By M. Isi Eromosele

Globally, businesses compete to serve customer needs. There are different types of customers whose needs vary by personal preference. As such, most markets and as an extension, market segments are not homogeneous.

A business, whether national or global, cannot reach all customer groups with equal effectiveness.

To establish a competitive advantage over its competition with a feasible marketing strategy, it is imperative for a company to clearly define the global markets or market groups it intends to serve. These markets must be segmented, with the identification of one or more sub-groups of customers.

Fine targeting of customer groups provides a company with the opportunity to establish competitive leverage.

Modern approaches to strategic planning require good definition of target markets. It is necessary to systematically develop a theoretical framework for this purpose. The first logical step in defining the market is the determination of customer need. The market will emerge from this definition.

A broad perspective of the market will also result from the delineation of customer needs. A company should select and serve market segments for which it is best equipped to compete for the long term.

Customer Needs

The satisfaction of customer needs is the paramount test of a company’s success in its marketplace. A forward looking marketing strategy should contain the objective of meeting the customer needs better than the company’s competitors.

The focus on customers is the essence of marketing strategy. The sound logic and worth of the assessment of customer need is indisputable, yet this is often ignored. A majority of new products fail in their respective markets because of this error in business market judgment.

Marketing performs a border role purpose between the company and its markets. It guides allocation of resources to marketing product and service offerings in the quest to achieve corporate business objectives. The border role purpose is crucial to overall strategy development.

Before a company acquires a new business, introduce a new product or repositions an existing product, it must use incisive marketing research to cross the company-market border in assessing the target market reply.

Customer need has always formed the basis of effective marketing. Without understanding customer needs, a company’s product, especially a new one, has a much better chance of floundering in the target market. Getting customer needs right is the first step in providing value to customers in a market segment.

A need that is not satisfied becomes a source of frustration. If a company does not satisfy a particular sought-after need, the customer will seek relief with a purchase from a competitor.

Business strategy can be based on the certainty that customer needs exist. It is a company’s business to fill customer needs within a target marketplace. Its success depends on it.

M. Isi Eromosele is the President | Chief Executive Officer | Executive Creative Director of Oseme Group - Oseme Creative | Oseme Consulting | Oseme Finance

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