Marketing demographics: what they are and how to apply them

You already know that market research is integral to the success of your business. Today, we’ll explore a particular type of market research, marketing demographics, and learn about their role in your marketing strategies. 

Marketing demographics are used in customer segmentation to find specific groups in your target audience. This knowledge is then used to market to each segment more specifically for more effective marketing strategies. Let’s take a closer look at marketing demographics.

Markets may be segmented in several ways, including by demographics, geographics, psychographics and behaviours. Marketing demographics include characteristics such as age, geographic location, education level, occupation, income, etc. that are used to create groups and segment a market. 

Marketing demographics utilise information that’s easily accessible. Segmenting with demographics allows you to focus and customise your marketing strategy to target potential customers who fit into a specific demographic market.

As part of your marketing strategy, you need to include demographic segmentation to gain the following benefits:

Use your marketing pounds wisely and don’t waste capital advertising to a market that doesn’t need or want your product. Demographic segmentation allows you to target relevant customers and avoid wasting marketing and advertising funds on people who simply won’t be interested in your product.

For example, a small startup children’s picture book publisher has a limited budget. To ensure a higher return on advertising spend (ROAS) and return on investment (ROI), the owners are looking at demographics before determining their marketing strategy. 

Rather than spending time and money on marketing for a generic audience, use demographic segmentation to create messaging that appeals to the part of your audience that is most likely to buy your product. 

For example, our small children’s picture book publisher has done its research. It decided to use different marketing messaging for different demographic segments. A portion of its budget is used to attract children in the three-to-eight-year-old age range because we all know how forcefully children express their wants and needs. Those eye-catching campaigns will feature lots of colours and pictures with characters from the publisher’s books. The larger portion is directed to married adults who are 21–35 and have children. Those campaigns promote reading to your children and how their books are perfect for increasing your child’s desire to learn to read. The two campaigns will be very different and personalised to each group. 

With demographic segmentation, you can ensure that people who see your marketing messaging will find that your product is relevant to them.

Back to our book publisher, older children, middle-aged adults and seniors are less likely to shop for picture books, so they are not targeted for messaging.

Marketing that is personalised to a specific customer resonates on a human level. Companies can demonstrate that they understand their customers’ pain points and that they want to help them solve their problems. Customers then feel valued and become returning customers with increased loyalty.

Our small picture book publisher used market research to find out more about their main target market: parents. They found that many parents are concerned about having time to read to their children. The company’s marketing department created a campaign to highlight the importance of parents reading to their children and the fact that their company has several titles that can be read in brief periods of time. They even released a free download about “squeezing reading in”, along with a colouring sheet for children.

The most useful demographic characteristics for your marketing strategies are age, gender, income, family status, religion/race/nationality and education. Let’s look at each one of these demographics and examples of how they can be used in marketing.

One of the first demographic traits that you're likely to use is age. This is a critical variable for most markets. Age may be defined in various ways, such as:

Whether you use age range, life stage or generation to define your target market, you’ll find that each defined demographic has its own values and preferences that can be used to personalise your advertising and marketing for maximum effectiveness.

In the United States, an example of effective marketing using the age demographic is the Dollar Shave Club (DSC). Their target market is men in the 18–34 age range. Their marketing, advertising and social media all rely heavily on humour appealing to that demographic. 

For example, here is the gist of a recent tweet from DSC: 

Would you rather:

1. Pluck your entire moustache; or

2. Use superglue as shaving cream?

Using gender demographics for your marketing requires extra attention to detail. If your product does not depend on gender, use other traits to define your marketing plan.

When collecting gender information via a survey, we recommend making the questions optional and adding a section for explanation. For example:

Gender: How do you identify?
Woman
Man
Non-binary
Prefer to self-describe (provide open text box)

An example of marketing using gender as a variable for targeting would be Free People women’s clothing. Their advertising and marketing target women aged between 18 and 34 who identify their personal style as bohemian or eclectic. 

A recent marketing campaign on their social media offers images of celebrities (some in character from popular media) with links to Free People items of clothing that can be used to recreate the looks.

The Ordinary is a skincare company that offers solutions based on skin concerns rather than gender. The Ordinary website features a very clean, modern look and does not rely on models to demonstrate products. 

Parent company DECIEM The Abnormal Beauty Company features employees of all genders using their products in social media posts. 

If you’re using income as a demographic characteristic for your marketing, what you’re really looking for is buying power. Retail stores such as Tesco market to middle- and lower-income people who have less disposable income, whereas luxury car retailers target high-income individuals. Some companies have a range of products that appeal to more than one demographic.

An income demographic survey question might look something like this:

What was the total combined income of your household in 2023?

An example of a company with tiered options for customers across income levels would Volkswagen. The car company offers hatchbacks for approximately £21K–£35K, saloon starting at approximately £42K and camper vans for up to approximately £82K. They also offer a range of SUVs for approximately £24–£68K, along with electric vehicles, multivans and commercial vehicles.

Marketing at Volkswagen uses multiple demographic traits, including income, to appeal to customers with a variety of vehicle needs.

Spending habits vary widely between single people and families. Changes in family units, such as divorce, death or having a first child, all affect buying habits. Understanding that single people usually prioritise spending on themselves and that couples with children are looking for low-cost bulk purchases can effectively direct your marketing efforts.

To determine family status on a survey, you may choose to ask some of the following questions, using skip logic to direct respondents along the best path. 

What is your marital status?

How many adults live in your home?

How many children under 18 years of age live in your household?

From your family status data, you should be able to segment your data into single people, newly married couples, families with children and empty-nesters. Depending on your product or service, you can adjust your marketing efforts accordingly.

HelloFresh meal kits market their service as a healthy eating option, with boxes that feed two or four people. The kits can be customised for special diets and provide recipe cards so the meals can be recreated. 

Family status is used by marketing kits to couples as fast, healthy meals and to families as a quick alternative that children will also enjoy.

Segmenting according to religion/race/nationality is predominantly used in the food sector. For example, international food aisles in supermarkets and restaurants selling ingredients from a variety of cultures.

Depending on your particular business, you may use inclusive marketing to draw in customers from a variety of backgrounds. You can also target a very narrow market with specific cultural interests.

Oriental supermarkets cater for people looking for groceries that are Chinese, Japanese or Korean in origin. They sell everything from seafood to baked goods to prepared meals, which are all Asian favourites. Oriental supermarkets target East Asian customers who want authentic ingredients.

Segmenting your marketing demographics by education level is based on the assumption that education level is related to a person’s standard of living and lifestyle. Education demographics may ask about the level of education, university or area of study, depending on the product or service being marketed.

An education demographic on a survey may look something like this:

What is the highest level of education you’ve completed or the highest degree you've received?

An example of a company using educational demographics would be tech companies like Apple targeting school/college leavers heading off for university. They know that these students will be looking for laptops, so their marketing uses popular music and culture references that will appeal to them. Apple also offers education pricing for teaching and non-teaching staff, homeschool teachers, university students and parents.

Another use of educational demographics is to appeal to alumni for donations to the universities they attended.

Marketing demographics are very useful for reaching your target audience. For best results, bear these tips in mind:

Marketing demographics play a significant role in customer segmentation. Increase customer loyalty and personalisation, improve product relevance and find greater marketing efficiencies with marketing demographics today. Start with a demographic survey from SurveyMonkey. 

Our market research solutions include SurveyMonkey Audience, a fast and easy way to collect demographic information based on your needs. With Audience, you’ll receive consistent, high-quality responses. Get started today!