Successfully Utilizing Marketing Demographics

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Good, clear marketing materials are one of your association’s best assets. Marketing materials should tell your audience:

  • What you do
  • Why they should join
  • How membership will benefit them

So far, so good. But before you dash off to create your next piece of content, pause for a moment and think about who you’re sending your messages to.

Know Your Prospects

Knowing your target market is vital. Your marketing messages need to be relevant to the receiver, and demographics are your key to making them relevant. Demographics such as:

  • Age
  • Gender
  • Income
  • Career
  • Location

All help you to understand your target market. Ask yourself:

  • What matters to my target market?
  • What issues are they facing that my association can help with?
  • Where do they congregate online? What’s the best place to reach them?

Once you’ve built up a picture in your mind of who you are marketing to and what matters to them, you can tailor your messages to fit your audience.

Not All Prospects Are the Same

If you find your target market is starting to look a bit like “professionals from 20 – 75 located all over the country in a wide income bracket,” it’s time to start using those demographics to break your prospects down into groups. By dividing your prospects up this way, you can tailor your marketing to suit each group of listeners. You might choose to write different materials for long-term members than you would for members who are new to what you do. You can target a specific locality by talking about local concerns in their materials. Or how about finding out each group’s favorite online haunts and crafting content that fits well with that medium?

When you segment your target market based on demographics, you can hone your message to make it as relevant as possible to each group. The extra effort will pay off – prospects will respond to messages that speak to them, and they will appreciate the personal touch.