Demographics

 Demographics

     When first looking at this project and seeing that I would need to discuss how brands target specific demographics, I first had to take a deep dive into what demographics are and then I had to ask myself how large or small I wanted to go. Many brands have trouble growing their company because they target demographics that are either too small or if they are very specific demographics, they don’t properly appeal to them. What I have learned is that, it’s important when trying to attract a certain demographic to your brand that you make sure to do a thorough research on what is trending in the specific demographic and try to embody those trends and integrate the trending ideas into their brand promotion. 

     For example, back in May 2020, George Floyd, a 46 year old black man was killed by Derek Chauvin a white police officer. Many businesses took this as an opportunity to portray themselves as allies to the african american community in order to target this demographic during a time of tragedy and heartbreak. Some of these businesses include Lululemon, McDonalds, Apple, JP Morgan Chase. Many businesses found a way to profit off of the trending topic of Black Lives Matter. They put out statements voicing their support for the black community. Additionally many businesses made a point to develop diversity, equity, and inclusion branches within their companies to try and do a better job making sure they have a place for those that don’t feel that they are heard or seen. While this may seem like a bold statement, when looking back on the history of businesses, is there any other time that businesses make an effort to really make their support for minorities known other than the months that occur throughout the year that are dedicated to certain demographics? There is one company that does a great job appealing and attracting minority demographics year-round. This company is known as H3R. 

     On January 24, I began a new internship working for H3R, a female-owned, online magazine publication. I currently work in the Public Relations sector so I am very familiar with how H3R chooses to target certain demographics in order to build their brand and attract specific demographics within their magazine. For example, H3R specifically attempts to attract female brands to collaborate with and interview but not just female-owned brands, they specifically target female business owners that prioritize sustainability. Some of these brands include Glossier, Copper Cow Coffee, and Plaine Products, a skincare company. My job within this company is to reach out to brands and offer them a collaboration. These collaborations can either be a mini interview that will be showcased on the H3R Instagram, or the brands can have an exposure opportunity within the digital publication. What these collaborations do is allow many brands to appeal too many different types of women that are interested in many different things. 

     To demonstrate this effort, H3R has chosen to interview people from many different backgrounds  and business owners of many different products. For example, one woman that H3R has worked with is Sabrina Stocker. Sabrina Stocker owns her own public relations agency called Two Commas Pr. With this agency she puts on Tennis Events. She looks after brands and companies in order to collaborate with. They have teamed up with over 250+ brands in order to help them grow their business and promote themselves. Another person H3R has teamed up with is Raquel Becker who is a surfer. Being a surfer who is a woman is somewhat rare these days as this is a sport that is filled with majority men. Nicole, H3R founder being able to showcase this person shows how much of an effort she is making to cover all bases. She interviews black, white, latino, and asian races who all have vastly different interests and goals but like I said they are all women entrepreneurs. 

     H3R being a digital publication means that they have to do a great job maintaining an online presence. What they have done is remained active on Instagram in which they post images on their account but also on their Instagram stories. They have recently made a youtube channel and have a pinterest account along with a Tik Tok account. This allows H3R to reach a large group of people, not just the ones that are active on Instagram or Youtube. This helps H3R be able to grow their platform and appeal to the demographic they are going for because they are showcasing people with different backgrounds on all their platforms. 

     It’s important for brands to remember that in order to appeal to a certain demographic that must be very intentional on how they decide to go about it. Sometimes when brands try to appeal to certain audiences, they fail because they haven’t been intentional enough. I think H3R has done a fantastic job appealing to a certain demographic. I think more brands should try and replicate the strategy that H3R embodies.