Psychographics

By John Stammers

Psychographic profiling refers to the study into personality, attitudes, values, lifestyles and interests. By researching into an individual’s psychographic we are able to make a generalization of what the individual will like and then group them with like-minded people. This information can then be used to determine what people fitting the profile may like/dislike. Those involved in marketing find psychographic profiling useful because it assists them on how best to advertise to the audience they are targeting. By using psychographic research, they will have the knowledge on how best to appeal to their audience.

What is meant by Psychographic Profiling?

There are different groups within psychographics that can be used to make generalisations about certain groups. This is more useful than demographics because demographic profiling is based on occupations and is not an effective way of making accurate generalisations of their musical interests. For all we know an investment banker might share the same musical interest as a student. Whereas psychographic profiling looks at personalities and lifestyles of groups, meaning it is more accurate to target these groups because we will have a better understanding of how to appeal to them.

I used the website below for the research into the segments and then included the “SEEKS….” at the end of each section after seeing a Year 13 blog do the same thing. I used them because I thought they summarised each section perfectly. http://www.examstutor.com/business/resources/studyroom/marketing/market_analysis/8_psychographic_segmentation.php

Psychographic Segmentation

MAINSTREAMERS Domestic or orthodox and prefer value for money “family” brands and follow the latest trends. SEEKS SECURITY.

ASPIRERS Materialistic and geared towards image and fashion and are youthful people. SEEKS STATUS.

SUCCEEDERS High aims, confident, strong work ethic, brand choice based on self-reward and prestige, only the best brands. Typically take on professional roles such as top management roles. SEEKS CONTROL.

RESIGNED Strict, authoritarian and prejudice, more geared towards traditional values and resigned roles. Brand choice emphasizes safety, familiarity and economy. Tend to be older people. SEEKS SURVIVAL.

EXPLORERS Energetic, search for new experiences and challenges. Brand choice reflects difference and adventure, the first to try new brands. Typically young people. SEEKS DISCOVERY.

STRUGGLERS Disorganised, typically only have mechanical and physical skills. Tend to be heavy consumers of alcohol, junk food etc. Brand choice reflects impact and sensation. SEEKS ESCAPE.

REFORMERS Socially aware, free from restrictions, make independent judgements, acceptance of complexity, anti-materialistic but unaccepting of poor taste. Known to be inquisitive and support the growth of new products. Favour brands of natural simplicity with the idea that small is beautiful. SEEKS ENLIGHTMENT.

I think our main target audience will fall in the categories of MAINSTREAMERS and EXPLORERS. People belonging to the psychographic groups ASPIRERS and REFORMERS may also express interest, however they are not who we are actively trying to appeal to. I think our main target audience will fall in the categories of MAINSTREAMERS and EXPLORERS. People belonging to the psychographic groups ASPIRERS and REFORMERS may also express interest, however they are not who we are actively trying to appeal to.

The Psychographic Group we will Target

We have chosen MAINSTREAMERS as our primary psychographic to focus on because pop music is largely a MAINSTREAMER’S kind of music. This is because pop music is heavily played on the radio and tends to dominate the charts. Trending artists also tend to be pop musicians and this would appeal to this psychographic because they prefer to follow trends and tend to be conventional people.

Ellie Goulding is a high profile mainstream artist who would appeal to this psychographic and therefore it makes sense to target MAINSTREAMERS. Our song is also very orthodox of the pop genre and we will be closely following those conventions in order to appeal to our target audience.

MAINSTREAMERS

Furthermore, we are trying to appeal to young people of our age group and so we think EXPLORERS would also be a group of people we should consider targeting. They tend to be people who try new experiences and enjoy challenges.

We think that EXPLORERS would be attracted to the song because I think Ellie Goulding would be an EXPLORER herself. Whilst her music is mostly conventional with the pop genre, she herself is not a stereotypical pop artist. Whilst she adheres to many mainstream conventions and stereotypes of female artists in pop, she doesn’t follow all the conventions or stereotypes e.g. she is not sexually degraded in her music videos unlike artists like Katy Perry.

EXPLORERS