MAR 301: Principles of Marketing: Target Market Research

Need data and statistics for a business or marketing plan? Statista is a great place to find visualized data like graphs, charts, and infographics.  

Demographic

Demographics are the measured characteristics of a group: gender, age, race/ethnicity/culture, employment, income level, education level, civil status, etc. This is reported data gathered during the census and other population surveys. Examples of demographic data might include: 

• Age
• Gender
• Generation (Baby-Boomers, Gen X, Millennial, etc.)
• Nationality
• Ethnicity
• Income
• Occupation
• Education level
• Household size
• Religion

Geographic

The location of your business plays a huge role in products and services you will provide. Observation in a key player in understanding this part of analyzing a target market. Who lives in the community? What other businesses are already in the community? What are the methods of transportation? 

When defining a market segment or target market it is often important to define the population geographically. 

• Region: continent, country, state, or even neighborhood
• Size of metropolitan area according to population size
• Population density: urban, suburban, or rural
• Climate: weather patterns common to certain geographic regions

Psychographic

Whereas demographics measure objective, factual information about a group, psychographics measure peoples' habits, hobbies, and opinions. This is typically recorded through surveys and interviews to learn more about consumers and go beyond what a census can provide. When used in combination with demographic data, psychographic data gives the marketer a more complete picture of the consumer.  

Check out these databases which include collections of magazine and newspaper articles to find out more about your market group.

Use these other online sources together with the above databases: