Old Media/New Media — Demographics Still Matter

While the tools of the marketing trade are changing rapidly, being able to understand the points of view of large major markets is still eminently useful to business professionals. A new book by Kenneth Gronbach titled, The Age Curve: How to Profit from the Demographic Storm, points out major generational markets (as well as other demographic groups), and offers advice on how best to reach each group.

Part of the premise of Gronbach’s book is that while effective marketing is always a question of how, the size of the potential audience is also a major factor. In a recent Advertising Age article he provides a synopsis of these major generational markets:

• The G.I. Generation (Born 1905 to 1924)
• The Silent Generation (Born 1925 to 1944)
• The Baby Boomers (Born 1945 to 1964)
• Generation X (Born 1965 to 1984)
• Generation Y (Born 1985 to present)

Each group represents a different challenge and approach for marketers and further illustrates why mass marketing is becoming less effective and inefficient at delivering useful and relevant messages to markets with widely varying needs, opinions, priorities and life orientations.

Found in Marketing • • Permalink http://www.sundog.net/index.php/sunblog/entry/old-media-new-media-demographics-still-matter/

Comments

Derrick Kwa wrote on Jun 05, 2008 at 01:56 PM

I think that yes, demographics matter, but the beauty of new media is that you can go deeper than that. Pure demographics only shows a generic view.

In college students, for example, there are always different cliques - jocks, geeks, etc. Pure demographics lump them all under college students or Generation Y.

New media allows you to narrow down and target your audience even more specifically, to go further past demographics. So, yes, demographics still matter, but they aren’t *enough* anymore.

Greg Ness wrote on Jun 05, 2008 at 10:48 PM

I agree Derrick...demographics isn’t enough. New media makes it easier to gather real time information on your audience and covert that information into insight for actionable marketing. The purpose of the post is to simply convey that demographics as a starting point for analysis is still valid in the new media world as well as the old media world.

Like you, we embrace the wonderful opportunity that new media provides to dig deeper and micro-segment within a demographic group.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

Greg Ness

Jack Wojcicki wrote on Jun 06, 2008 at 08:44 AM

This is so very true Greg. The idea of basic demographics is one thing… but what about when we start adding geography, position, areas of interest, industry, etc.? That each group—and sub-group—may require a different approach and how to develop that approach is where the expertise of the marketer comes into play. The more information we have about our audiences, the better we can market to them. And that is true whether it’s print or online media as you have pointed out.

Look at how advertisers use audited media to ensure that their messages are going to the right people. Not only does that allow them to tailor what they say to whom, it also creates the ability to use budgets wisely and to ensure professional accountability. There’s a good summary of the significance of audited media on a site our agency was involved in at http://www.buysafemedia.com and there’s some good info on how that relates to professional accountability at http://www.motumb2b.com/index.php?mode=why&page=view-post&select=7 . It remains to be seen how much of this type of unbiased, 3rd party audience corroboration we can get for the new media.