Last post: May 22, 2014
Demographic marketing is nothing new. For decades businesses have been trying to organised their key consumers in terms of age, gender, income or ethnicity, but the environment is now changing. That’s partly because the challenges of defining demographics have become more complex, but also because the tools to measure them have evolved.
What is Demographic Marketing?
Demographic marketing is nothing new. For decades businesses have been trying to organised their key consumers in terms of age, gender, income or ethnicity, but the environment is now changing. That's partly because the challenges of defining demographics have become more complex, but also because the tools to measure them have evolved.
Why The Rules Have Changed
Today's consumer is a complicated beast. Old categories and definitions no longer apply. Instead companies are having to utilize purchasing data and social media activity more subtly to get a clear picture of who their key target consumers are and what they want in a product. For example, a razor company might try to draw up a number of different pictures surrounding their key customers.
They might start with Mr Basic, who wants nothing more than a good, quick and effective clean shave in the morning, to someone like Mr Style who wants to embrace a certain lifestyle and sees his razor as being a tool in achieving it.
Each of them want the same thing – to have a shave – but the kind of marketing they will respond to will be very different. The razor company can take these profiles and feed them into their marketing strategies.
Doing this, though, requires a more sophisticated form of demographic measurement that goes far beyond, the age, class and ethnicity groups previously used. The good news here is that there is a huge amount of demographic information available, if you know where to find it, and a growing number of platforms are being developed to present this information in a ready to use way.
These can accurately measure population in any area according to things such as their income, the way they vote, their values, religious beliefs or the kind of media they consume. They can find out what kinds of goods they spend their money on and what they find most important in selecting any products. These platforms can then produce that information to help brands decide how certain characteristics affect buying behavior.
Firms can use this information in a number of ways. For example, Subway's recent decision to remove pork from 200 of its outlets, relied on awareness of local Islamic populations and their demand for halal alternatives.
New Opportunities
But the way in which marketers can look at demographics goes even further than this. By gathering data on local advertising opportunities, such as billboards, radio, newspapers, or in-store marketing, they can more accurately target campaigns. This goes beyond simply looking at what's available, and extends into developing assessments about the likely impact of these marketing platforms. For example, is one more likely to persuade customers to make a purchase than another, or is it simply going to raise general awareness levels which in turn contributes to increased sales over a longer term?
Developing these systems, though, takes money, which not all businesses have on ready demand. However, there are alternative finance methods available such as a business cash advance, crowd funding or peer to peer lending. All these can be used by firms as they seek to expand their marketing operations.
However, although instituting these new capabilities into your business may cost money, the benefits in terms of more effective and targeted marketing and a better overview of your customer base will quickly pay dividends.
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