If the first rule of marketing is to know your customers, the second rule may be to position your product to better meet their needs. There are countless products out there, and yours canât be everything to all people. But once you find your target market and decipher the best way to reach them, youâll increase your chances of finding success exponentially. This is exactly what STP marketing is all about.
What is STP in marketing?
STP marketing is one of the most common marketing modelsâin fact, you may do it without even realizing it has a name. STP stands for segmentation, targeting, and positioning, and the strategy focuses on personalizing messaging to engage with different audiences. An easy way to think of this model is with this formula:
segmentation + targeting = positioning
Letâs dive into each part of the equation.
Segmentation
Segmentation is all about determining who your audience is. Sure, you can try to broadly target buyers generically, but chances are, your message will resonate less, and youâll miss out on many who would otherwise be interested in your product.
Conversely, if you segment your audience into smaller groups, you can focus your messaging so itâs more relevant to them. There are countless ways you can segment your audience, but some to consider include:
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Psychographic, like hobbies or interests
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Demographics, like gender, marital status, or profession
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Behavioral patterns, like browsing habits or brand loyalty
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Geographic, like specific regions, countries, or even climates
Targeting
After youâve segmented your market, the next step is targeting. In this stage, youâll narrow down these segments to determine which are most valuable to pursue. There are many metrics you can use to determine this:Â
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Size: You may want to start with the largest segment, since the customer potential is the largest.
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Reachability: The segment you decide to market to should be easy to access.
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Profitability: Consider which customers would be cheaper to acquire with significant ROI. Who has the most spending power?
Positioning
Once youâve determined who to target first, itâs time to apply the insights youâve acquired from the first two steps and figure out how to market your product to your selected audience.
Itâs not just about describing your product; itâs about positioning it from the perspective of the buyers in your segment. What value proposition will resonate with them? What channel can you reach them on? For example, if your product is for teenagers, youâd likely yield much stronger sales from trying to reach customers through social media instead of direct mail campaigns.
Why use the STP model?
There is a reason the STP marketing model has proven so successful. Itâs associated with many benefits, such as:
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Increased engagement: As you tailor your marketing to appeal to specific segments, your messaging will resonate more with those individuals, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.
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Better ROI on marketing costs: Since youâre approaching marketing more strategically, you can expect a higher return on investment. Youâll save money on wasted budget from trying to reach segments that arenât likely to yield results.Â
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Stronger product: Because you are spending time getting to really know your buyers and experiencing more engagement, you can make improvements to your product based on what you learn about them and the feedback you receive.
How to create your own STP model in Lucid
With dozens of ready-to-use templates, dynamic capabilities that enable team collaboration, and integrations with many apps you already use and love, Lucid makes every stage of the STP marketing process seamless.Â
Segmentation
Our market segmentation matrix template can help you stay organized as you identify your ideal market. Lucidâs many sharing options make it easy to collaborate with your team and collect the best ideas about ways to segment your audience.
