The same marketing campaign is unlikely to appeal to all people. What interests a college freshman will be completely different from what attracts a 45-year-old lawyer who is married.
Understanding these similarities and differences allows you to categorize the market and create specific touchpoints accordingly. This makes your campaigns more accurate as you can focus exclusively on serving smaller segments.
Of the four main types of marketing segmentation, today’s article focuses on demographic segmentation.
What is demographic segmentation?
Demographic segmentation is the division of the market into smaller categories based on demographic factors such as age, gender, and income.
Dividing the market into smaller segments, each with a common variable, allows companies to make better use of their time and resources. They can better understand the market perspective and use ad personalization to ensure that the needs of the target group are met.
This customer segmentation method is one of the most commonly used. Many companies also believe that this is the cheapest way to split the target market.
The Importance of Demographic Market Segmentation
- Building long-term relationships with clients
Through demographic-based personalized marketing, deeper customer loyalty is created. This allows them to identify with your brand and feel that you are an advocate for their needs; increases the likelihood that they will do business with you for a longer period of time.
- Improvement of products and services
Loyal customer relationships encourage you to take a fresh look at your products and services. When you have a deeper understanding of your target audience, you can put yourself in their shoes to serve them better.
- Optimization of marketing strategies
Demographic segmentation will help you better navigate future advertising campaigns and optimize your resources, time and budget. If 85% of your customers are between the ages of 20 and 35, wasting your time and money on the elderly would be a waste.
Demographic factors of market segmentation
- Age
Age is a key variable because consumer preferences constantly change with age. Almost all marketing campaigns are aimed at an age audience.
This variable can be considered in relation to specific age ranges or stages of the life cycle: infants, children, adolescents, middle-aged people and the elderly. For example, many famous fashion designers have different collections for different age groups. They target certain clothing lines in certain age ranges, such as a chic fashion line for younger people, and a more formal and elegant line for older people.
- Gender
Men and women usually have different likes, dislikes, needs, etc. For example, few men wear makeup and most women don’t wear panties. In addition, women typically make the majority of purchases and are more likely than men to donate to charities. These are all key factors to consider when creating a campaign.
- Income and occupation
If people can’t afford your product or service, there’s no point in targeting them. After all, you wouldn’t advertise a Mercedes or a Ferrari to someone who can’t even afford a used car.
Revenue targeting allows you to measure the purchasing power of your audience. Many companies use this data to sell different “bundles” of the same product depending on the level of income. For example, airlines have three classes: economy, business class and first class.
Occupational orientation is also important, as certain resources are dedicated to different industries and positions.
- Family status
Marital status can be extremely helpful in segmentation because when a family’s dynamics change, its needs and wants often change as well. This greatly affects their buying habits and sales process.
Single people tend to prioritize while newlyweds are more likely to prioritize each other and their home. Couples with multiple children have different needs than those who have just had their first child. Families with many children may be more interested in inexpensive household items compared to a couple with the same income but no children.
Expert in legal marketing. Head of marketing agency MAVR.
Business degree “Master of Business Administration” (MBA).