UNIT 15 THREE M RULE

Different people buy things for very different reasons. Market research has to take 'market segments' into account, and find out what each one wants. A segment is a group of customers with something in common, and that's different from other groups.

For instance, if you sell boxes of tissues, there's the retail market - supermarkets and shops. They buy your tissues to sell at a profit and they want to know they'll sell well. So you provide TV advertising, make the price attractive and offer special deals to the retailers. This helps them make the profit they need.

Hotel chains, though, want something different. They're not selling tissues, but providing them as a service for guests. So quality matters - nice colours and an attractive scent - because it gives a good impression of the hotel. And a quick delivery is important so they don't run out of something basic.

Then there are hospitals, which provide tissues for patients. They want hygiene, not colour or scent. Their requirement is for strong, cheap, white tissues that do the job and come with no frills.

So Three M Rule consists of Market, Message, Medium

• Market - who is in the market segment aimed at?

• Message - what information does this group need, to get them to buy?

• Medium - which medium should be used to get the message across?

A medium is the type of advertising or promotion. Some examples are local papers, TV, specialist magazines, exhibitions, leaflets, or doorstep and telephone canvassing. Table 15.1 presents the example of promoting such commodity as tissues to different groups according to 3 M rule. It shows the four market segments. For each segment there are separate messages and media (plural of medium) that will best get the message across.

Information like this helps target the right message to each segment. It ensures that promotional activities - like exhibitions, posters, mail shots and advertising- say the right things, to the right people, in the right way.

Table 15.1