Some brands that first soared on Instagram are now facing a curious situation. Fast forward five years or so, and Millennials dominate their customer base. Then when these brands extended their reach to TikTok, they attracted a notably younger, Gen Z crowd.

Their challenge – How to cater to two distinct demographics while maintaining brand cohesion?

Even as messages are tailored for different platforms and audiences, a consistent, overarching brand message must resonate with the entire customer base. This is a piece of cake when a brand has a clear brand positioning and understanding of its core values. But without this, brands that didn't define what they stood for at their inception are experiencing an identity crisis right about now. They show up differently on Instagram, TikTok, and even on their own website.

Emerging demographics present incredible opportunities for growth when capitalized on correctly.

Knowing Your Customer Base
You’re likely sitting on a treasure trove of customer insights, but can't find the time and space to piece this all together. Refreshing existing Customer Personas, or creating them for the very first time, will be crucial to unlock your distinct customers' needs, preferences, behaviors. Most importantly, you’ll get certainty on what truly draws people to your brand.

Here are a few places to start:

• Google Analytics: To analyze demographics and the quantitative aspects of customer behavior.
• Customer Reviews: To identify themes around what customers like, dislike, and value around the experience of your products and brand.
• Social Listening Tools: To monitor online conversations about your brand, products, and industry, analyzing trends, sentiments, and topics of discussion.
• Online Survey Tools and Discussion Groups: To gather direct feedback on customers' needs, preferences, and pain points.

Creating a Blueprint
The information collected will serve as a blueprint for your strategic steps forward. When you know what attracts customers to your brand, you’ll be able to establish an overarching value proposition that resonates equally with all groups. With a sharper proposition under your belt, you can tighten your messaging, storytelling and presence across your channels, to build a richer connection with your customer groups. Brands that do this work also have the upper hand when it comes to paid media campaigns. Their air-tight copy, tailored to distinct audiences, hits the spot and supercharges customer acquisition campaigns.

Adapting to Change
If you’re sitting on data that holds the key, the price of inaction can be damaging when you add it all up. It’s the opportunity cost of missed connections with new prospects that ‘don’t quite get you’, and deeper connections with your existing customer base that will cost you over time.

In a world where beauty industry trends change rapidly, and the digital landscape evolves, it is imperative for brands to adapt. Maintaining brand cohesion while catering to different demographics is a delicate balancing act. But it's necessary to ensure that brands can stand the test of time.

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Author: Effie Asafu-Adjaye
Effie Asafu-Adjaye is the Founder of Beautiful Sparks. Beautiful Sparks helps beauty and fashion businesses get more fanatics in love with their brands, by refining their brand strategy, messaging, branding, content storytelling, and community-building strategy. Read more about Effie here. Linkedin | Youtube