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If you plan on expanding your business through your marketing, and I know you do, then you need to know about psychographics. At first blush, the word itself sounds like something a serial killer might develop in a darkroom, but it is nothing so ominous as that. In marketing terms, psychographics are a collection of data regarding the behavior of a group of people, such as what they care about, how they spend their time and what their opinions are. This data works in tandem with demographics, which are the facts about a particular group, such as age, location, income, etc. Psychographics play well with demographics in helping you focus your marketing to be where your desired clientele are looking and to present it in a way that they will notice.
Know your audience
You want to know your customer and you want to know them well, in some ways better than they know themselves. Psychographics are not a simple thing to generate, but they are essential to an effective marketing campaign. Google Analytics records the sources of your web traffic and can tell you where your visitors came from, what search words they used to find you, and what type of content they prefer. You can determine which social media sites they use most, what types of things they click on, and how often, and on which devices. Pretty handy, eh?
Know your data
As you gather information about your visitor’s web behavior, you need to sift through it. Not everything is valuable and not every piece of information pertains to the big picture. Look for patterns and consistencies over time. Just because you had a busy couple days with Google+ doesn’t mean you won’t get more traction from ads on Facebook. Maybe there was a Google Hangout related to your industry one day, and you can time future ads to coincide with such events. You want to get a good sense of the average user, rather than the outlier simply because the odds of successfully targeting rare customer behavior may nullify the cost and effort to reach them.
Know yourself
It’s one thing to know your clients and how to speak to them, it’s another thing to do it effectively. Your data can also help you analyze yourself, including the things you aren’t doing well. Much in the way that a coach analyzes the tape of last night’s game to see how his team can improve, you need to take a harsh look at your own efforts to see where you’ve missed the mark. Be honest, not idealist. It may not feel great to see that you’ve been wasting time and money in the wrong social media outlet, but it’s certainly better to correct the course than to stubbornly persist down the wrong path.
Know your goals
Once you’ve identified your psychographics and the areas you want to focus on, you need to create a plan for success. Otherwise, how will you know if your new and improved marketing strategy is even complete, let alone effective? You need to be as specific as possible in planning the implementation of your strategy. Know the days when you release new ads, know results you’re looking for and know how to adjust your strategy if you’re missing the mark. Use trial and error to test uncertain new areas, and monitor any improvements to tried and tested methods to ensure things are moving in the desired direction, and when your new specific campaign starts to pay off, be sure to know how you’re going to celebrate all your new clients.