Strategic Targeting

Now that you, and the rest of the leadership team, have identified strategic goals and objectives, it is up to you (as the channel leader) to identify the best channel opportunities to contribute to the achievement of those goals. Market segmentation is a natural place to start. I think that most companies - even very large and sophisticated organizations - start with demographic data. It might be geography, SIC codes, or some other demographic classification. This is a fine place to start, but your analysis shouldn't stop there.

Demographic data is passive, and therefore a poor predictor of future behavior. Just because you are a white male living in Illinois, doesn't provide any indication that you will buy a new router, does it? Your goal should be to use "active" data like historical transaction records that will provide a much more accurate predictive model and enable you to target and customize your marketing campaigns.

While the population may be smaller, the yield should be much greater.

After all, it is the yield that you are after.