No matter what kind of business you have, standing out, capturing, and keeping customer attention is imperative. The key to doing this is understanding your ideal audience, marketing demographics, and how to best reach them.
Breaking your audience down into smaller groups using demographic information makes getting to know your audience more manageable. It also helps you create a marketing strategy that resonates with the people most likely to convert.
Ways to turn marketing demographics into loyal customers
Here’s how to successfully target specific marketing demographics and turn them into loyal customers.
1. Set Up Tools for Data Collection and Management
There is just way too much data to collect to do it manually. In addition, trying to manage that data with an Excel spreadsheet almost guarantees disorganization until you find yourself unable to take advantage of the data.
You need the proper data collection and management tools set up to ensure efficient collection and use of demographic information. Here are a few tool suggestions to get you started:
- Data analytics tools: Enable data analytics tools on each of your digital marketing channels to automate the collection and processing of customer and engagement data.
- Cloud storage solution: Store all of your data and documents in a cloud storage solution that your entire team can access.
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system: Consider using a CRM system to manage your business’s interactions and relationships with all customers.
The last thing you want to do is start collecting data and have nowhere to put it and no system to organize it. Set up at least the basic data collection and management tools to ensure you can fully leverage demographic data.
2. Which Demographics Are Most Important to Your Marketing Strategy?
If your approach to collecting demographic information is “anything goes,” we urge you to reconsider. There’s no reason to spend time and resources gathering data that won’t affect your marketing strategy one way or another.
In addition, demographic information is private to some degree. Asking your customers to share all of it with you might make them feel uncomfortable and cause them to refrain from sharing anything.
It is best to ask for and collect only the marketing demographics you need to elevate your marketing strategy. The following four demographics are common and particularly helpful in marketing.
i). Age
There is no doubt that someone’s age influences what they do and connect with. Successful businesses use different marketing methods for different generations.
For example, millennials are digital natives who also got to experience life before the tech craze. A strategy that incorporates both online and offline marketing methods, like social media and pop-up events, would draw this audience in.
Even though baby boomers grew up in an age without them, they still use digital devices and platforms for communication and learning. So, using traditional marketing methods while also creating a strategic, easily navigable online presence is the best approach.
Age isn’t the only demographic to consider when making marketing decisions. But it is a great place to start.
ii). Location
The location of the people in your audience can be a big help when deciding what products to market and what kind of tone and language to use in your messaging.
For instance, if your audience is primarily in the U.S., you’ll use English and point them to products that make sense in American culture. Or, let’s say 80 percent of your audience is from India. Promoting products that are mindful of this audience’s religious and cultural customs is best.
iii). Gender
Without being stereotypical, you can use gender to inform your marketing decisions. You can connect various behaviors and preferences to each gender that are worth considering when targeting them in your marketing.
If your target demographic is young women, find out what interests them and find ways to connect to it in different aspects of your strategy. You might highlight your commitment to diversity and inclusion when targeting trans men and women. Or, you may be especially mindful of the pronouns and language you use when speaking to a non-binary crowd.
Gender-specific data can be incredibly helpful. However, always keep in mind that it isn’t all-inclusive. Your audience may resonate with other aspects of their identity when it comes to their shopping habits.
iv). Income
The income demographic is useful because it can give insight into someone’s purchasing power and behaviors. You can not only determine if your product pricing is appropriate for your target audience but you can also make conclusions about when and what kind of content to post.
For instance, let’s say you’re a luxury brand. Targeting people who make $100,000 or more a year is appropriate. This income level also tells you that these individuals are deep into their careers or are established entrepreneurs. So, they don’t have a whole lot of time to scroll through content.
You’ll need to connect with them early in the morning when they are preparing for their day and feed them content that is relevant and useful.
3. Collect Demographic Data Responsibly
Once you know what demographic data you want to collect, it is time to gather it responsibly, meaning ethically, and through the proper channels. It’s the only way to ensure you’re getting accurate data that your customers approve.
Feedback directly from customers is priceless when garnering insights on their demographics. You can send out email surveys asking for specific demographic information. Be sure to tell your customers why you want this data to ease their concerns about giving it to you.
Market research interviews and in-person conversations with customers at industry events can be good for identifying demographics.
Customer reviews can also provide a good source of demographic data. You can ask your customers to provide certain demographics before leaving their reviews.
That said, make sure you know how to spot fake reviews. Demographic data is meaningless if it isn’t coming from a real person. So, pay attention to the credibility of the review site as well as the language the reviewer uses and how extreme they are when detailing their experience.
4. Study Demographic Data and Strategically Segment Your Audience
Demographic data is coming in and you’re making sure it is organized in your CRM or other data management solution. But what does it all mean? Studying your demographic data is just as important as collecting it.
You can identify patterns that help you strategically segment your audience by more than a single shared demographic, allowing you to create marketing content that feels like it’s made for them.
For instance, maybe you have an audience segment that’s 18-25 that also shares the same location and income level. You can craft a product campaign that aligns with their age, where they live, and how much they make, giving it a better chance of resonating.
5. Create Personalized Content and Campaigns
After you compile and study demographic data, it is time to put it to use in your content marketing and overarching strategy. Personalized content and campaigns are the best way to emotionally connect with your target audience and convince them to take action.
Use your demographic data to guide decisions on what marketing channels to use, content and media types to experiment with, and the tone and personality you should use in your messaging.
For example, let’s say you learn your audience is 18-25 and primarily female. Focus on reaching them through social media platforms like TikTok, use a personable tone, and produce primarily visual content to draw them in.
Make sure that you are tracking the right metrics to ensure that you are getting results from your efforts and a good return on investment (ROI). Depending on your goals, these metrics might be comments and shares, conversion rate, or organic traffic.
Whatever your metrics are, track them diligently to determine what is working and what isn’t. Data-driven decision-making is most productive in marketing.
Conclusion
There is so much data available to collect on your ideal audience and marketing demographics. If you are looking for one type of data to start with, go with demographic data.
Age, location, gender, income, and other demographics can help you create personalized content that resonates with your ideal audience. Use the guide above to leverage the magic of demographics in your marketing.
Ainsley Lawrence is a writer who loves to talk about good health, balanced life, and better living through technology. She is frequently lost in a good book.
