King Charles and Ozzy Osbourne are demographically identical. Same age, same country, same bracket. And that is the data most marketers use to decide who sees what. Demographic targeting performs about as well as random guessing.

Sarah Pokorna is a psychologist who has spent years applying personality science to digital marketing.

She makes the case that demographic targeting is statistically no better than guessing, and walks through the five-factor personality model that actually predicts buying behavior. Six buyer profiles, each driven by different cognitive triggers, from sensation seekers chasing dopamine to high-neuroticism users who gamble to feel in control of something. She also draws the line most marketers never think about: where does profiling your customers become manipulating them?

If you run paid acquisition, retention, or conversion and you're still segmenting by age and location, this one is worth your time.