[Mageia-dev] Identifying Target Markets

Sun Oct 3 07:17:08 CEST 2010

Graham Lauder a écrit :
+> On Friday 01 Oct 2010 20:37:52 Wolfgang Bornath wrote:
+>    
+>> 2010/10/1 Graham Lauder<yorick_ at openoffice.org>:
+>>      
+>>>> The families: if the kid wants a computer then either Dad buys a new
+>>>> one and the kids get the old, or they buy a new one but mom has no
+>>>> say, it's either Dad or the kids because the parents don't know
+>>>> anything about computers.
+>>>>          
+>>> Nonsense, It's interesting I know quite a few German families here in NZ,
+>>> perhaps that's why they migrated, so the wife could make the majority of
+>>> the purchasing decisions.  ;)  I'm afraid that your impressions fly in
+>>> the face of all the real marketing intelligence. Dad or kids buy the
+>>> computers because Mum has been left out of the demographic, typical
+>>> given the number of women in the industry, but target that demographic
+>>> and Mum becomes decision maker.
+>>>        
+You are partly right, but you miss an important point.  It is probably 
+true, in families in liberal western societies, that the mother decides 
+most of the purchases, including what specific item is purchased.  And 
+it may well be that the mother decides whether or not to buy a 
+computer.  However, at least here in Canada (where women do indeed make 
+most of the purchasing decisions), women have a strong tendancy to defer 
+to a male opinion in deciding what computer to purchase, or operating 
+system or software to use.  This even occurs in professional settings, 
+in contexts where a woman obviously has the greatest understanding of 
+the company's needs.  I've seen this numerous times in consulting, where 
+I had to encourage their input in order to lead to a rational decision 
+for the company, which was prepared to follow the opinion of someone who 
+obviously did not understand the situation.
+However, I do agree that the mother will have an important influence in 
+the type of software selected, even if she allows the man to make the 
+final decision.
+Note that in my mind, using this frame of mind as the primary criteria 
+in selecting the logo is misleading.
+What is needed is a logo that is distinctive, and attractive.  And not 
+out of place for the technology in question.  These factors are 
+culturally dependant as well.
+Note that most successful computer companies use blue/green colours.  A 
+notable exception being Ubuntu - which like Microsoft, uses their 
+bottomless pockets to promote their distro.  As well as having excellent 
+documentation.  So they succeed despite their ugly brown colours.  Which 
+may be considered attractive in certain markets, like South Africa.
+>> I don't know about marketing, I've just been living here for decades
+>> and been helping in the computer field for more than 15 years. I hold
+>> computer courses entry level, I give advice with computer purchases in
+>> families, etc. All my practical experience tells me what I've written
+>> here.
+>>      
+> OK then let me put it another way, you have taught IT for 15 years.  Probably
+> in the same geographic area.  It's a pretty good guess that you have probably
+> no more than three degrees of separation to maybe 90% of the people you
+> interact with.  90+% of the people that you interact with speak the same
+> native tongue as you, so already your view of the world is extremely limited.
+>
+> So lets talk hypothetically: If you have taught for 15 years and you had an
+> average class size of say 20. 5 periods a day  that's a hundred faces a day
+> and you saw these people once a week and assuming a 40 week school year.
+> That's 20,000 a year.... hang on not enough, OK you change completely 4 times
+> a year, so that's 80.000 a year... wow that's a lot, over 15 years that's
+> 1.2million people you could have hypothetically interacted with each for about
+> ten hours total.  However in marketing terms on a global scale that is a
+> pinprick sample.  Marketers get information for instance, just from rewards
+> programmes that do that sort of sample in many countries in any one hour of
+> any one day across many demographics, ages, income streams, locations and so
+> on and what this tells us is that apart from some minor local differences,
+> people in western democratic, first world countries behave in a very similar
+> fashion.
+Obviously you don't understand how surveys work.  It makes me wonder if 
+you have ever done one.  (btw, I have.)
+Surveys depend on a very limited sample, and extrapolate that to presume 
+a global result.  Like election polls, they can be -- and often are -- 
+dead wrong.
+The experiences of wobo -- and similar experiences myself -- are just as 
+valid.
+I'm not trying to say that you do not have good insights -- but rather 
+that in is too easy to get carried away, and other's input is important.
+>    
+>>      
+>>> Every place is unique, but not as unique as we'd all like to believe, one
+>>> thing that marketing tells you.  A good example is Micky Ds, the same
+>>> everywhere, with slight local variations.
+>>>        
+>> Nonsense (to use the same language as you do). You can't apply some
+>> junkfood chain success story to computers and software.
+>>      
+> LOL, in fact you can, at the end of the day it is a consumer item.  It is a
+> luxury good that only a small proportion of the worlds population can afford.
+> In capitalist consumer model societies the market has little variation apart
+> from local fashion. So for instance, like McDs,  Ipods and Iphones are sold
+> the same way world wide and that is matched with other global brands.
+>    
+You can -- but ignoring the difference between the contexts introduces 
+bias -- which can lead to totally wrong conclusions.
+e.g., if you are marketing automotive tools, you would probably focus on 
+men you like to work on cars.  If you included women who didn't, you 
+could end up with colours preferred by women as an important factor.  
+Obviously ridiculous if you carefully consider the context.
+btw, a computer and computer software is not necessarily a luxery item.
+If it is used for educational purposes, managing the budget, and 
+communication, it is no more a luxury item than a car.
+Also note that, depending on the type of computer, today most of the 
+world's population CAN afford a computer.  (In the sense of one per family.)
+>    
+>> As I said, I disagree with your points not because I am another
+>> marketing guy but because of experience.
+>>
+>> wobo
+>>      
+> As I pointed out above your experience is in fact limited, that's not a bad
+> thing, it means you can target those variations that the global brands ignore
+> in a local market.  However our need is to be a global brand and so we target
+> demographics that we know exist every where.  So for instance: Parents
+> everywhere, no matter what country or society, want the best for their Kids...
+> simple really.
+What isn't simple is how one accommodates this desire.  Which will 
+differ by culture and personal experiences.  There is no 
+one-size-fits-all, without an enormous advertising budget.
+One thing that is certain to me, the logo is not the answer.  A logo 
+that says "young family" will alienate other types of users, who are 
+necessarily much more numerous.
+These other users include, potentially, most of the current Mandriva users.
+However easy selection of packages to accommodate the various niche 
+markets can indeed lead to an expanding user base.
+And assuredly, you play an important role in identifying these various 
+niche markets.
+
+- André (andre999)
+>
+>
+> Cheers
+> GL
+>    
+
+