Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning pdf ebook

Internal market segmentation
This is about identifying the targets in the internal marketplace around which we can build 
internal marketing programmes, which are different according to what we have to achieve 
and how we are going to do it. This may not be straightforward, but is the route to real 
insights into the internal market problem and effectiveness in how we cope with that prob-
lem. The most obvious way of identifying internal segments may be by role or function, 
or location, and this may be sufficient. It might be more productive to think who are the 
innovators and opinion leaders who will influence others? We might approach this more 
directly in terms of the role that different people will play in implementing the external 
strategy and the problems they may face in this, or simply how much different people will 
have to change to get the external strategy to work.
For example, one argument is that we should consider the employer as the brand, and then 
the same underlying bases can be used in segmenting employees as are used externally with 
consumers: potential profitability, product-feature preferences, influential reference groups, 
bargaining power, choice barriers. Then the internal market segmentation model will include:
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Potential profitability – employees who have the skills, experience or knowledge that is 
strategically important to the company, who should get resources for recruitment and 
retention.
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Product-feature preferences – employees grouped according to the career benefits they 
value most highly, to identify the bundles of benefits with most value to these groups.
● 
Reference groups – people generally want to work for companies with good reputations, 
as judged by the people whose opinions they value. This supports efforts to reinforce the 
brand with those who influence employee perceptions.
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