How to Use Demographics in Digital Marketing to Reach Your Target Audience
If someone asked you to tell them a little bit about yourself, what would you say? You may give your age and where you are from. You would probably describe what you do, your hobbies, and your family dynamic. You most likely would not describe yourself as a member of the “general public,” or that you think, feel, act, and make decisions in the exact same way as everyone around you. Everyone has certain categories that they fall into, and when it comes to your target audience, that is exactly why you must figure out how to use demographics in digital marketing.
Those personal details speak volumes to who you are and give insight into how you receive, process, and react to information. To be able to effectively communicate with your target audiences, you must know who they are. If you don’t, you risk missing the mark with your outreach or alienating them entirely.
What are Digital Marketing Demographics?
Demographics are the characteristics of people in a group, like age, gender, geographic location, race, ethnicity, relationship status, education level, occupation, income level, family dynamic, and access (whether they use a mobile or desktop and/or how they find you – social media, internet search, or direct link). Evaluating the demographics of your customer can help you better understand their wants and needs, and help you make informed decisions on where to put your marketing time and money.
Figuring It Out
A great way to figure out who you’re talking to is to analyze the demographics of your website users. Website visitor demographics provide a wealth of information on your customers with little effort on your end. Third-party applications and online platforms can help you collect your digital marketing demographics from your site traffic, the most popular being Google Analytics. How does Google Analytics get demographic data? It compiles data on the browsing patterns of users simultaneously logged into a Google account as well as added insights from third-party cookies and app data.
You can learn more about your website demographics by asking customers to create accounts and gathering information when they make a purchase, but you may miss out on the visitors who don’t convert. You could incorporate browser cookies into your site that attach to your users to track their activity while they are there, but visitors would have to give permission for you to do so each time they come to your site.
You can also gather your digital marketing demographics from sources other than your website. Social media platforms Facebook and Instagram include demographic details for business accounts and LinkedIn offers site demographics as a free reporting tool. You can also gain insight from looking at how your competitors seem to be marketing to specific demographics, since you are likely targeting the same consumers.
Demographics in Your Strategy
Here are some tips for how you can use demographics to create an effective digital strategy:
- Give them what they want: Use the insight into your digital marketing demographics to offer products, services, and deals that your target audience is interested in.
- Speak their language: Choose language that resonates with your audience – their age, gender, location, socio-economic status, and education level all influence how they communicate and receive information. This is also true for the images you use. Customers are drawn to images that include people who look and seem to be like them.
- Choose the right channel: Different age groups of people look to different sources for their information. Older audiences may prefer web surfing or email outreach while younger audiences may defer to social media. Even social media platforms have their own demographics – teenage audiences prefer TikTok; females prefer Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram; young males use Twitter; and educated professionals use LinkedIn for business and career purposes. Whether your audience uses a desktop or mobile device should also play a role in how you deliver your message.
Data-driven marketing is incredibly powerful, but too many businesses do not tap into the enormous benefit gained from leveraging demographic data. It’s also important to revisit your digital marketing demographics to ensure your efforts are using the most current information and hitting their targets. If you’re just getting started, figuring out how to use demographics in marketing can be overwhelming. Paradigm can help. If our expert digital marketing strategy services can support you as you take your business to the next level, please contact us today.
About the Author
Kaitlyn Wilcoxson, Account Group Supervisor, is a data-driven, problem-solving marketing guru who, as one of the firm’s longest employees, has worked with almost every client Paradigm has ever partnered with, and has been instrumental in their success. Kaitlyn ensures Paradigm’s clients and internal teams are positioned for growth. She manages resources, develops team members, monitors the quality of deliverables, and manages process and procedure planning. She was awarded the Gold Level Stevie® Award for Customer Service and Sales Manager of the Year in the 17th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service.
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