketing 2.0 – Consumer-Oriented Marketing

• Objective: Satisfy and retain customers
• How Companies See the Market: Smarter consumer with mind and heart
• Key Marketing Concept: Differentiation

Marketing 3.0 – Values-Driven Marketing

• Objective: Make the world a better place
• How Companies See the Market: Whole human with mind, heart, and spirit
• Key Marketing Concept: Values

When I saw the latest Electrolux initiative, Vac from the Sea, I immediately thought “There’s a wonderful example of marketing 3.0.”

But it’s more than just an initiative. You see, I had an Electrolux for many years. It was a hand-me-down from someone special. And when it finally bit the dust (pardon the pun!), it had to be at least 20 years old. Yes, really… 20 years old. It was one of the best vacuums I have ever used. It was solid, portable, easy-to-use and more. And I am currently on the market for another one. I have an emotional connection (mind, heart, spirit) to Electrolux and my house (clean equals happiness). I also have an emotional connection to our planet (I live here!).

Electrolux does an excellent job of connecting the two. And while I won’t be able to buy one of these lovely Vac from the Sea versions (they aren’t for sale), let’s just say, this campaign has helped to move the purchase to the top of the list.

It’s quite sad what’s going on and what we humans do with our plastic waste. Which makes what Electrolux is trying to accomplish with this initiative a shining example of a company that has chosen to lead the way to make a difference and make the world a better place. That’s Marketing 3.0 my friends.

What other companies do you think  acknowledge “the whole customer?” What products or companies do you have a ‘mind, heart, spirit’ attachment to?

[Images: Electrolux, Holy Kaw]

Market segmentation as you know it has become more complicated today than ever before. Capturing data in CRM systems, doing primary research, etc. all help, but the ways of segmenting we’ve learned don’t allow you to see your customers in their natural space. Sure, sales, marketing and customer service teams capture a lot of information, but is it insightful? Is it useful in understanding the segment? Or is it just what ‘they heard’ and made a note of?

There is a lot of hype around social media tools like Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc., but the fact remains that social media (as a concept) is the first time that organizations have ever been able to see, listen to and get to know their customers in public spaces (again, in a ‘natural’ setting). Social interactions tend to be natural and not forced or coerced, which often leads to deeper insights.

Let’s look at all of the “-graphics” to get a better understanding of segmentation and how segmentation has changed.

Demographics & Firmographics

Ah, demographics and firmographics…the marketers tried and true methods of slicing and dicing their markets. We know them well, don’t we? They were drilled into our heads as marketing majors and have stuck with us through the years as the best practice for market segmentation.

But the days of mass marketing have come to an end and it doesn’t make sense to segment markets only to treat them as if they all live, think and buy the same way.

As you know, demographics allow B2C marketers divvy up their markets by size, age, income, education, ethnicity, etc. and firmographics allow B2B marketers to manage their markets based on employee size, revenue size, industry, number of locations, etc.

Does looking at someone’s income really provide an indication of how, where, when or why they part with their paycheck? Does knowing a business buyer’s revenue size tell you exactly how they manage their budgets or what types but products/services are purchased? No and no. Demographics and firmographics truly leave marketers empty handed when trying to get a deep understanding of markets.

So what’s a marketer to do in order to get deeper insights into their market in order to segment them properly? If demographics and firmographics are all you are using, consider adding psychographics, sociographics and ethnographics to the mix.

Psychographics

Want to know what your customers’ values, attitudes and lifestyles (VALs) are? Then psychographics should be a part of your segmentation mix. While psychographics have been around for quite some time, they often aren’t used to their full potential. While the VALs segmentation seems strongly linked to B2C marketing, it’s important for B2B marketers need to understand is that just because someone is buying in a business situation it doesn’t mean that they don’t have certain attitudes or values when it comes to products and services (i.e. “I want the best bang for my small business budget!”). It is smart and safe to assume that many consumers carry their VALs with them into the office. But, is psychographics even enough to really know your customers?

Sociographics

If you are looking for the ability to connect with your customers at a level much deeper than demographics, firmographics or psychographics, consider sociographics. Sociographics allow marketers to relate to customers as individuals. Remember one-to-one marketing of yesteryear? It was a great concept and made CRM systems very popular. But today, social media plays an important concept in marketing. By social media, I don’t mean using tools like Twitter, Facebook, blogs, forums, communities, etc. but the two-way conversations these tools allow for. As you get to know customers online, you’ll be able to determine their individual values, attitudes, friends, hobbies, passions, who influences them and more. Essentially, sociographics allow you to discover what makes your customers really tick.

[Image: Stefano Maggi]

Ethnographics

What is ethnography? Basically, it’s about understanding your market’s everyday life where they live it and from an insider’s point of view. Meaning, you understand the market because you view them in their natural settings. Take for example, Graco’s marketing and social media team. A lot of them are moms and as such they can relate and market to moms because they understand the needs/wants moms have.

Social media, again, is one way to understand the common values, lifestyles, hobbies, needs, etc. that drive people to join communities and forums of like interests. Typically these types of online groups have their own culture, speak in terms that are unique to the group, and they often help or influence each other to make purchasing decisions. Relating to your market in this manner allows you to seamlessly blend in with it.

[Image: Gina Zacharias]

What’s The Answer?

Marketers have more tools than ever at their disposal these days. Between CRM systems and social media monitoring tools, marketers can gain a lot of insights into their markets. With social media being still so new for many organizations, it will take time to truly understand the shift from demographics and firmographics to sociographics and ethnographics.

The key here is to understand that it will take a lot of time, roll-up-the-sleeves hard work, patience, strategic savvy and management. You can’t buy a list that tells you this data and you surely should not jump off the plank. Your starting point should be audience research analysis and training on how to properly engage customers in their surroundings. Once you have that down, the next steps will be finding tools and determining a strategy to pull it all together in a manner that provides a valid return.

Your thoughts? How has social media affected how you do market segmentation for your B2C or B2B customers?

[*NOTE: This post originally appeared on the Serengeti Communications blog, Endless Plain.]

[Image Source: Talk, Inc. Blog]

I have been thinking about this for a while because I keep bumping into the same situations (well, people) over and over… This won’t be a lengthy post because I am more interested in seeing if you are having the same experiences as me. If so, I am really interested in your thoughts.

What are the four faces of social media? Well, as I have encountered them…I have settled on:

The Social Media Purist: The person who truly embraces social media as the conversation that the tools allow people to engage in from day-to-day. The tools might change, but the ultimate goal is to listen, learn, share, and converse with customers and prospects. For the purists, it’s about the conversation and the strength of the relationships that lead to strong business relationships. And the relationships affect all departments within a company because everyone employee is responsible for a great interaction.

The Marketer/PR Professionals or Ad/PR/Interactive Agencies: For the most part, a lot of these folks (for now, I hope…fingers crossed) see social media tools as just that…tools. They are tools that are used to push one-way messaging. It’s not about the conversation, it’s about the medium and more places and people to share the message when traditional marketing like advertising, PR, direct mail, events, etc. aren’t working or delivering. It’s what most are comfortable with, and I get that. While this mindset might work in the short-term…it won’t work long-term.

The Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Gang: Social media is about the tools that help generate the links. It’s about getting clients on Digg or StumbleUpon. It’s about stuffing keywords into every nook and cranny. It’s rarely about the conversation. Because SEOs are typically paid on results, they aren’t paid for helping clients engage in conversation. Or, it’s because they are making money for themselves by selling off highly ranked sites or by monetizing social sites…it’s purely business, not conversation. And yes, there are some SEO’s that get the mix of social media and SEO…I’m thinking about Lee Odden or Li Evans or Wil Reynolds.

The End User (that would be the customer): In the end, they are the people who are stuck combing through all the blog posts, tweets, and Internet links to find information that’s truly relevant to them and right at their fingertips when & where they need it. They want information or feedback that can help them to make a sound purchasing decision or the information that can help them do their job quicker, easier and better. They are the ones looking for conversation, but are the influencers that are most often forgotten by the marketing/PR/agency/SEO folks.

What’s going to happen here? And by here, I mean the world of marketing. I don’t know about you…but I don’t think social media isn’t going away any time soon. You all know me, I am obviously a purist. I enjoy conversation and I think it has many indirect and direct benefits to business and revenue.

So, should we find a way to get everyone to work together? Or will the social media purists eventually be pushed out by the marketers who continue to try to control the market and the SEO folks who are just looking to fill Google full of irrelevant links? Or, does it not even matter? What do you think?

[Image: iStock]