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Do you know who buys, or is likely to buy, your
products, services, or information?
If not, you should be looking for demographic
information that will help you make good marketing
decisions.
You do not have to be a research guru in order to use
demographic information. Just look for the results of
studies other people have done and then apply them to
your business.
For example, my audience is the mature market...people
over 50. There is a lot of data on this group and more
studies are being done daily. Some data I found
indicated that older people are avid readers. They
really like newspapers and magazines. If I was trying
to find clients for estate planning services, I would
know that I should advertise through newspapers and
magazines, rather than spend money on television.
Since my business is internet-based, this information
about reading tells me that I should provide a content-
rich web site for my older customers, and that mailing
a printed newsletter could be another way to develop my
customer relationships.
How do you find demographic data? First, find out
who might be keeping tabs on your audience. I know, for
instance, that AARP surveys people over 50 constantly.
AARP makes that information available on its website.
I also know that Forrester Research
(http://www.forrester.com)
does studies on older people, along with many other
groups. Yankelovich Partners
(http://www.yankelovich.com/) has been a leader in
market research on older consumers; and Age Wave
(http://www.agewave.com/) collects tons of stats on
this market for its website.
Although AARP data is free, research firms sell their
information...often at prices that the small business
or entrepreneur cannot afford. But, by reading their
news releases and the snippets of data they make
available to the general public, you can glean quite a
bit. To find firms that do research on your
demographic, check out MarketResearch.com
(http://www.marketresearch.com/).
Another great source are the news release distribution
services. You can sign up to receive their news
releases by email. Common ones are Internet Wire
(http://www.internetwire.com), Internet News Bureau
(http://www.newsbureau.com), and PR Web
(http://www.prweb.com).
In addition, there are search tools you can use to make
your data collection easier. Copernicus
(http://www.copernic.com/desktop/index.html) is search
software that is downloaded to your computer. It will
search most search engines for keywords and phrases.
You can get a free trial version to see how it works.
Tracerlock (http://www.tracerlock.com) is a web-based
service that searches most of the news portals on the
web and then alerts you by email when it finds your
keywords. I have found this very useful and gladly pay
its monthly fee. Spyonit (http://www.spyonit.com) is a
free service that will spy on specific URLs or
keywords and phrases. It delivers what it finds to you
by email.
Don't overlook the magazines and journals that are
specific to your audience. For the older audience, I
keep an eye on the AARP magazines, Readers Digest,
Aging Today, and several others. Even a regular perusal
of the daily newspaper will yield lots of information.
USA Today is a great source of quick, easy-to-
understand statistical data. Take a look at the NYTimes
online, and sign up for The Wall Street Journal's
online version.
By casting your information "net" in this way, you are
more likely to come across data that will help you
devise better marketing strategies. In addition, you
will find a lot of content for your website and ezine.
Now, if I could just figure out how to use the fact
that the older market is an up and coming group for pet
supplies (it's true!).
