Target Marketing (topic post 1)

My "expert topic" is Segmentation, specifically targeting marketing. According to the Center for Businesss Planning, market segmentation is the process of dividing the marking into groups of consumes who are most likely to use your products or services. Target marketing is defined in the text as the process of evaluating each market segments attractiveness and selecting one or more segments to enter(Kotler, p239). Net MBA identifies target marketing as a company recognizing the diversity of its consumers and not trying to meet all the needs with the same product.
In my last post, I linked to an article about a Seattle based company test marketing the use of electronic signals to attract customers Target Marketing via RFID. The target market for this company is the visually impaired and hearing impaired consumers. Using a transmitter, called an RFID (radio frequency identification), retail stores and cafes in the downtown Seattle area would be able to advertise sales, specials and attractions to those who might not typically be able to attend to such visual and/or auditory advertisements. Signals from overhead mounted speakers would be activated via a small transmitter the size of three credit cards stacked together that the individual would be carrying. Messages would be transmitted along a low frequency to a monitor and would signal an audio file or a file for visual display of American sign language on a video monitor advertising the stores sales or the cafes specials. Individuals carrying the transmitters would be able to program which information that would receive based on their likes and dislikes.
Awarea corporation, who designed the RFID, goal is to attract customers outside their typical market. This marketing strategy, applied to the retail stores and shops in the Seattle area, had to take into account the demographics and lifestyle of the population in the region that would make use of this product. Is the visually impaired and hearing impaired population of significant size to warrant targeting this segment? Is there growth in this market segment and what is the sales potential and the potential for profits from this segment. The firm needs to contemplate the impact on their image and the resources that they have to designate to serve this market segment.
If the demographics did not show a significant number of individuals with visual impairements or hearing impairements in the greater Seattle area, this would have been a poor marketing segmentation. If they did not know something about the market segmentation of those living in Seattle, the use of this device in the downtown area for shops and cafes might have been a poor choice. Awarea Corporation, by developing a specialized use for their product, was able to create a new market segment for themselves by finding an untapped market segment.

Marketing Segmentation (Intro Post 2)

Attempting to locate an article or two on Marketing Segmentation and this is what I found on Google.com. I know that I have to find other resources, but I thought that I would start with one search engine that I know how to use!
This is what I found:
Target Marketing via RFID.
This is actually getting easier with each post! I'm a Blogger :0)

About Me (Intro post 1)

Hi Everyone, my name is Sheila Wilson. I am currently enrolled in a program for Working Professional in the Wharton School of Business.

I have an undergraduate liberal arts degree from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania and a masters degree in Occupational Therapy from NYU. I currently work as an Occupational Therapist in adult rehab and am the team leader for the General Rehab Unit at Magee Rehabilitation Hospital in Philadelphia.

This is my first attempts to do anything on the internet other than send emails and I look forward to loosing my fear of the computer while I engage with my team members in the tasks for this marketing class.

Test

Just testing to see if I have become a Blogger!