I’ve written in the past about things I’ve learned from Molly the Wonder Dog.  Well, here’s another new lesson that’s so basic, I’m just glad she never learned how to type!

Molly

We just moved into a new house last weekend.  As I was going through withdrawal, being without a computer for two days, Molly was busy checking out every corner of the new house.  There wasn’t one inch of the house she didn’t sniff.  As furniture came in, especially her toy box, she began to relax and adapt to the new environment.  Trust me, I promise there’s a logical connection here.

Think about your market and your target audience.  Do you know your market as well as Molly knows her new home? Do you know everything about your potential customers?  How many of you started your business never thinking about the demographics in the area?

“Demographics”, it’s one of the oldest words in marketing – the dynamics of your target.  How old are they?  What’s the split between men and women?  What percent are married versus single?  What’s the average household income?  What’s the penetration of Internet active households?  What’s the percent of high school, college and post college education?  The list goes on and on depending on how detailed you want to be.

Just like Molly getting to know every corner of her new home - you need to know every “corner” of your market.  If, for example, you’re a children’s photographer and you’re opening up in Bay Harbor Island, Florida, where the average age is probably 75, no matter how optimistic you want to be, it’s going to be an uphill climb!   (Which reminds me of the definition of optimism – it’s a couple in their 90s who want to live in a neighborhood with a good school system! Sorry, some times it’s hard to stay focused!) 

If you’re a wedding photographer, but you’ve been advertising in Guns and Ammo – give it up – you’ve got less chance of success than the couple in their 90s starting a family!  A  Kodak survey years ago, and I doubt the numbers have changed very much, showed women make 98% of the purchase decisions to hire a professional photographer when it comes to the portrait/social category!  It’s all about the demographics!

Marketing is so important in today’s noisy environment – you’ve got to know everything about your target audience you can learn – BEFORE you spend a nickel on advertising and promotion.  But relax, it’s not hard to find the information you need!

1) Start with your local Chamber of Commerce to see what information they have about your area.

2) Check with the best established realtor in town.  First, they have great information available.   It’s often a combination of census data, together with their own resources.  Second, you’re networking and realtors, like salon owners, tend to know everything going on in the community.

3) Go to the library, the Internet, Google – you’re looking for local demographics.  In fact, just Google the words ”local demographics” and you’ll be surprised at what comes up.  You may have to refine your request, but this the data that’s fun to mine for!

4) If you’re a wedding photographer check out The Wedding Report.  It’s not particularly expensive and well worth the information you’ll pull out about weddings in your area. The data is sortable by zip codes and it goes right down to the average money being spent on everything related to the wedding.   Here’s another benefit – just read one report and you’ll also pick up ideas on who should be in your local network. (More on this in tomorrow’s blog!)

The first quarter of the year, even in a good economy, is slow for just about everybody.  However, that doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of work for you to do in preparation for kicking a little butt in 2010!

If Molly can sniff every corner of her new “market” then so can everybody else!  Get to know your demographics and you’ve got the first “double secret” ingredient major corporations pay mega bucks to learn about!