Marketers and advertisers love categories. Demographics were always a major part
of the analyses used in developing a marketing plan. Realizing that understanding target customers also involves
learning about their psychological characteristics, in other words, modes of
behavior, lifestyle habits and “attitudes”, marketers and advertisers develop a
detailed dossier of consumer buying
potential. This method of market analysis known as psychographics is
used to give insight to the behavior lifestyle of a target market. It helps marketers figure out what it
will take to convert the targeted consumer to their customer. What behaviors of a target market are
directly related to the way they buy and what they buy.
With information obtained through consumer
surveys, focus groups and questionnaires, advertisers can fine-tune their
marketing, basically narrowing their focus to a specific consumer, i.e., women
who are into fitness, health foods and athletics. Directing your advertising to the consumer who is already
interested in your product market increases the probability of converting a
consumer to a customer. It saves advertising dollars that may be wasted on a
general audience of consumers in a certain demographic who may or may not be
interested in your products.
Although not discussed here,
marketing experts refer to “types” of psychographic profiles. Categories with
descriptive profiles are used to develop a marketing campaign to match that buyer
to the particular product. I have
not researched the categories or read statistics on these profiles, but studies
can be found as the need to understand consumers has made market research an
essential part of American consumerism.
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