[Mageia-dev] Identifying Target Markets

[andré]

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
>