What Is STP Marketing? Model, Steps & Examples

“We target everyone.”

It sounds ambitious. But it leaves your team with a difficult brief: create an offer, message, and buying experience that work for people with very different priorities.

A customer buying on price and a customer buying to reduce operational risk may both need your product. They may need different reasons to choose it.

STP marketing helps you make those choices deliberately. It stands for segmentation, targeting, and positioning: understand the groups within your market, select the ones you will serve, and define the value you want them to associate with your business.

For founders in Egypt and the UAE, this is a useful starting point before commissioning campaigns, redesigning a website, or increasing an advertising budget.

Better execution needs a clear commercial direction.

What Is STP Marketing?

STP marketing is a strategic framework that combines segmentation, targeting, and positioning to decide which customers a business will serve and how its offer should compete for their consideration.

The three parts answer different questions:

STP stage	Main question	Practical output
Segmentation	Which meaningful customer groups exist?	Groups with different needs, behaviours, or buying conditions
Targeting	Which groups should we prioritise?	Selected segments and a reason for choosing them
Positioning	Why should those buyers choose us?	A relevant value proposition supported by evidence

OpenStax, published by Rice University, describes STP as a progression from dividing a market into groups to selecting a target market and positioning an offering.

The framework informs decisions. It does not guarantee a particular conversion rate, market share, or return.

You still need an appropriate product, credible delivery, and evidence that customers value the offer.

Why STP Marketing Matters Before You Spend More

Imagine a software company receiving enquiries from startups, retailers, manufacturers, and larger enterprises.

All four groups might ask for “a system.” That phrase hides different requirements.

One prospect wants an affordable tool they can start using quickly. Another needs integration with existing operations. A third needs approval from several departments.

If your marketing treats those requirements as identical, your sales team has to explain the differences later.

STP marketing gives the business a way to align its choices earlier:

• Which requirements will the product address?
• Which prospects deserve an active sales conversation?
• What should the website explain?
• Which objections should the campaign anticipate?
• What capabilities must delivery provide?

A cheaper enquiry is not automatically a better customer.

Start by defining the opportunity you want to create. Then evaluate how efficiently your marketing creates it.

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Step 1: Segmentation — Find Differences That Matter

Segmentation means dividing a market into meaningful groups whose needs or responses justify different treatment.

The useful word is meaningful.

You can divide customers by almost any characteristic. The question is whether that difference changes a business decision.

Would you offer a different product? Explain a different benefit? Use a different route to market? Change the service model?

If nothing changes, the segment may add reporting complexity without helping the business.

Common Segmentation Approaches

OpenStax identifies four broad approaches to consumer segmentation: geographic, demographic, behavioural, and psychographic.

Approach	What you examine	Illustrative use
Geographic	Location and service coverage	Customers inside a viable delivery area
Demographic	Relevant population characteristics	Households at different life stages
Behavioural	Usage, purchases, or benefits sought	First-time buyers versus repeat purchasers
Psychographic	Values, priorities, or lifestyle	Customers prioritising convenience or design

These categories are starting points. Validate whether they explain buying differences in your market.

A postcode can help define delivery coverage. It cannot, by itself, tell you why someone wants your product.

Start With the Buying Situation

For practical work, ask customers about the circumstances behind their purchase.

What happened before they began looking? What alternatives did they consider? What nearly stopped them? Which part of the offer mattered most?

For example, a hypothetical furniture business might identify:

• Customers furnishing a first home.
• Customers replacing a single damaged item.
• Businesses furnishing multiple locations.

Those groups could require different bundles, information, and purchasing support.

That is a stronger basis for decisions than assuming everyone of a particular age wants the same thing.

Use Evidence You Can Trace

Useful inputs include customer interviews, order records, enquiry notes, support questions, and lost-deal reviews.

Label each finding appropriately:

• Observed: supported by records or direct research.
• Estimated: inferred from incomplete information.
• Untested: a hypothesis requiring validation.

A founder’s instinct can suggest a segment. It should not quietly become a market fact.

Udjat’s market research services can support the evidence needed to assess customer groups and buying priorities.

B2B Segmentation: Identify the Business and the Buying Group

For B2B companies, consider characteristics such as industry, company size, operating requirements, existing systems, and purchasing circumstances.

OpenStax also highlights the buying centre: several people can influence a business purchase.

That distinction matters.

The business may belong to your chosen segment, but the procurement manager, user, finance lead, and technical evaluator may need different information.

A hypothetical CRM provider could segment companies by operational needs:

• Small teams needing simple enquiry tracking.
• Growing teams needing shared ownership and reporting.
• Businesses needing integrations and customised workflows.

Then investigate who participates in buying within each group.

Avoid assuming a job title tells you the entire decision process. Ask who will use the solution, approve it, assess risk, and fund it.

Is Your Segment Actually Useful?

OpenStax sets out five criteria for effective segmentation: accessibility, differentiation, actionability, measurability, and substantiality.

Use them as a review checklist:

1. Can you reach the group? Identify a feasible route within your resources.
2. Does it differ meaningfully? Explain why it needs different treatment.
3. Can you act on the finding? Specify what your business would change.
4. Can you assess its scale? Estimate customer numbers or commercial potential.
5. Is the opportunity sufficient? Consider whether it justifies the required effort.

A segment need not be huge. A small group can support a viable specialist business.

But a large theoretical audience is also unhelpful if you cannot reach or serve it economically.

Write the reasoning down. It should survive a discussion with sales, delivery, and finance.

Step 2: Targeting — Choose Where to Focus

Targeting is the decision to prioritise particular segments.

It is different from selecting interests in an advertising platform.

Strategic targeting determines whom your business wants to serve. Advertising settings are one possible way to reach people who may fit that choice.

Evaluate Attractiveness and Your Ability to Compete

Use a consistent set of questions:

Criterion	Question to investigate
Need	Is there a problem buyers recognise and want to address?
Economics	Can the work generate an acceptable contribution after relevant costs?
Reach	Can you find and engage suitable prospects?
Competition	What alternatives already serve them?
Delivery fit	Can your team fulfil the required promise?
Buying process	Can you support the evaluation and approval journey?
Evidence	How confident are you in the information?

Scores can help structure a discussion, but invented precision is dangerous.

An unsupported 9/10 is still an assumption. Add the evidence and confidence level beside any rating.

Decide How Many Segments You Can Support

Common targeting strategies include serving a broad market with one approach, serving several segments differently, concentrating on a narrower segment, or tailoring closely to individual customers.

Each creates different demands.

Multiple segments can mean multiple offers, sales materials, landing pages, and delivery requirements.

Before choosing three target groups, ask whether your team can support three relevant buying experiences.

For a small business, beginning with one well-supported priority may be a sensible test. It is not a universal rule that narrower targeting always performs better.

Udjat’s marketing strategy services connect market evidence with decisions about priorities, positioning, and execution.

Step 3: Positioning — Give the Buyer a Credible Reason to Choose

Positioning concerns how you want a selected buyer to understand your offer relative to the alternatives.

A slogan alone does not establish that position.

“Quality you can trust” leaves several questions unanswered. Quality of what? Relevant to which buyer? Supported by which evidence?

A useful position clarifies:

• Who the offer serves.
• Which problem or desired outcome matters.
• What kind of solution you provide.
• Why the approach is relevant.
• What supports the promise.

A Practical Positioning Statement

Use this working template:

For [selected customer group] facing [specific need], [brand or offer] provides [relevant value], supported by [credible reason to believe].

Consider this hypothetical example:

“For multi-location retailers struggling with fragmented customer enquiries, our CRM provides shared enquiry tracking and ownership, supported by documented workflows and onboarding.”

The statement gives a team something concrete to develop.

It still needs validation: do buyers value the benefit, understand the offer, and believe the supporting evidence?

Test Against Real Alternatives

Your competitor may be another supplier. It may also be a spreadsheet, an internal team, an existing tool, or doing nothing.

Ask what the buyer currently uses and why they would change.

A position built around advanced features can miss the decision if the buyer’s main concern is implementation effort.

Make the Experience Support the Position

If you promise straightforward purchasing, examine the proposal and checkout.

If you promise specialist support, examine staff knowledge and service availability.

If you compete on dependable delivery, examine what you can commit to operationally.

Positioning should guide the product, price, distribution, and promotion. Otherwise, the message creates expectations the business cannot fulfil.

An STP Marketing Example for a Restaurant

The following example is hypothetical, not a Udjat client case study.

Suppose a restaurant identifies three buying situations:

Segment	Need to investigate	Possible offer response
Nearby office workers	A practical weekday lunch	Clear lunch bundles and collection information
Families organising a meal out	A suitable shared dining experience	Group options and relevant booking details
Customers arranging a celebration	Confidence in planning the occasion	Defined packages and an enquiry process

The owner reviews local demand, available capacity, menu economics, and service requirements.

Assume the restaurant selects weekday office lunches as its initial priority because its location and kitchen capacity appear suitable.

That is targeting.

It then develops a position around a well-defined lunch offer and reliable collection arrangements.

That is positioning, provided the team can deliver it.

The resulting marketing decisions follow the choice: relevant menu information, appropriate ordering options, and measurement of lunch purchases.

The restaurant can still serve other customers. Prioritising a segment does not mean automatically refusing everyone else.

An STP Marketing Example for an E-Commerce Business

Consider a hypothetical Egyptian homeware store.

Its customer research suggests different purchase occasions: everyday replacement, home setup, and gifting.

The store chooses to test gifting as a priority.

It investigates which products work as gifts, what packaging is feasible, how delivery timing can be communicated, and whether buyers need help selecting an item.

A possible position is a curated gift offer with clear packaging and delivery information.

The execution could include a dedicated collection, useful product descriptions, and content answering gift-selection questions.

The commercial test is whether suitable buyers purchase at sustainable economics.

It is not whether the campaign receives compliments.

If the offer attracts interest but fails at checkout, review price, clarity, delivery conditions, and friction before deciding the segment was wrong.

Applying STP Marketing in Egypt and the UAE

Treat geography as an input to research rather than a shortcut for understanding customers.

OpenStax’s international segmentation guidance considers geographic, economic, cultural, and political or legal factors.

For your business, investigate the differences that affect the purchase:

• Where can you deliver or provide support?
• Which language does the buying interaction require?
• What alternatives does the customer consider?
• Which price and payment conditions are workable?
• What documentation or buying approvals are relevant?

These are research questions. They are not assumptions about every Egyptian or UAE buyer.

You may find a shared need across both markets while requiring different execution. Alternatively, local conditions may justify a separate offer.

Test that distinction before simply translating the campaign.

What Does the Evidence Say About Segmentation?

One historical example comes from Mailchimp’s analysis updated on 1 February 2017.

It sampled approximately 2,000 users, covering about 11,000 segmented campaigns sent to almost 9 million recipients. The analysis compared those campaigns with the same users’ non-segmented campaigns.

Mailchimp reported 14.31% higher opens and 100.95% higher clicks for the segmented campaigns in that sample.

These are relative differences, not percentage-point increases.

The findings are historical, observational platform data. They do not establish that segmentation alone caused the difference, represent an Egypt or UAE benchmark, or promise results for a complete STP strategy.

The useful implication is to test whether meaningful audience distinctions improve your own outcomes.

How to Measure Your STP Marketing Strategy

Define the desired outcome before judging a segment.

For e-commerce, review purchases, acquisition costs, returns, repeat buying, and contribution after relevant costs.

For B2B, review qualified opportunities, wins, deal value, sales-cycle duration, and delivery requirements.

A Numerical Example: Cheap Leads Versus Better Fit

These figures are illustrative.

Measure	Segment A	Segment B
Campaign spend	EGP 20,000	EGP 20,000
Enquiries	200	80
Qualified opportunities	20	32
Won customers	4	8
Cost per enquiry	EGP 100	EGP 250
Campaign spend per won customer	EGP 5,000	EGP 2,500

Segment A looks better when judged only by enquiry cost. Segment B looks better on campaign spend per won customer.

Neither calculation establishes profitability. Include customer value, margin, sales costs, and fulfilment costs before drawing that conclusion.

Compare opportunities with sufficient time to mature, and use consistent qualification definitions.

Udjat’s performance marketing services can connect campaign execution with the commercial measurements available in your business.

Common STP Marketing Mistakes

Starting With Channel Selection

“Should we use Instagram or Google?” is easier to answer when the buyer, requirement, and offer are clear.

Define those first, then investigate how to reach the selected group.

Treating a Persona as Proof

A fictional name and attractive profile do not validate a segment.

Use personas to summarise evidence. Record which details remain assumptions.

Splitting the Market Too Finely

If every group receives the same offer and service, question whether all those subdivisions are necessary.

Keep distinctions that change decisions.

Claiming a Position You Cannot Support

A promise creates an operational obligation.

Resolve the delivery gap before advertising the benefit.

Keeping the Strategy Frozen

Review STP when customer needs, competitors, capabilities, or commercial results change.

Keep a record of what prompted the revision so the team understands the decision.

A Practical 30-Day STP Marketing Plan

Week 1: Review the Evidence

Define the business decision. Examine customer records, enquiries, losses, and interviews.

List possible segments and the evidence gaps.

Week 2: Choose a Priority

Evaluate need, economics, reach, competition, and delivery fit.

Select an initial target and document what would make you reconsider.

Week 3: Develop the Offer and Position

Write the positioning statement. Check its supporting proof.

Align the relevant page, sales material, and buying experience.

Week 4: Test and Learn

Run a manageable test with defined measures.

Review early signals without presenting them as final commercial results. Longer buying journeys need more time.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Does STP Stand for in Marketing?

STP stands for segmentation, targeting, and positioning. The framework helps businesses understand customer groups, select priorities, and define a relevant market position.

What Is STP Marketing in Simple Words?

It means deciding who your customers could be, which groups you will focus on, and why those buyers should choose your offer.

What Is the Difference Between Segmentation and Targeting?

Segmentation identifies groups within a market. Targeting evaluates those groups and selects the ones the business will prioritise.

Is Positioning the Same as Branding?

They are related. Positioning defines the intended meaning and competitive relevance of an offer. Branding helps express and reinforce that meaning through identity, communication, and experience.

Can Small Businesses Use STP Marketing?

Yes. Begin with available customer evidence, a clear priority, and a manageable test. The framework does not require a large research department.

How Does STP Relate to the 4Ps?

STP sets the customer and positioning direction. Product, price, place, and promotion translate that direction into market decisions.

Does STP Marketing Guarantee Better Results?

No. Its value depends on the evidence, choices, execution, and ability to deliver. Measure results against your own baseline.

How Can Udjat Agency Help?

Udjat can support market research, marketing strategy, and campaign execution to connect customer evidence with an offer and measurable activity.

Make the Choice Before You Make the Campaign

STP marketing becomes useful when it changes what your business does.

Which customers will you prioritise? What do they need? Why is your offer a credible choice? What must your team deliver?

Answer those questions, test the assumptions, and give the campaign a clear job.

This guide was prepared by the team at Udjat Agency. Discuss your STP marketing strategy with Udjat to connect customer research, positioning, and practical execution.

Sources

1. OpenStax, Rice University — Market Segmentation and Consumer Markets: consumer segmentation definitions and categories. OpenStax
2. OpenStax, Rice University — Segmentation of B2B Markets: business segmentation and buying-centre considerations. OpenStax
3. OpenStax, Rice University — Essential Factors in Effective Market Segmentation: criteria for evaluating segments. OpenStax
4. OpenStax, Rice University — Selecting Target Markets: target-market selection and strategies. OpenStax
5. OpenStax, Rice University — Product Positioning: positioning and the STP framework. OpenStax
6. OpenStax, Rice University — Segmentation of International Markets: cross-market segmentation considerations. OpenStax
7. Mailchimp — Effects of List Segmentation on Email Marketing Stats: historical first-party observational analysis, updated February 2017.