Post Demographic … what?
If you’ve never heard of Post Demographic Consumerism, you’re certainly not the only one. The term is quite new and unknown, but the implications it has on the way you penetrate markets and do marketing, sales and growth hacking, are huge.
What is Post Demographic Consumerism?
Trendwatching.com defines Post Demographic Consumerism as ‘People – of all ages and in all markets – are constructing their own identities more freely than ever. As a result, consumption patterns are no longer defined by ‘traditional’ demographic segments such as age, gender, location, income, family status, and more.’
Post Demographic Consumerism has everything to do with consumer behavior and the demographics used to define it. Marketers in the past used traditional demographics. However, as customer behavior is changing and shifting to new horizons, and markets are constructing, there is a need to step away from these traditional demographic segments. Traditional demographics are just no longer sufficient and will result in targeting the wrong people and a misunderstanding of your ideal customer.
Why is Post Demographic Consumerism important?
These 4 factors cause post demographic consumerism to arise in brand positioning, as defined by Trendwatching.com
1. Access
We, as a consumer, now have access to more and to global information. Cannot find that pair of sneakers in your own country? No worries. Just look for a vendor in another country and you might even get a better price.
2. Permission
As a consumer, you no longer have to follow the convention. You can express yourself and have a unique identity, without having to settle for convention.
3. Ability
Consumers are not bounded to the brands, products, and services in their region anymore: you now have the ability to discover and identify with a wider variety of brands, products, and services. This also is linked to the aspect of personalization.
4. Desire
Say goodbye to the status quo. The connection between the financial situation of people and their social status is changing. This means that money doesn’t equal power anymore, resulting in a shift in power.
What are the opportunities of Post Demographic Consumerism for brands and marketers?
Having covered the theoretical side, it’s time to move over to the practical implementations post demographic consumerism has for marketers.
1. No more stereotypes
Companies finally have a black-on-white reason to stop presenting their products and services with a stereotypical approach: it’s not because we think of pink as a ‘girly’ color, that men wouldn’t like it too. Move forward and keep an open mindset while targeting your audience.
Take CoverGirl as an example – a make-up brand targeting everyday women between 18 and 45. Make-up used to be linked to women only: all print ads, commercials, and targeting of make-up brands were done by and towards women. CoverGirl decided to change this up a bit. They noticed James Charles, a male Youtuber giving make-up tutorials to his online followers, and his audience consisting of both men and women. CoverGirl decided to step away from the traditional gender pattern and made him their first male spokesperson. By doing this, CoverGirl led by example in the beauty industry, with many make-up brands, such as Maybelline, MAC Cosmetics… following their lead.
2. Step away from averages and benchmarks
Marketers must step away from averages and learn to accept that ‘it was always like this’ is just not good enough anymore. Instead of taking the traditional demographics such as age, income, and gender in your segmentation, try to use attitudes, behavior, interests, and motivations of the customer. You’ll see: it will be much more beneficial.
Let us take secondhand shopping as an example. As a secondhand shop using the traditional demographic such as income to target their customers, you will most likely only target people with a lower income. Why? Because you link income to the usage of secondhand shops. However, not only people with a lower income shop secondhand. There is an increasing trend of people with higher incomes buying used goods. Why? This can be linked to their interest (sustainability or environmentally friendly) or based on trends. Clearly stepping away from the old way of will be much more beneficial for a secondhand store.
3. Go Cross-demographic
As a marketer, it is important to keep the friends and family of consumers in the back of your mind. They are a part of the population you do not necessarily reach if you stick to traditional demographics. Look at psychographics, such as motivation, hobbies, interests, to have a better idea of people. Adapt this in your messaging, reach them at the right time and the right moment, and your clientele will grow.
Let’s take Lush as an example. Lush is an environmentally friendly cosmetics brand selling soap and lotions. Cosmetics companies usually target women between 15 and 40, but by having the environmentally friendly aspect of their value proposition implemented in their offering, Lush can also be targeted people who have an environmentally friendly attitude. Therefore, Lush is able to go cross-demographic. Imagine a 16-year-old girl buying Lush: the chances are that her family and friends share similar attitudes and behaviors, and therefore, will also fall in love with Lush.
4. Start doing Niche Targeting
As a company, it is can be interesting to target smaller segments based on interests or behavior, instead of the traditional demographics. So as a company it is important to get close and personal and … very niche.
Take ‘Pop Your Pup’ as an example. This company enables dog owners to print their dog’s picture on every type of clothing or item imaginable: pillows, t-shirts, facemasks, you name it. As you can imagine, this market is quite niche and by targeting smaller interest-based segments, ‘Pop Your Pup’ can reach its target audience.
Post Demographic Consumerism: conclusion
What are you waiting for? Reinvent the way you look at demographics. Use alternative demographics such as interests, attitudes, or behavior to target your customers. You’ll discover it’s just a matter of time beforetraditional demographics go extinct.
