If you offer a product or service with wide appeal, or you have a diverse customer base, the concept of target markets can become really complicated. But If you sell to “everybody,” then how are you supposed to define your target market? Firstly don't make the common mistake I see all the time. Although target market and demographic are closely related terms, they are not the same!
Everyone Is Not a Demographic.
Demographics are subsets of a target market that share particular attributes. Target market is broader term than demographics, and here we often fail to diverse these two terms, because 18-45 is segmented enough? Wrong!
In today's flooded advertisement market we often talk about channels more than habits, demographics more than needs, and what we offer as opposed to what our target group wants. Can I say wrong as well?
Personally I am a part of "new" target group "Millenials", demographic group born between 1977-2000., and we talk to this group as "people with same needs". Am I blind or cant you see the 23 years difference between first and last millenial born? To make it more ridiculous this target group is age 20-43, so I don't know about you but when I was 20, we considered 40 year olds as old people. And as marketers, we don’t just talk about Millennial behavior. We know it, inside out. Get to know us a little bit more on the following LINK.
Millennials were not shaped by just three TV channels – our culture stems from access to millions of different websites and Youtube channels, unfiltered points of view, a wealth of diversity, and recent world events. Also, there is one more thing, as annoying it may be, many millennials are truly unique, and can’t really be meaningfully categorized in any black or white box.
Millennials are a different kind of buyer. Simply giving a great value proposition or offering an awesome product won’t be enough to close the deal. You need something extra. They need a reason why they should purchase your product. Why? Because thousands of products exist today and the options are almost limitless.
And if you taught millenials are difficult, let me introduce you to your new worst nightmare: Generation Z 😱. Gen Z is online, and what worked for us reaching customers on digital platforms in the past, doesn’t reflect what we need to communicate for the future. And booooy it's hard to communicate with these guys. Especially if your brand values have zero importance to them.
Young people aged 16 to 24 spent an average of seven hours per day online in 2019, three of which were spent exclusively on social media, according to GlobalWebIndex. But to reach Gen Z in the online communities they engage with, unidirectional paid posts from an influencer might not work at all. In their "who are you, and why should I care" mode, they tend to move away from open and exposed networks to more private platforms to share content. And "Dark social" is really dark place, especially for us marketers.
This could mean brands need to invest their digital media dollars in larger-scale awareness campaigns on Facebook and Instagram, as well as in “below-the-line” campaigns: easily shareable digital content that leads to traction on private messaging apps.
And how can we communicate with the group of people who looks like this:
Unlike baby boomers, Gen X or millennials, who use these platforms primarily to stay up to date with people, communicate their daily lives and share opinions, Gen Z users are more likely to use social media for entertainment. “It’s a place to relieve themselves of boredom”. Video is at the center of this shift. By 2022, video will drive an estimated 82 percent of all internet traffic, and YouTube remains the most popular social networking platform among Gen Z, according to GlobalWebIndex.
But please do not make video materials that look like news reportage, with sterile content written by PR agency, just to be present. Because it's boring, even to me, and I am a millennial. TikTok challenge is maybe boring to you, or your CEO, but have in mind that you are yours target group only in one small segment, and that's fine if you and your friends are the only ones that are necessary for your business to stay stable on market, but I seriously doubt it. Think who is your customer in 5-10 years, and start talking to them, cause if you wouldn't, somebody else will.
With this generation we need to be creative, have fun, shift from platform to platform, experiment. Finally right? And where can you play more than in game itself? The gaming community has grown even further with Gen Z. Gamers report that they are most likely to play online because they can be their real selves without judgment, in contrast to other image-based networks like Instagram.
“Gaming platforms start filling in the gaps when it comes to social experience, and they may become more like social networks in their own”.
Creating virtual clothing inside games drives brand awareness as well as virtual sales. According to Vogue Bussines: Adidas, Champion, and Nike have sponsored esports teams in recent years, bringing their brands to an estimated 600 million esports viewers in 2020. Louis Vuitton and Prada have used Final Fantasy characters in editorial campaigns. “What we have found is that commerce, entertainment and social are fusing at the most rapid rate in these territories. Again, it’s Gen Z driving that trend.”
And to conclude, if you are still marketing at 18-45, please have in mind that the needs, or ways we use the platform, and even things we care about are drastically different between us. So if you care for us to put us in the same basket, we probably care for you in the same way.