I was first introduced to the word ‘psychographics’ in the book This is Marketing by Seth Godin. Up until that point, I only knew the word demographics as a way to determine the ‘who’ for your business. I ask my students to describe to me what their target market avatar looks like, and then direct their marketing and advertising at that person. Now I’m questioning that approach to be more about what the avatar does and why they do it.
Psychographics is concerned with the attitudes, beliefs, values, fears, likes, dislikes, hobbies, and habits of a person, which is then used to divide the market into segments that are appropriate targets for your business. It’s not a case of using demographic or psychographic data, but rather using both to help you and your students develop a complete picture of who their ideal customer is.
When having your students begin to build their target market avatar, start asking them to consider the demographics and psyhographics of their ideal customer. You can then use the information to inform the productions process and marketing mix for student businesses moving forwards.
Consumer psychology is primarily interested in lifestyle, habits, behavior, and interests. Each of our unique psychological profiles — our temperament, personality, quirks, and other idiosyncrasies — greatly influences our behavior as consumers. – Meredith, 2020
Considering the quote above – if our beliefs and values, along with our personality have a greater influence on our buying habits than simply our age or gender, would it make sense to identify our target market with consideration given to those factors too?
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