There are many ways to work in markets. Many companies classify their audience according to their diversity and location. Market analysis is conducted to measure the nature of the crowd that is targeted by companies to sell or promote their products. It also measures the options that are available for growth and the competitor’s success rate.

Market segmentation is based on research that determines how an organisation divides its customers into smaller groups based on their age, personality traits, income, or behaviour. These segments are later used to improve products and advertising techniques. It creates subsets of a market based on needs, priorities, demographics, shared interests, and other psychographic or behavioural criteria for understanding the audience.

Creating marketing communications in advertisement messaging and digital platforms like Facebook and Google allow better response rates and lower acquisition costs. They support product development cycles based upon product offerings for different segments like men vs women or high-income vs low income. Many firms have used segmentation to increase sales, build better products, and engage better with their prospects and customers.

There are different types of segmentation:

1. Geographic Segmentation
2. Firmographic Segmentation
3. Behavioural Segmentation
4. Demographic Segmentation
5. Psychographic Segmentation

Why should firms rely on online sources to increase their reputation?
With the advancement in technology and promotion techniques, many companies have started advertising their products and services on websites and other social media platforms. Online reputation management has become an ingredient of successful brands and products and has helped businesses gain lots of profit.

Following are its significance:

• Consumers rely mainly on online research before purchasing products. Many rely on customer opinions, reviews, and product specifications before finalising their purchase.
• Companies can monitor their reputation and react appropriately to negative comments to avoid crises. They can also control the spread of rumours to a certain extent.
• A brand’s reputation on the internet affects the rankings of commercial websites. Google uses an algorithm that promotes sites offering excellent customer service and experience.
• Companies can also gain valuable customer insights by keeping track of their status online. They can understand and improve on their products and strategies through customer reviews. People post about what they love about the product, what limitations they faced, and what component was lacking.

Some tools that can help measure online reputation
There are many websites and tools available to measure the online status of a product, company, or service. The reputation management companies offer these too. The list is as follows:

1. Awario
2. Reputology
3. GoFish Digital Complaint Search
4. SEO SpyGlass
5. us
6. Brandwatch
7. ReviewTrackers
8. IFTTT