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From stock person to marketing director and everything in between, small business owners have a lot of responsibilities to take on. There is no possible way to be an expert at every aspect of business ownership and management. Marketing to specific demographics may be one such area where you may not have as much knowledge as you would like. Demographics marketing is, simply put, advertising to a selected population. This post will cover the basics of demographics marketing so that you can confidently navigate marketing for your small business.
Define Your Target Audience
In order to be able to market to a specific demographic, you must first decide who your target audience is. This is one of those business decisions that can be overlooked when it can have a huge impact on your bottom line. What population do you think would best align with the services or products your business provides? Before you move any further in trying to employ demographics marketing for your small business, this question must be answered. Without a target audience, you have no specific demographic to market to. Once you have defined who your target is, you will be that much closer to success. Marketing to an audience that is likely to enjoy your business will almost certainly increase sales and revenue. The first step to understanding demographics marketing is defining your target audience.
Know Your Competition
Once you have identified you target audience, you should check out your competitors. Who are competitive businesses targeting? What specific demographics? Find out who the competition’s customers are. Not so that you can pursue those particular clients, but to enable you to find a niche they may be missing. Identifying a niche market will give your business a competitive edge. In order to use demographics marketing or even telemarketing services effectively, you need to be aware of what your competition is doing.
Understand The Importance Of Location
Another factor in demographics marketing is the location of your business. Depending on where your business operates, you may have a different makeup of ages, races or religions. These can also be important factors in making appropriate marketing decisions. If, for example, your business operates in an area that is populated with many strict Catholics, it would not be wise to run advertisements on Sunday mornings. No one would be around to see them as they would be in church. Those sort of realizations will help you to form the best marketing campaign based on location demographics. Your business will be more likely to succeed if you effectively employ location-sensitive demographics marketing.
Know Where To Find Information
It is all well and good to understand the opportunities demographics marketing provides your small business. However, you may not know where to gain reliable information regarding demographics that would be helpful for a segmentation analysis. There are several routes you can take to obtain the necessary information. The U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics are two places you may want to have a look at first. These agencies possess information regarding demographics that could be useful for marketing purposes. If you are looking for demographics of the area your business operates in, look to the U.S. Census Bureau first. Or, if you are interested in demographics related to your industry, the Bureau of Labor Statistics could be the better source for you. Regardless, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics will have the information necessary to successfully prepare you for demographics marketing.
Demographics marketing may seem like a daunting concept to master as a small business owner, much like social media customer service. However, as this post has shown, it is not as hard as it may seem at first glance. The first step is to clearly define your target audience. You must also be mindful of the role of demographics based on location. Dependent upon the geographical location of your small business, you will have to consider varying ethnicities, religions and ages. This information can have a huge impact on whether or not you successfully use demographics marketing. Once you understand this, you will need to know where to obtain the information needed. Look to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics first for information on your geographic location and the industry your business operates in. Remember the lessons you have learned through this post. This will enable you to succeed in demographics marketing.
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