Positive Advertising Experience in a Targeted Market Segment: Similar to my Lady GaGa “Something about my cool Pittsburgh guy….” example, describe a time when an advertising campaign did a compelling job appealing to you as a member of a targeted market segment.
Once I was admitted to Pitt, they sent me many advertisements in the mail and through email with compelling arguments for why I should commit to their college. They outlined some of the resources and opportunities I would have at Pitt, including the Haller Global Honors Fellowship. In all honesty, one of the many reasons I chose Pitt was because of the opportunity to study and travel abroad before my freshman year, a program that was not available at any of my other potential schools. Overall, the information Pitt gave me about the college in general, the business program, and certain study abroad opportunities did play a tremendous role in my decision to go to Pitt. I give an immense amount of credit to the marketing team behind the effort to recruit students for Pitt because they really make it seem like Pitt is lucky to have you as a student and not the other way around.
Negative Advertising Experience in a Targeted Market Segment: Similar to the creeped-out reaction I am having to the LenCrafters’ office sending me a fake optometry appointment notice for August 6, 2019 (which is actually an attempt to target me as a returning customer segment of the LensCrafters in Ross Park Mall), describe a time when an advertising campaign really missed the mark while trying to appeal to you as a member of a targeted market segment.
Going off my previous answer, there was a specific school that really missed the mark when trying to convince me to attend after I was accepted. In every letter/advertisement/email they sent me, they made it a point to remind me that I had the incredible opportunity to attend their “prestigious institution”. They always made it sound like they were doing me a favor by letting me take advantage of their resources and programs instead of mentioning how I could add to their community and potentially make a difference within the school. There was an air of pretentiousness in every advertisement they ever sent me, which ultimately factored into my decision not to attend.
Other Examples Like This?: Based on our review of market segmentation and your examples of positive and negative experiences in target market campaigns, how will you approach market segmentation in your future professional roles?
I think it is extremely important to know your audience when it comes to marketing campaigns. You need to do a full analysis of their values, demographics, etc. in order to effectively tailor an advertising campaign to your market segmentation and therefore gain more business. I also think you need to do research and present your marketing campaign to a trial audience before you release it to make sure you identify any problems ahead of time.