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Market & demographics research

Census Information

The Census Bureau's Web site provides a wealth of information for Portland and Oregon business people. Start at American FactFinder (see the left column on the Census homepage), where a street address can be entered to find Census 2000 data on the local level. To obtain basic demographic data consult Summary File 1; also noteworthy are Summary File 2, which provides detailed data about racial groups in America, and Summary File 3, which provides social, economic and housing data accessible for all geographic levels.

County Business Patterns (www.census.gov/epcd/cbp/view/cbpview.html) is useful for studying the economic activity of small areas such as counties (e.g. Multnomah), metropolitan statistical areas (e.g. Portland - Vancouver, OR-WA), and even zip codes. Find out the number of similar establishments in your area and their size. Also allows you to compare with other geographical areas. Use the data to analyze market potential, measure the effectiveness of sales and advertising programs, set sales quotas, and develop budgets.

Compiled every 5 years, the Economic Census is a great resource for detailed information about businesses by sector and location. For example, you can find the number of establishments, sales, annual payroll, and number of paid employees by zip code for your industry or business type.

Lastly, the County and City Data Book: 2000 (www.census.gov/statab/www/ccdb.html), a local area supplement to the Statistical Abstract of the United States, contains detailed demographic and economic information for counties and cities arranged alphabetically by state in tabular form.

Reference sources

Editor and Publisher Market Guide: Science & Business (Industry) R-659 E24m

Offers individual market surveys of all US and Canadian cities where a daily newspaper is published. Data provided for each city includes information on its location, population, transporation, number of banks, principal industries, retail establishments, climate and newspapers.
Lifestyle Market Analyst: Science & Business Room (Industry) R-658.83 L722

Identify where certain consumers live and how they spend their money and free time. Cross-referenced so you can find your ideal market easily.
MPA, market profile analysis: Portland, OR-WA SMSA: Science & Business Room (Industry) O-381 M112 v.1, 2

Defines the Portland area by ZIP code and census tract and gives statistics on population, age, households, income, education and number of businesses within an industry sector for the area. Contains census tract maps and identifies the census tracts within a ZIP code.
MSA Profile: Science & Business Room (Industry) R-310 M939

The MSA Profile has data for all Metropolitan Areas in the U.S. Contains historical data from 1970 and projections to 2025 of population by age and race, employment by industry, earnings of employees by industry, personal income by source, households by income bracket and retail sales by kind of business.
Research Alert Yearbook: Science & Business Room (Industry) R-306.0973 R432

This comprehensive, easy-to-use desktop reference brings you vital facts on consumer behavior and attitudes. In one volume, you'll have fast access to findings from more than 1,000 reports, studies, polls, and focus groups, all organized by topic.
Sourcebook of Zip Code Demographics: Science & Business Room (Industry) R-304.6 S7245

Use this book when you are looking for consumer spending habits in a geographic area. For example, you might be trying to determine how much the members of a community spend on items such as home repairs or apparel in comparison to the rest of the country.

Related databases

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ABI/Inform Global

Includes full text articles from scholarly, trade, and popular business periodicals. Marketing concepts include advertising, distribution, e-mail marketing, green marketing, integrated marketing, market research, relationship marketing.

Business & Company Resource Center

Search for industry specific information by clicking on "Industry". You can also use this database when searching for advertising and marketing information on a specific company, especially if the company is large. Enter the name of a company into the "articles" search. After you get your search results, you can click on the "narrow by subdivision" link to view the articles by subtopic which may include "market share," "advertising," or "marketing." The database includes trade and popular publications along with some scholarly journals as well. The latest information from many books is incorporated, such as Business Rankings Annual, Encyclopedia of Global Industries, Market Share Reporter, and World Market Share Reporter.

Predicasts PROMT

Articles from regional, national, and international trade magazines, newspapers, reports and newsletters. It is especially useful for sales and market share of specific products. Detailed product code searching is possible.

ReferenceUSA
ReferenceUSA

Great for information on both individuals and businesses found in a specific area. You can pull up the total number and the specific names of individuals and businesses by ZIP code, county, city, telephone area code and more. You can also create a list of enterprises by yellow page heading, SIC or NAICS code (such as plumbers, shoe stores, etc.) or size of business (measured by employee size or revenue size) all within a specific geographic area.

TableBase

Instead of providing the full text of articles, TableBase specializes in charts and tabular information from a variety of sources. Includes market share, rankings, forecasts, product and industry sales.

Magazines

The following magazines and journals are available in several formats:

Most are available in paper at the Central Library in the Periodicals Room, or Click on the title of the magazine to access the full-text in our databases, when available Click on the Web address to connect to the publisher's Web site, which may contain archives of articles

No matter how you access them (online or in paper), we're sure you'll find something to aid your small business endeavors.

Advertising Age (Periodicals Room): http://www.adage.com/

Weekly newspaper with current information. Features articles on people, issues, and advertising campaigns.
American Demographics: http://www.adage.com/section.cms?sectionId=195

This trade journal reports on "consumer trends for business leaders" and is based on demographic data, with ideas for selling to new niches in the marketplace. Much of the material is from the Bureau of Census and population studies centers' data.
Brandweek (Periodicals Room): http://www.brandweek.com/

Information on the 2,000 American superbrands including marketer/retailer relationships, successful media strategies, agency/client relationships, global marketing.
Sales and Marketing Management (Periodicals Room): http://www.salesandmarketing.com/

Issues include numerous articles on all aspects of marketing.

Market & demographics research

Census Information

Reference sources

Related databases

Magazines

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