Audience Demographics

A variety of factors go into defining a target market. Many ofthe basic factors are demographic. Questions like the following areusually asked:

Gender: Is the target market composed of males, females, orboth? Age: What age range does the target market fall into? (e.g.18 – 24) Income: What is the annual salary range of the end user?(e.g. $50,000 – 74,999) Cultural/Ethnic Background: Are the endusers primarily Caucasian, Asian, immigrants, citizens, etc.?Language: What languages/dialects will be required to communicatewith customers?

Geographic Region: Where are customers/potential customerslocated? Are they in urban, suburban, or rural areas? Or for largercompanies, what continental regions are customers located in (city,state, province, country)?

Other Factors: the customers’/potential customers’ personality,occupations, values, hobbies, interests, etc. all have to be gaugedby the business and the marketing professional

Example: Sephora Gender: primarily female

Age: appeals to a wide range of ages, preteen to mid-40s, asthey offer funky, trendy makeup and anti-aging products

Income: mid- to high-income range; significant percentage ofdisposable income Cultural/Ethnic Background: customers come from avariety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds

Geographic Region: North American and Western Europeancountries, in urban areas, though customers in rural and moreremote areas can purchase products online

Other Factors: Sephora’s end users are discerning. They wantaccess to quality products, niche brands, and extensive selection.They are willing to pay a premium for this kind of access. Most ofthe customers in the 25+ age range will be professional women whochoose to wear make up to the workplace. The high school andcollege-aged clients will have active social lives and beinterested in standing out in a crowd (e.g. at a club, bar, etc.)5

1. Decide who your target consumer(s) is. Write down thedemographic characteristics of this person(s). Refer to thissection in the textbook.

2. Learn more about your target consumer(s) by examining theirpsychographic characteristics. “Psychographics are kind of likedemographics. Psychographic information might be your buyer'shabits, hobbies, spending habits and values. Demographics explain‘who’ your buyer is, while psychographics explain ‘why’ theybuy.”

a. Create a five-question survey thatenables you to find out about your target consumer’s (s’) habits,hobbies, and more without asking directly, “What are yourhobbies?”, for example. Then, ask people from your targetdemographic to fill out your psychographic questionnaire. Try toget at least five people to respond to your survey.

b. Compile the questionnaire resultsand then add the psychographic characteristics to the demographicprofile(s) you have already created.