The resources of any given firm are usually limited. As such, no firm can normally afford to attack the entire market without any delimitation whatsoever. It would be better if the efforts are concentrated on the most productive and profitable segments of the market. By focusing sharply on each of the different customer groups within a market, market segmentation would make the marketing effort more efficient and economical.

Surveys comprise a set of pre-determined questions used by large companies to collect responses from the public. Surveys can be fun, depending on the questions being asked and the company that administers the survey. For example, if one is crazy for pizzas, then one can take part in free fun surveys from a favorite pizza chain. This will provide an opportunity to know more about a favorite pizza company, but it will also help the companies to develop new products tailored to customer interests.

In the market place, different firms take different strategy stances. This is but natural. As long as their situational designs and consequently their specific requirements of strategy differ from each other, they will evidently follow different strategy stances. This is especially true in the case of Internet marketing tools.

First there was the fax-on-demand...information received
instantly by using a fax machine. Then the Internet evolved into the use of e-mail, producing email-on-demand with the use of autoresponders.

Whether you're a Fortune 500 company or a one person shop, to be successful, you must have a marketing strategy and you must implement it consistently. However, it doesn't have to cost a fortune and you don't have to be a creative genius. The key is developing a marketing strategy that forms a solid foundation for your promotional efforts. Implementing promotional activities such as advertising, direct mail or even networking and one-to-one sales efforts without a marketing strategy is like buying curtains for a house you are building before you have an architectural plan. How would you even know how many curtains to buy or what size they needed to be?