Six Ways to Make Your Business More Profitable With Consumer Data

A few months ago, I was having lunch at my favorite local sports bar in my old neighborhood during a visit to Milwaukee, Wis. I started talking to the owner of the restaurant, whose business had just undergone major renovations and was near a bridge that had just reopened after major construction so that traffic could again begin flowing. From the outside, with the new paint, LED signs, newly paved parking lot, and landscaping and busy traffic, the business looked stellar.

But from the inside and from the mouth of the restaurant owner, sales and traffic weren’t so great.

The owner of the sports bar needed a way to boost his business and get his old and new customers back in the restaurant—and soon, before the next meeting with the bank that financed the beautiful renovation.

As he and I began talking, I saw that he had great offers on different days of the week, like 25-cent Wing Tuesdays, half-price Happy Hours most of the week, and great promotions on dinners and local beers. I asked him how he was marketing those promotions, and he said he had offers and material printed but he didn’t know who to send the offers to.

That’s where I come in. I told him about the great consumer data that’s out there for his business, or for any business for that matter. The right consumer data and marketing can drive sales significantly when targeting near your business’s location, targeting the right customers, and having an offer that those customers will act upon.

The right data for the owner of this sports bar is a mix of consumers who are mostly males, would want to watch football games or other sports on the state-of-the-art Game Day TV displays in his restaurant, have incomes of $50k-plus, are preferably single and are over the age of 35. Not to mention, the best customers to target are within a one-mile radius of the restaurant in a densely populated suburban area of Milwaukee. The results of a data search produced about 2,000 solid leads that the restaurant owner could work with by sending promotional offers, discounts and specials by mail for the upcoming football season.

Choosing the right consumer data is important. Here are some points to consider when talking to a data company about what it can do to help in your hunt for your next customer.

• Interests
  • Data is gathered via survey, subscription, or reported information
  • Range of interests go, say, from boat ownership to whether someone within the household is a military service veteran
  • Information on people’s interest in camping, fishing, hunting and outdoor recreation can help clients who want to focus on potential hunting or conservation supporters
  • Can determine whether someone in the household contributed to a political, religious or environmental cause
• Consumer Spending
  • Credit card-related information is gathered via third-party credit processor or survey response
  • Predicted family income is determined either by a consumer model or is the result of applying one of several regression formulas using a combination of numerous consumer and Census 2000 variables
• Demographics
  • Ranges from number of children in the household to whether an individual within the household works from home
  • Determines how many children live within a given household and how many are within specific age ranges. This can best be used for education-related causes such as Common Core or School Choice
  • Can determine whether the male or the female in the household has an occupation
• Household
  • Information is gathered via survey or public tax and deed data
  • Ranges from actual value of the house to years of residence in current location
• Lifestyle
  • Data sourced from product purchases, subscriptions and surveys
  • Interests range from African-American ethnic products to Do-It Yourself projects
• Vendor Model
  • Consumer vendor models attempt to predict likelihood of purchasing habits and patterns
  • Ranges from adventure seekers to whether a family attended a professional wrestling event within the past year
  • Can model whether people considers themselves to be somewhat conservative or somewhat liberal

We hope to have helped the Milwaukee sports bar become one of the most popular bars in town by using the right data, which, I’m told, it has indeed.

Are you interested in getting the right consumer data for your next campaign? Contact us below!