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Define Your Demographics
by Ward Tipton
A new and innovative product can be marketed to literally millions of people almost overnight in the world today. However, if none of those people have any interest in the product, it is still not very likely to sell well. Correctly identifying the demographic target of the market will solve that problem. Once the demographics have been defined, it will be easier to know where and to whom the market will be directed.
There are numerous sites on the internet for sending an advertisement to thousands or even millions of people. Many (or very likely most) people who have tried this know how difficult it is to get any discernible results from this type of campaign. While the ad may indeed go out to thousands or even millions of people, only a very small percentage of those people will ever look at those ads. Even then, the average return rate on random ads is less than one-half percent.
No matter how those odds are stacked, the odds are negligible at best. If the web site is brand new and the only interest is to generate generic traffic that is not likely to return, just to get some numbers, this may be a viable alternative, but for advertising, marketing and becoming successful with a product, it just will not work; at least not most of the time.
If the proper steps have been followed, the product is already under development or has already been completed and is just waiting on the next step to be completed. Either way, there should be a pretty good idea by now who the target audience is. Targeted marketing will always fare better than blind or blanket campaigns that try to cover everybody and everything.
This process may actually take some research and some insight. Many products can be targeted to multiple audiences, all of whom may be very receptive to the product. However, different demographics will respond differently to the actual marketing campaigns. For example; an eighty year old woman who happens to use the same shampoo as a fourteen year old boy is not very likely to respond the same way to an ad that is targeted to the teen. Quite the opposite may happen, actually, and the one customer will be forfeited for the sake of the other.
The idea is to figure out everybody who is going to be using this particular product. Each one of these demographic groups should have their own advertising campaign and marketing in place. By addressing separate markets differently, nobody will be alienated and the list of customers can be expanded rather than narrowed down. It is always better to have too many customers than not enough.
It is important to have as much information as possible about each group that is being targeted. Will the teenagers being targeted all be sports stars or will they be the ones less prevalent and more subtle in their appearances? Will the grandmother figure be an avid outdoors person with an active lifestyle or one who prefers to sit at home knitting while listening to the records she has from her youth?
All of these factors become more and more important as the targeting becomes more specific. Certain people will identify with one thing while it may not even be readily recognizable to someone else. While diversity in advertising is always a good idea, it is not helpful when it isolates more people than it is bringing into the market. By knowing who the target audience is, and knowing specifics about them, they can be more effectively pursued and sales increased accordingly.
As the marketing and advertising are expanded, further markets can be explored. However, at the beginning of any project, your time and resources are usually going to be stretched pretty thin. Concentrating on one market at a time can help alleviate some of the stress involved and provide a quicker return of investment. Ward Tipton has been writing SEO and SEM materials for over three years now and has recently become involved in providing new and unmatched materials by an actual Work Team comprised of professional writers, technicians, engineers, editors, Internet Marketers and a gathering of talent heretofore unmatched in the world of Internet Marketing. Visit http://wardtipton.com .
A new and innovative product can be marketed to literally millions of people almost overnight in the world today. However, if none of those people have any interest in the product, it is still not very likely to sell well. Correctly identifying the demographic target of the market will solve that problem. Once the demographics have been defined, it will be easier to know where and to whom the market will be directed.
There are numerous sites on the internet for sending an advertisement to thousands or even millions of people. Many (or very likely most) people who have tried this know how difficult it is to get any discernible results from this type of campaign. While the ad may indeed go out to thousands or even millions of people, only a very small percentage of those people will ever look at those ads. Even then, the average return rate on random ads is less than one-half percent.
No matter how those odds are stacked, the odds are negligible at best. If the web site is brand new and the only interest is to generate generic traffic that is not likely to return, just to get some numbers, this may be a viable alternative, but for advertising, marketing and becoming successful with a product, it just will not work; at least not most of the time.
If the proper steps have been followed, the product is already under development or has already been completed and is just waiting on the next step to be completed. Either way, there should be a pretty good idea by now who the target audience is. Targeted marketing will always fare better than blind or blanket campaigns that try to cover everybody and everything.
This process may actually take some research and some insight. Many products can be targeted to multiple audiences, all of whom may be very receptive to the product. However, different demographics will respond differently to the actual marketing campaigns. For example; an eighty year old woman who happens to use the same shampoo as a fourteen year old boy is not very likely to respond the same way to an ad that is targeted to the teen. Quite the opposite may happen, actually, and the one customer will be forfeited for the sake of the other.
The idea is to figure out everybody who is going to be using this particular product. Each one of these demographic groups should have their own advertising campaign and marketing in place. By addressing separate markets differently, nobody will be alienated and the list of customers can be expanded rather than narrowed down. It is always better to have too many customers than not enough.
It is important to have as much information as possible about each group that is being targeted. Will the teenagers being targeted all be sports stars or will they be the ones less prevalent and more subtle in their appearances? Will the grandmother figure be an avid outdoors person with an active lifestyle or one who prefers to sit at home knitting while listening to the records she has from her youth?
All of these factors become more and more important as the targeting becomes more specific. Certain people will identify with one thing while it may not even be readily recognizable to someone else. While diversity in advertising is always a good idea, it is not helpful when it isolates more people than it is bringing into the market. By knowing who the target audience is, and knowing specifics about them, they can be more effectively pursued and sales increased accordingly.
As the marketing and advertising are expanded, further markets can be explored. However, at the beginning of any project, your time and resources are usually going to be stretched pretty thin. Concentrating on one market at a time can help alleviate some of the stress involved and provide a quicker return of investment. Ward Tipton has been writing SEO and SEM materials for over three years now and has recently become involved in providing new and unmatched materials by an actual Work Team comprised of professional writers, technicians, engineers, editors, Internet Marketers and a gathering of talent heretofore unmatched in the world of Internet Marketing. Visit http://wardtipton.com .
