Marketing, Wisdom

Know Your Market

By cvcarnel

Knowing your market and the demographics of your market is a driving force behind story selection. To help you make better decisions about what stories you want to tell, the Lund Consultants created a checklist of questions to answer about your market. And without any further ado, here it is.

  1. Psychology/People matters
    1. Who are the political leaders?
    2. The unsung power brokers?
    3. Ethnic Groups?
    4. Religious Groups?
    5. Who are the town characters?
    6. Religious/ethnic problems?
    7. What are the local status symbols? (THE neighborhood, country club, etc.)
    8. What are the current fads?
    9. Local scandals?
    10.  Important history?
  2. Geography/Physical Layout
    1. Topography (hills, lakes, rivers, etc.)
    2. Major highways, streets
    3. Where is the town growing (direction)
    4. Upward/downward neighborhoods
    5. Where does traffic stack up
    6. Average commute time
    7. When is each rush hour
  3. Education/Getting it/Whose Got It
    1.  Generally educated citizenry?
    2. Local higher education and amount of influence on economy?
    3. Local public schools?
    4. Important athletic rivalries?
    5. Private schools?
    6. Vocational/Adult education?
    7. Mental or rehabilitative hospitals?
    8. Drug/alcohol treatment programs?
  4. Business/Working, spending, growing
    1. Union town?
    2. Largest employers/Major occupations?
    3. Overall business climate (good, bad, stagnant…etc.)
    4. Shopping malls, centers, areas
    5. Downtown is it dead or alive, dead after five?
    6. Local and long distance transportation…cas, airlines, buses, trains, rapid transit.
    7. How does the climate/weather affect business activity?
  5. Entertainment/Where to go, what to do
    1. Theatres (indoor, drive-in’s, sleezy ones, independents)
    2. Clubs/Bars (what’s hot, what’s not)
    3. Local professional sports
    4. Major recreational facilities
    5. Weekend escapes
    6. Annual festivals, celebrations
    7. Live theatre, local amateur groups, etc.
    8. Restaurants (from slum to swank what’s hot what’s not)
    9. Where do teens/teams go (singles, cruising)
  6. Local Media, Spreading the word
    1. Local TV stations (ratings, leaders, major personalities)
    2. Local Daily newspapers (major columnists, editors)
    3. Radio stations (what types, demographics, ratings, personalities)
    4. Weekly publications (How many of what type and major personalities)
    5. Commercial spokespersons (used car kings)
    6. Cable tv (what they carry, what’s local)
    7. PBS stations (Do they have their own productions…what)
    8. Area shoppers, etc
    9. Local web sites, blogs and zines, marketplaces
    10. Area writers and artists