An ancient Greek maxim encouraged individuals to “know thyself.” Today’s smart marketing and sales executives use a different maxim: “know thy customer,” which has been called “The first commandment of marketing.” That knowledge is based on the study and application of demographics—population factors including age, race, and sex as well as employment, education, income, marriage, birth, and death rates. The idea is a simple one as expressed by the wisdom of an experienced marksman: “You can’t hit a target that you don’t aim at, and you can’t aim at a target that you can’t see.”

Why Demographics Matter for Increased Sales

Demographics is not a stale compilation of statistics and it is not simply a grouping of similar people. Rather, it is an important understanding of how people act, how they might think, and how they might feel. Demographics matter because they:

  • Improve the business’ understanding of its audience—what their struggles and needs are and how the company’s products and services will be relevant to them. 
  • Help identify the ideal customer—people that will be most interested in the products and services of the business, by understanding their tastes, preferences, and potential issues. 
  • Reach more of the right people by focusing on the mediums and platforms where the company can best engage with them. 
  • Make reaching the right people with the right information more likely. 
  • Secure more leads for the business. 
  • Lower sales and marketing costs. The sales process is more cost-efficient because the sales and marketing efforts are focused on the ideal target customer. 
  • Assist in creating the strongest sales and marketing story, utilizing relevant and unique selling points. 
  • Help identify new opportunities. 
  • Ultimately increase sales because the company can know what target consumers want and how to best deliver it to them.  

How to Identify the Right Demographics

Use these tools to identify key customer demographics:

  • Google Analytics 
  • Facebook Audience Insights 
  • LinkedIn Page Analytics 
  • Twitter Analytics 
  • Instagram Insights 
  • YouTube Analytics  

Get the marketing and sales wins you want by using demographics.