Religious diversity and target marketing

Religion is a demographic factor that might be a useful segmentation. Religious groups are often defined by shared sets of morals, norms, languages, and values that may transcend physical demographics and thus, religious segmentation might also be akin to psychographic segmentation. In a modern society where many people have most of their basic needs met, people may also consider moral or ethical values when choosing which products and services to purchase and which companies to buy them from. Thus, marketers need to consider religion as a potential basis for segmenting, targeting, and reaching consumers. This chapter provides a starting point for marketers interested in investigating ways to ethically target religious consumers. This chapter offers strategies for appealing to specific religious groups while sharing cautionary tales of some of the pitfalls of religious-based marketing.