Skip to main content

Tri-media’s role in securing niches

(Interview with Prof. Rey Lugtu by Ernesto Calucag, Senior Researcher, BusinessWorld, for the Best Practices Forum series, published in BusinessWorld, June 27, 2007)

As mass markets continue to fragment into millions of niche markets by the minute, business owners and marketing professionals alike are in a hurry to find the right combination, whether traditional or new media tools, to lure their choice of niche market.

But even with newer marketing tactics, experts believe traditional marketing media, or the use of television, radio or print media, still remains an effective marketing tool when it comes to communicating with your target niche consumers.

Marketing Professor Reynaldo Lugtu, Jr. from De La Salle University Professional Schools said that traditional media’s effectiveness is very evident in the way bigger companies advertise their new products in the market, particularly those who want to conquer new business segments as their way of widening the revenue base.

“Television, radio, and print advertisements are pull marketing approaches that are intended to entice the prospective specific group of consumers to buy the product or service. So the traditional media still has a place during these days when new niches prop up almost everyday,” he said.

Pull marketing approach is employed in the market or topdown approach in niche marketing where the large market is broken down into smaller pieces or segments, and these segments are further broken down into niches that are defined by a specific group of people or consumers. The company then finds a product or service to address the specific needs of this niche, and promotes the product to entice prospective buyers to buy.

Generally, the market or topdown approach in niche marketing is employed by companies in the fast moving consumer goods industry, telecommunications services industry, and financial service industry.

In the emerging context of pull media, experts said it will be even more important for marketers to maintain an intimate connection with consumers. So the first rule in using any traditional medium is whether it can reach the targeted consumer.

Marketing experts say there are three types of consumers today. The younger consumers under 24 are living their life on Friendster, YouTube and other social media. And it is not certain that they’re entirely ignoring traditional media.

The middle group, consumers aged 25-35, are equally comfortable in both traditional and new media. Meanwhile, the 35-plus crowd is said to have both feet firmly planted in the traditional media world.

With this, Jose Jesus F. Roces, marketing guru at the Asian Institute of Management, noted that in order for a niche marketing plan to be effective, advertisers need to go back to their audience. Build the media plan, benefits and creative strategy specific to them.
For one, niche marketers should remain flexible when it comes to using traditional media. That is, they should be open in combining these with other media channels in order to effectively reach the target market.

“Before using any traditional media, advertisers should take note that is has to be appropriate, it has to resonate, it has to be directed to the specific segments,” he said.

Television, he said, is here to stay, although the medium is known to be the priciest among the three.

Radio and print, are somewhat recognized as niche media since advertisements in these media can be localized. As such, they can be employed in targeting geographic segments, such as Metro Manila, Cebu and Davao markets.

Print advertisement can further be localized based on special interest publications, and therefore be used to reach a niche market more cost effectively.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Ethical Issues in BPO

(Published in the "Business Mirror" under the Mirror Image column, Oct 10, 2007) . The Philippines emerges as one of the favorite destinations for the estimated $150-billion business-process outsourcing (BPO) industry, according to a recent global study by Diamond Management and Technology Consultants. The consulting firm projects the local BPO sector to grow 50 percent in the next three to five years. In this hypergrowth BPO sector, similar to other fast-growing industries like the telecommunications- industry growth in the late ’90s, firms focus their time, resources and energy on hiring and building up of operations. In this break-neck pace, what many companies neglect are the ethical norms and standards that they need to uphold. One ethical issue that BPO firms need to contend with involves ensuring employee safety, health and welfare. The irregular working hours of BPO employees, specifically call-center agents, is taking a huge toll on their health, resulting in a condi

Can outsourcing be stopped?

((Published in the BusinessMirror under the Mirror Image column, Nov 11, 2008) Now that President-elect Barack Obama will be inaugurated on January 20, 2009, many are holding their breath, especially the business-process outsourcing companies in India, the Philippines and others, as to how he can turn around the outsourcing of jobs from the United States. In debates and on the road, Obama repeatedly said that if elected, he would discourage companies from “shipping jobs overseas” by taking away tax breaks, or by giving benefit to those corporations that keep jobs domestically. “We can keep giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas, or we can give tax benefits to companies that invest right here in New Hampshire,” Senator Obama said at a joint appearance with Sen. Hillary Clinton in Unity, New Hampshire. According to CIO magazine, economists and legal advisers contacted about those comments said they are unaware of any specific tax breaks aimed at offshoring or outsourcing

Niche marketing (full transcript of Interview from Businessworld)

(Interview with Prof. Rey Lugtu by BusinessWorld, for the Best Practices Forum series, published in BusinessWorld, June 27, 2007) BW: What is niche marketing all about? Prof. Rey Lugtu: A niche, in marketing terminology, is a small market consisting of an individual customer or a small group of customers with similar characteristics or needs. Niche marketing is, therefore, targeting this small market that is not being readily served by the mainstream product or service. A niche market is characterized by the following: -It should be profitable to serve that market -It should have enough number of buyers to make your business sustainable -The market should be growing or has growth potential so that you can continue meeting the demand for a long time. The above characteristics may be termed niche characteristics. They could however, just as well apply to a market segment. However, market segments, in contrast, are large identifiable groups within a market, such as the rich segment, the