How do they find us?

Probably one of the biggest problems for all advertisers, especially those not based in the internet, is targeting. Any marketer can claim, "this is our market, and here is how we will reach them", However there is a big difference between cooperate assumptions and real fact. Advertisers learned this over the years and by now have developed many methods to find, understand, and sell to their consumers.

So of the easy ways include studying sales. What is selling, at what rate, and where. This gives the company a great idea of their strong and weak points, both in product and in location. They study not only their own trends, but those of other, related companies. Iams studies pet magazines, just as Microsoft looks at tech blogs. Here they can see what their consumer wants, if the boom of old people has brought a boom in old dogs then you can bet you will see some "senior dog chow" hitting the market.

Industries find other methods as well, they look at and perform studies, travel patterns, and common behaviors. Focus groups, online surveys, even the US census, they strive to know everything about their consumers. Now, with the advent of the internet, companies are finding that they have unpresidented access to the lives and habits of others, and though not all their methods are entirely ethical (spyware, cookies, etc.) cooperate America is leaping into the web searching for their next big hit.