STP: the spine of every campaign that ever won

Most marketing fails at the targeting step. Trying to be for everyone means being for no one.

What STP actually is

Philip Kotler gave us three letters in the 1960s and they remain the spine of every campaign that ever won:

• Segmentation. Divide the market into groups of people with similar needs. Not by demographics first — by what they're trying to do, what they're afraid of, what would make them cry with relief.
• Targeting. Pick the one group you can win. The one you can be the obvious choice for, with the resources you have, in the time you have.
• Positioning. Write the one sentence that makes them choose you. The promise in their language, not yours.

Why most teams skip it

Because it's hard. Segmentation requires you to say "no" to people you could serve. Targeting means watching competitors take the rest. Positioning means condensing your entire worldview into a sentence your customer says back to you at dinner.

So most teams skip straight to tactics. They run ads, write copy, build landing pages. They confuse motion for progress. Three months in, the metrics are flat and they hire another agency.

The 90-minute STP workshop

Pick the next campaign. Spend 90 minutes on STP before any tactics. Use this template:

1. List 10 customers who love you. Why? What did they look like before they found you? 2. Cluster them. You'll find 2-3 segments, not 10. 3. Pick one. The one where you have the most unfair advantage. 4. Write the positioning in their words. "We help [segment] do [dream outcome] without [sacrifice]."

That's it. Tactics will get 10x easier. Your cost of acquisition will halve. You'll know which channels to ignore.

The BAZ Empire take

The Marketing Hub's Cockpit scores your STP fit on the Patrick Number. Run a free audit at [/leads](/leads) — we'll show you which segment your current copy is actually written for, and which one it should be.