According to the Collins dictionary "Demographics" means: "data resulting from the science of demography… the scientific study of human populations with reference to their size, structure and distribution."

Demographics are important in marketing because understanding them allows the pitch to be much more accurate. It enables us to target our ideal customer and talk directly to them in a way that appeals. It gives us the ability to tailor our approach to the audience, and yields much better results than a blind direct mail campaign.

In any kind of targeted campaign, you have to know who you’re talking to. Who they are, how old they are, how much they earn, their education level, spare income, family status and many other factors that can influence the material you send. The "perfect" customer is going to differ depending on your proposition. For example, selling web design services is going to appeal more to new businesses and entrepreneurs than housewives. If your product or service has a high value, you’re only going to want to pitch to people with higher education, or earning potential to maximise the return on investment.

We can’t overstate this point enough. Knowing your target market increases the success of any marketing efforts exponentially.

Know your audience, know how to reach them.

Therefore, the more effort you put into learning your target market the more successful you should be. There are several ways of doing this, such as having an opt-in on your website, conducting market research, checking how the competition does it, and your own knowledge of your industry. If you’re an established business you should already have an idea of the demographics of your clientele which you can leverage in a direct mail campaign.

If you know that your business attracts a certain age group, skill or professional level or any other particular quality, you can use this information in your marketing. Even just knowing their postcode can get you the information you need. There are companies that can provide average demographic information from nothing but postcodes. Collecting information about your existing customers is one of the most important business functions you can undertake. It isn’t the most popular with them, but if you do it quietly, subtly but transparently, the majority of people won’t mind.

So now we know that demographics plays a significant part in the targeting of the campaign, but what about the material itself? As you can imagine, the reading habits of particular demographics are going to be quite different. Some will only read red-top newspapers, while others only broadsheets. The design of your direct marketing material is going to be a decisive factor here. The construction of the leaflet, postcard or letter is going to be key to appeal to your target audience. It has to be designed and pitched exactly right to get the response you need.

Demographics of a target audience is the most important aspect of a direct mail marketing campaign. It’s essential to know who you’re talking to before you even open your mouth.