There is always a better way to segment other than resorting to the use of demographics.  .

I know.  We’ve been down this road before.

But the core reason is that demographics are an attribute of a person.  At best, this attribute is a proxy for some core identity, reason for giving, or goal that a person hopes to reach with their giving.  If you can get people to talk about this “why”, the demographic attribute is either a gateway for learning about the why or is simply irrelevant.

Take child sponsorship organizations.  Their donors often have a parent identity.  To many this may sounds like a great application for a demographic segmentation.  But, in  fact identities go (or should go) a level deeper – parents who involve their kids in their philanthropy.

For those parents, child sponsorship is a vehicle for teaching their kids about the privileges they enjoy,  and about the rest of the world.  The child sponsorship organization can support that teaching/learning process with a specific donor journey.

But there are other parents who don’t involve their kids in their philanthropy.  For those donors, a coloring book about what life is like in Bangladesh is irrelevant at best and counterproductive at worst.  It’s the “why” that matters.

To use another example, sometimes  we say Millennials (or Gen Zers) when we mean people with a certain outlook on life that might be overrepresented among younger people, but isn’t unique to them and doesn’t apply to all of them. (For a discussion on why “age” may be one of the most unreliable demographic attributes see our post Get Your Millennial Audience Off My Lawn )

I think a very appropriate illustration of the unreliability of demographics is this: Rogaine–the hair re-growth treatment.

If you were marketing Rogaine, you might think your target market is bald people.  That’s the attribute.

But what about the identity–the “why”:

Duty

Faith
 

For a role

To fight

Because it looks good

Because they think it looks good

These six folks are bald for a reason.  None of these reasons involve Rogaine.  Any marketing to them is a waste.

Thus, Rogaine should not think that bald people are their target market.  Rather, bald people who want to regrow hair are their target market.  It’s the identity, not the attribute.

The “why” matters.  “Why” is something you can ask about and people will tell you.  And it will make your marketing more personalized and relevant.

Nick