Middle of the Road - Definition & Meaning
What is Middle of the Road?
Middle of the road is the conservative approach in which the company avoids taking the extremes and focusing on the niche segments. It would target customers in the median range of income or spending tendencies. The main aim is to target the market as broadly as possible. For this, they would try to be everything for everyone providing goods in both high quality and low quality.
Although, this strategy would reach a larger market and may provide positive results, there is a high risk involved as there is no clear strategy involved. Middle of the road businesses would probably lose to the competitors who are more focused on niche segments and are using their business strengths. Moreover, the businesses that take the middle road would spend a large amount of resources in making and marketing different kind of markets in the hope to reach and appeal everyone. Also, they would not be able to charge the premiums as they are only targeting general consumer needs and there are numerous substitutes available.
Porter believes that marketers should leverage on their research findings and consumer insights to try and create new brand positioning in order to reach correct audience and deliver the right message. Just don’t try to be in the middle.
For Example: The MediaBriefing reports on an adult entertainment magazine could not go the distance because its middle-of-the-road “target everybody” content strategy failed.
Hence, this concludes the definition of Middle of the Road along with its overview.
This article has been researched & authored by the Business Concepts Team. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.
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