Marketers can be obsessed with data. It’s really the lifeline of the profession. When you are trying to reach potential customers and clients, you need to know who you are looking for before you can figure out exactly how to reach them. The way that you get to know exactly who your potential customers are is by acquiring lots and lots of data about them. You can start to build a profile using existing consumer demographics and then create a marketing strategy that is unique to your particular customer. It’s as we like to say, fusing creativity with strategy to produce results.
But what happens when all your hard data numbers and customer demographics fail you when you attempt to market a product or service? How can you have all the exact information on your ideal customer, and yet still struggle to sell to them through your marketing efforts? Perhaps you have left out one important segment of your data collection: the collection of customer
psychographics.
What are marketing psychographics?
[ctt_hbox link=”Rafy_” ]Psychographics go deeper than the usual demographics that you collect on your customers. [/ctt_hbox]. Where demographics explore “who” your customer is through details about age, gender, income, etc., psychographics tell you more about “why” your customer buys your product or service.
Just as the word implies, psychographics give you more information on the psychology of your customer. What are his/her likes/dislikes, hobbies, interests, or values? The biggest question to uncover the answer to in the search for psychographics is: what
motivates your customer in his/her purchasing decisions?
[ctt_hbox link=”9qbb7″ ]Getting to the root of who the individual is allows you to formulate your marketing in a more personal way. [/ctt_hbox] This is referred to as psychographic segmentation or behavioral marketing.
3 ways to uncover customer psychographics
1. Survey current clients
There are a couple ways that you can best acquire customer psychographics for more targeted marketing. If you have a good relationship with your current client base, you may want to do interviews or send out surveys that dig a little deeper into the psychology of why these folks became your customers. Ask them about hobbies and habits, and which social media platforms they use the most and why. You want to find out how to [ctt_hbox link=”rsf13″ ]reach potential new clients by getting into lifestyle patterns and using emotional intelligence[/ctt_hbox], and the best place to start is with the people who have already made the decision to buy from you.
2. Check analytics
Another way that you can uncover psychographic data is by assessing your website and social media analytics. There are so many tools out there these days that can tell you exactly who is accessing certain parts of your sites and at what times of day. You can use this information to start to understand things like: what colors on your site are most appealing to your target customers; what messaging gets the most clicks; and if your customers are looking for deals or quality services at any price. All of this information will help you in building “mind profiles” of your target customer groups, and help you create a more effective marketing strategy.
3. Identify specific group’s problem
Last but not least, you need to [ctt_hbox link=”u1c95″ ]think about what problems your product or service solves and craft a message to address the individual psychographic segmentation.[/ctt_hbox] Let’s say you are a career specialist and you are offering a free eBook about making a career change. You might identify that one group is men and women in their forties who want to make a career change, but they have a family and other obligations, which they do not want to risk jeopardizing. Instead of a marketing message that says something like, “Looking for a new job? Check out this free eBook!” you might consider being more personal to catch this market’s attention by saying something along the lines of, “Thinking about a career change? Not sure if the time is right? Are your responsibilities keeping you in a job you’re unhappy with? Learn five ways you can make a career change without jeopardizing the things that are most important to you in this free eBook.”
Most marketing research requires a lot of trial and error in order to get to the information you need to pursue a targeted strategy. If you need help reaching your ideal customers through marketing and social media,
contact us at Miss Ink, and we can help you get to the information you need to reach the right potential customers.
References:
Meredith, A. (n.d.). How to Use Psychographics in Your Marketing: A Beginner’s Guide. Retrieved May 19, 2017, from https://blog.hubspot.com/insiders/marketing-psychographics
3 Psychographic Gems You MUST Find Out About Your Customers. (2015, November 16). Retrieved May 19, 2017, from https://www.crazyegg.com/blog/3-psychographic-gems/
