Hundreds of variables impact the success of every marketing campaign that sees the light. Thankfully, things like the target market can be studied to help adapt for maximum success. To do this effectively, every marketer needs to know the difference between demographics and psychographics.
Market segmentation is a key aspect of planning and executing a marketing campaign. Without it, you might as well send a broadcast message on BBM. Market segmentation is what gives marketers insights into their audience to ensure that the content they put out is relevant and relatable.
When you understand your audience well, they are more inclined to connect with and develop loyalty to your brand. To achieve that, marketing campaigns need to be based on the demographics and psychographics of their intended audience.
media update’s Joreke Kleynhans has called class into session. Today, we’re comparing demographics and psychographics in marketing.
Demographics 101
A demographic in marketing is a set of characteristics that define your target audience or your ideal consumer. These characteristics are objectively true and are usually nothing too intimate. They are easy to measure and can be recorded like statistics.
Common factors used to determine a demographic include things like:
- age group
- gender
- marital status
- income level
- location, and
- education level.
Once these factors have been used to determine a brand’s target demographic, they are used to personalise the overall message that the brand wants to communicate with its marketing.
For example, a car dealership might determine that its target demographic is wealthy middle-aged people living in a big city. With this information, the brand can create tailored advertising that focuses on features like comfort, convenience and status to attract their ideal customer base.
A target demographic is a great starting point, but a marketing campaign is more effective when it also zooms in on the target audience’s less surface-level characteristics.
In other words, psychographic segmentation is now the next step.
Psychographics 101
Psychographics in marketing refers to the psychological characteristics your target audience has. Unlike demographics, psychographics focus on the reasons behind consumers behaving in the ways that they do. Psychographics are useful in giving insights into a consumer's decision-making process.
Common factors used to determine psychographics include things like:
- social class (instead of income level)
- political or religious opinions
- cultural associations
- personal interests
- moral values, and
- personality type.
Once the psychographics have been specified, the marketing team can personalise their content further to include the more personal needs and wants of their target market.
For example, the same car dealership as in Demographics 101 might establish that not only should they target wealthy middle-aged people in the city but that those people are also vegans who are passionate about climate change.
This should motivate them to also include details about electric engines and pleather seats in their advertising.
By using the information they can gather from demographic and psychographic analysis, a brand enables their marketing to reach their audience on multiple levels.
The Importance of Digging Deeper
When a marketing campaign is more targeted, it generates more sales, and therefore increases the ROI. To really produce a targeted campaign, you need to know more about your target market than what their iced coffee order is.
Knowing your audience on a surface level will not be enough. You need to know:
- what they value
- how far they'll go to get it, and
- why they act a certain way.
This doesn’t make one more important than the other but rather emphasises how valuable it is to have a highly informed image of who your possible customers are and how you can connect with them.
Combining demographics and psychographics in market segmentation helps to give a comprehensive view of the people your marketing is directed at. Using only one of the two would be like looking at a plug from the front and trying to guess what type of socket it will fit into.
Sure, trial and error is always an option, but nobody has time or resources to waste, especially if a more informed option is available.
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