What on earth are marketing “verticals”? Everyone seems to have a different answer.

Question

What on earth are marketing “verticals”? Everyone seems to have a different answer.

In: 6

Answer 1

There are two general classifications of marketing strategies called “horizontal” and “vertical”.

Suppose you have a store where you sell shoes. You sell all kinds of shoes: Formal shoes for weddings and church, or shoes for tennis, or boots for hiking, or even beach shoes. Whatever you are doing you probably sell a shoe for it. This is horizontal marketing.

Now suppose you have a store where you sell rock climbing stuff. You sell rock climbing shoes, rock climbing clothing, rock climbing bags, rock climbing ascenders and descenders, rock climbing gloves, whatever a rock climber could want. But if you want something for golf you need a different shop. This is vertical marketing.

Horizontal marketing sells to a broad array of different customers while vertical focuses on a narrow set.