Top Market Strategy
Target the Best and Ignore the Rest
Improving the bottom line for any organization involves increasing market share. How do you get to the customers who are going to buy your product? This book’s subtitle states the author’s strategy—target the best and ignore the rest. In other words, identify the characteristics of your best customers and go after that audience, ending or reducing efforts to reach customers who don’t share these traits.
Kruger uses the well-known 80/20 principle first introduced by the economist Pareto. She outlines strategies to identify the top 20% of customers who bring the most profit or benefit to a business or organization. By working to replace the remaining 80% of the customer base with more profitable customers, similar to the top 20%, the bottom-line profit can quadruple.
This practical text reviews marketing vocabulary and survey methods presented in an easy-to-use format. The effective use of icons highlighting principles, insider secrets, and conclusions makes it easy to scan the book for key concepts. The author makes use of tables, charts, and figures to enhance understanding. The chapter on survey research concisely explains sampling, reliability, validity, data analysis, and collection methods. Kruger provides basic background on Pareto’s 80/20 principle and its applications in a variety of settings. To better illustrate the 80/20 principle, the author has created a fictitious company seeking to increase its product’s market share. The text and its appendices include sample surveys, interview questions, and detailed analyses of the results. It demonstrates the use of Microsoft Excel spreadsheets for data analysis, including the necessary keystrokes. A brief bibliography is included for those seeking more information on the Pareto principle.
The author is a successful marketing consultant who has worked with leading corporations for over thirty years. Kruger has also developed innovative marketing software used worldwide. She has taught hundreds of business students and professionals about marketing strategy, promotion, and research. Her consulting company, Strategic Power, is accredited by the Better Business Bureau.
Some familiarity with basic marketing concepts would be helpful but not essential for readers of this book. While the author indicates the techniques she outlines could be used by any organization, her illustrations and emphasis are geared to for-profit organizations.
Zeroing in on the top customers, identifying their characteristics, and focusing marketing resources on this target group seems guaranteed to bring results. Kruger provides the tools and inspiration to make this happen.
Reviewed by
Mary Cary Crawford
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
