If you’re a new entrepreneur then it probably won’t take you long to learn about the importance of finding a niche. In fact, you may even find that you have to narrow down your niche a whole lot more than you originally expected. It can also be helpful to figure out a target demographic. Then you can hone your promotions even further by specifically focusing on that demographic.
The Basics of Demographics
In the real world, it’s very unlikely that you’ll be running a business with genuinely unique products or services. Even if you’re creating hand-crafted items, there’s probably somebody else out there creating items with at least some level of similarity to yours.
By contrast, it’s totally possible to deliver a genuinely unique customer experience. With discretionary purchases, this is often at least as important as the product or service itself. The best customer experiences are generally the ones that are most tailored to the needs, wants, and budget of the customer. Your target demographic can serve as baseline guidance here.
Essentially, you’ll use your knowledge of your target demographic for broad marketing pitches. When you’re first starting out this will probably mean all of them. As you gather customers, you’ll probably be able to segment them further. In fact, you may be able to get to know at least some of them as individuals.
The Difference Between Demographics and Stereotypes
Maybe the reason why some people have issues with the concept of demographics is that, superficially, it can resemble the idea of outdated stereotypes. That’s understandable but it’s also inaccurate.
Demographics simply recognizes that people who belong to a similar group tend to have similar budgets, needs, wants, and values. These can have major implications for their buying choices. For example, AR handguards are used by both men and women. Women, however, might choose different handguards from men to reflect the fact that most women have smaller hands than men.
If you understand this, then you can curate your selection of products to suit your target demographic. This gives you a natural segue into marketing for your demographic.
Marketing to Your Demographic
Organic search engine optimization is still hugely important. You do, however, need to be realistic about the fact that it’s a long-term investment rather than a short-term growth strategy. If you have the budget, you may be able to speed up your growth with adverts. Knowing your demographic will help a lot here.
Firstly, it will allow you to focus your advertising budget on the right people. Secondly, it will enable you to create engaging, relevant adverts. Keep in mind that Google considers multiple factors when deciding what adverts to show to whom. One of them is quality. In other words, even if you bid the highest, if Google thinks your advert is poor, it may not show it.
In addition to budgeting for adverts (if you can), you should budget resources to establishing a presence on a relevant social media platform. Again, this is an area where knowing your demographic can help a lot. For example, people who use TikTok are often very different from people who use Pinterest. You need to go where your audience is.
