Demographic and psychographic researches are important components to a brands marketing strategy. First of all a brand has to understand who is buying their product. This is very detailed process and covers a wide range of attributes from family size to annual income to education and the list can go on. Psychographics is considerably more difficult to determine since “it deals with beliefs, interests, hobbies and things that are important to us” (Brauer, 2014). IHOP’s demographic pool is hard to determine company wide since the brand is franchised. However, despite this difficulty the brand’s demographic pool is primarily made up of the baby boomer generation and Hispanic families with children. The psychographic makeup of the IHOP consumer includes but is not limited, to those who are more health conscious and find value important. IHOP’s understanding of the demographic and psychographic makeup of their consumers allows them to know who their target audience is. When a brand understands their target audience they are then able to formulate a marketing strategy designed for that specific audience.
When a consumer is considering a purchase they go through a process known as the consumer buying process. The consumer buying process is “a mental state that a consumer enters into when they are about to make a purchasing decision (Brauer,2014) Within this process there are 5 steps the steps are as follows
1. Problem/Need Recognition- When you are hungry or thirsty or even have a broken appliance you then recognize the need to eat or drink, fix or replace.
2. Information Search- This is usually the next step a consumer takes once a need or problem has been recognized. Consumers search for information through a variety of resources. Those resources could be people’s thoughts and opinions, researching online or perhaps through printed or televised advertisement.