Psychographics in Marketing

If your business is seeing engagement on social media.

You are:

• Posting consistently
• Using the right hashtags
• Targeting the perfect audience for your customer demographic

But no one is clicking through to buy your product.

Then you’re losing potential leads and need to make relevant marketing content.

To do that, you need psychographics.

And in this post, we’ll learn about:

• Using psychographics in marketing
• Why only demographic data isn’t enough

Let’s get started.

What are Psychographics?

Psychographics are a consumer attributes like:

• Beliefs
• Values
• Goals

Together psychographics and demographics are used in marketing to understand consumer spending habits.

Also known as buyer personas.

For example, for a nutrition program business, if the target audience finds it difficult to stick to the plan.

Because they’ve tried multiple programs and none have worked.

So before spending more on nutritional programs:

• They want to be sure it works
• Need support throughout

With this information, your marketing should show:

• Customer testimonials
• That you’ll provide support

Basically, knowing the demographic and psychographic information about your ideal customer helps you better:

• Segment your audience
• Target the right customers
• Better position your product

Note: This is also known as STP Marketing: Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning

Psychographics and Demographics Differences

Demographics tell you about your and psychographics tell you why they make certain choices. 

Demographic data is objective and psychographics data is subjective.

Marketers start with demographics which gives you broad information, but psychographics give marketers more details.

For example, demographics tell you a person’s age but psychographics tell them they are starting a family and need baby products.

Psychographics detail the consumer buying process when making purchasing decisions, influenced by their attitudes and subjective perceptions.

Psychographic data includes:

• Personality Characteristics
• Lifestyle
• Social Class
• Habits
• Beliefs
• Behaviours
• Interests

Demographics data includes:

• Age
• Gender
• Occupation
• Ethnicity
• Geolocation
• Education Level
• Religion

Marketers can convert prospects into customers more cost-effectively by personalising content for different groups of people.

Note: People in the same demographic group aren’t always in the same psychographic group.

Because people are unique and have different:

• Habits
• Interests
• Preferences
• Values

So remember to target them differently.

Psychographic Profiling

A psychographic profile is an individual or groups unique description of:

• Attitudes
• Habits
• Interests

This information tells you who would be more likely to purchase a product or service from your business.

Psychographic profiling is effective because consumers make decisions based on personal preferences or values. 

And understanding this improves:

• Outreach methods
• Advertising
• Branding

Basically, using demographic data alone gives a basic outline of your audience, like their challenges

But it doesn’t tell you where to find your audience and what makes them take action.

But with psychographic data, you get more detailed insights.

And with both, you get the whole picture for a more effective marketing strategy.

Psychographic Factors

Psychographic factors influence consumer behaviour, these include:

• Personality characteristics
• Lifestyle
• Social class
• Habits
• Behaviours
• Interests

Psychographic factors can be used to divide your audiences.

• Personality Characteristics: The way a person interacts with the world and you can tailor your marketing to these traits your target audience shares
• Lifestyle: How a person views themselves in society and can be influenced by relationships, occupation and other life choices
• Social Class: Consumers classify themselves into lower, middle, and upper classes and make buying decisions based on that
• Habits: What a person is accustomed to in their daily lives, which aren’t easy to break and marketers consider these when creating campaigns and advertisements
• Behaviours: How a person acts, which is exhibited through a person’s buying patterns, product use and product purchase frequency
• Interests: Influence the way a person interacts with a brand and vary from person to person but common target audience interests can be used in marketing

Similar to behavioural segmentation, psychographic segmentation creates groups based on personal or individual criteria.

For example, segmenting audiences based on lifestyle, means deciding if buyers are:

• Attending school
• Working full-time
• Active lifestyle
• Inactive lifestyle

Psychographic Data

A few examples of your buyer’s psychographic data includes:

• Habits
• Hobbies
• Thoughts
• Values

And having buyer’s psychographic data helps:

• Understand why consumers might buy your product
• Create marketing campaigns specifically targeting buyers

Finding Psychographic Data

To find psychographics data, do the following:

Interview existing clients

Ask your current client more about themselves, like:

• What they did over the weekend
• If they’ve seen any good movies lately
• Found any great holiday deals
• Made any New Year’s resolutions

Or find friends similar to your ideal clients and ask them the same questions.

Ask them the right questions, like:

• What they do for fun
• If they’re a bargain-hunter
• What motivates them
• What’s their personal goals

Send out a customer survey and tell them you want to understand what they care about.

Investigate website analytics

Look at your website’s content and what has made people click, call, or buy.

Pay attention to your analytics because people’s actions depend on their motivations.

For example, bargain-hunters are motivated to take action by discount codes.

Use focus groups

A focus group is a group of people who discuss your brand and your products.

They should be unbiased, align with your target market and not part of your business.

For example, the focus group for selling hiking gear should be hikers.

And to be more effective, make a questionnaire that finds your target audience’s needs and wants.

Collect data from market research companies

Collect data from companies that have already done the research you need.

You can either use free or low-cost market research tools.

Or consult major companies like NielsenIQ or Qualtrics.

Psychographic Marketing

Now learn how to apply the data to your marketing strategy:

Motivate buyers based on needs

Motivate buyers by giving them what they need to buy:

• Discounts work for some
• Customer testimonials work for others

This shows your product or service has worked for others before they make a commitment.

Where they are at

For example, If your target buyer spends their free time on Pinterest, that’s where to target them.

You can stop spending money on Facebook, YouTube, newspaper, and magazine ads.

This could be sharing content on your Pinterest Business account then analysing what they re-pin.

Priorities, hobbies, and interests

Knowing more about your target buyers hobbies and interests help you know:

• What to blog about
• What images to use in your ads

For example, if your target buyer loves to cook, add recipes and tips in your Pinterest, Instagram, and blog.

Tailored call-to-action

Include a tailored call-to-action targeting your buyer’s needs, priorities, interests, and values.

At the end of your ad, write something compelling then tell them to “click here to begin.”

Couple that with an image of the person your target buyer wants to become.

The image will depend on the psychographic profile of your target buyer.

Psychographics Examples

The most popular psychographics are:

• Personality traits
• Life cycle stage
• Interests
• Attitudes or beliefs
• Activities

But marketers also group consumers based on their buying priorities, social class and more.

Personality Traits

Write to specifically appeal to your target buyers by knowing their personality traits, like:

• What they like
• Do they research a product before buying
• Do they like to try something new

Or you could put your target consumer into these groups:

• Extroverted vs Introverted
• Emotional thinker vs Logical thinker
• Pragmatic vs Idealist
• Spontaneous vs Planner
• Creative vs “By-the-book”

And you can always come up with your own groups for your marketing campaign.

Life cycle Stage

Know where your target customer is in their buying lifecycle, like:

• Do they know about the product or solution
• Have contacted your company

Different stages of a buying life cycle includes:

• Reach
• Acquisition
• Conversion
• Retention
• Loyalty

Knowing this can help pick the marketing channels you decide to use.

For example, for people who aren’t aware of their problem can be targeted with:

• Google ads
• An organic content strategy

Interests

In your marketing campaign, include what interests your target buyers to increase your chances of getting their business.

For example, selling water bottles to target buyers interested in biking.

Your campaign would include an image of a person biking with your water bottle, then you would target those also interested in biking gear.

Remember, interests don’t always align with activities.

For example, your target buyer is interested in biking, but doesn’t have time or isn’t confident to go on their own.

A few examples of potential interests include:

• Music
• Shows
• Books
• Design
• Pet care
• Sustainability

Attitudes or Beliefs

Attitudes or beliefs tell you how your target buyers see the world.

Knowing this can help you tailor your marketing campaign for them.

For example, selling nutritional programs to target buyers who believe body positivity and looking healthy is different for everyone.

So your campaign will include pictures of different sized people who are healthy or on their way to being healthy.

Activities

Activities are what your buyers do in their spare time, like:

• Being on Instagram on their break
• Watching Netflix shows
• Visiting museum exhibits on weekends
• Spending time outside in nature

Consumer activities tell where they’ve spent resources, time, and money.

For example, you’re selling nutrition programs to your target customer who loves yoga.

Your images or offers should involve yoga, or just advertise your program at yoga studios.

Conclusion

You need to know your audience’s psychographic profile so you can target them specifically. 

Doing so helps:

• Pick better marketing channels
• Create better imagery
• Choose better wording

All this works to help potential buyers picture themselves using your product.

And this results in:

• Better leads
• More ROI from marketing

Now it’s over to you.

Tell me how Psychographics have helped your business better target audiences.

Let me know in the comment section below.