Core Concepts of Marketing

APPROACHINGTHEMARKET 39

INTEGRATED MARKETING •

SEEKINGTHEAFRICAN-AMERICANWEBCOMMUNITY

SilasMyersis anewmillenniumAfrican-American.He's31,
holdsanMBAfromHarvardUniversity, worksasaninvest-
mentanalystformoneymanagerHotchkeo&Wiley,andpulls
ina salaryclosetosixfigures.AndhespendsaboutlOhours
a weekonline,buyingeverythingfroma JVCportableradio
toArm&Hammerdeodorant."MaybeI'mnuts,"hesays,"but
shoppingonlineissomucheasiertome."
Millions ofAfrican-Americans are online. They're
younger,moreaffluent,andbettereducatedthantheiroffline
kin.Andthey'renottiptoeingontotheNet.They'rerightat
home. Fivemillionblacksnowcruisethroughcyberspace,
nearlyequalingthecombinednumberofHispanic,Asian,and
NativeAmericansurfers, according toresearcherCyber
Dialogue.
True,NetuseamongAfrican-Americanscontinuestolag
behindtheonlinewhitepopulation:28%ofblacksasopposed
to37%forwhites.Butit'stimetotakea closerlookatthe
digitaldivide. Whilethosewhodon'thaveNetaccesstend
tobepoorandundereducated,there'sa largegroupofAfrican-
AmericanswhoarespendingaggressivelyontheWeb."We're
lookingata tidalwavecomingof African-American-focused
contentandonlineconsumers,"saysOmarJ.Wasow,exec-
utivedirectorof BlackPlanet.com,a black-orientedonline
community."Youignoreitatyourperil."

Withgoodreason,African-Americanshavebecomesmit-

tenwiththeabilitytocomparepricesandfindbargainsonline.

Melvin Crenshaw, managerofKidpreneursmagazine,

recentlyusedtheTravelocityWebsitetosave$300ona ski

triptoDenver."Ireallylikedthevalue,"hesays.

It'sa shame,then, thatsofewsitesmarkettosuchanattrac-

tivegroup.Almosteverybookstoreonthestreethasa sec-

tioninAfrican-Americanorethnicliterature.Soit'sshocking

thate-commercegiantslikeAmazon.comdon'thaveethnic

booksections.Thesolutioniseasy.Webmerchantscancre-

atewhattheNationalUrbanLeague'sB.KeithFultoncalls

"microbundles"-Webcategorieswithina site'smerchan-

disethatresembletheinner-cityblackbookstoreorclothier.

"Youwantblackstoclickona buttonandfeellikethey'rein

virtualAfricaorvirtualHarlem,"saysFulton, theUrban

League'sdirectorofTechnologyprogramsandpolicy.To

attractblacks, herecommendsdecoratingthatcomerofthe

siteinkinteclothpatterns.

Sources:RogerO.Crockett,"AttentionMustBePaid,"Business

Weeke-biz,February7,2000,p.16;KateFitzgerald,"Connection

Confirmation,"AdvertisingAge,November29, 1999 ,p.S-3;

"African-AmericansOnline,"AdvertisingAge,November29,

1999,p.$-14.

instance, maybethemostrelevantcliteriaforsegmentingairlineconsumers.Thesamemay

betrueforproductssuchaslong-distancecallingorthepurchaseofsnackfoods.Thesec-

ondbasisisuserstatus.Itseemsapparentthatcommunicationstrategiesmustdifferifthey

aredirectedatdifferentusepatterns,suchasnonusersversusex-users,orone-timeusers

versusregularusers .Newcarproducershavebecomeverysensitivetotheneedtoprovide

newcarbuyerswithagreatdealofsupportiveinformationafterthesaleinordertomini-

mizeunhappines~afterthepurchase.However,determininghowlongthisinformationis

necessaryoreffectiveis stillanybody'sguess.Thethirdbasisisloyalty.Thisapproachplaces

consumersintoloyaltycategoriesbasedontheirpurchasepatternsofparticularbrands.A

keycategoryis thebrand-loyalconsumer.Companieshaveassumedthatif theycaniden-

tIfyindividualswhoarebrandloyaltotheirbrand,andthendelineateothercharacteristics

thesepeoplehaveincommon,theywilllocatetheidealtargetmarket.Thereisstillagreat

dealofuncertaintyastohowtocorrectlymeasurebrandloyalty.Thefinalcharacteristicis

stageofreadiness.Itisproposedthatpotentialcustomerscanbesegmentedasfollows:

unaware,aware,informed,interested, desirous,andintendtobuy.Thusifa marketingman-

agerisawareofwherethespecificsegmentofpotentialcustomersis,he/shecandesign

theappropriatemarketstrategytomovethemtnroughthevariousstagesofreadiness.Again,

thesestagesofreadinessarerathervagueanddifficulttoaccuratelymeasure.

PsychologicalSegments Researchresultsshowthattheconceptofsegmentation

shouldrecognizepsychologicalaswellasdemographicinfluences.Forexample,Phillip