Obtaining thumbnail sketches of neighborhoods to give to your buyers and other farming contacts, and use for your own business development is easier than ever on the Internet.

CACI Marketing Systems, a demographics and market analysis company has gathered an incredible amount of data that can be of use to the Realtor, especially in developing a farm area, in learning about new communities, and developing a personal marketing plan. The site helps you to "know your market" by providing a suite of databases to help you collect the information you need to serve your customers.

Using information from the U.S. Census data, the data is organized into a number of categories including purchasing potential, ACORN lifestyles, and consumer expenditures. Among the applications for Realtors are the ability to target promotional mailings and segment current and potential customers. Brokers can use the information to analyze and develop franchise territories or additional office locations.

In fact, fact finding is free, when you link to the site. In his on-line newsletter, real estate veteran, Joe Klock, offers the following suggestions.

"You can tune in on and obtain a free (how we love that word!) demographic rundown of any zip code area in the USA. The information includes (among other things) population, number of households, average income and typical housing costs, with comparisons to national norms," says Klock.

Among the uses Klock identified for this service, provided by CACI and courtesy of the U.S. Postal System are:

1. Comparing a local market with nearby ones. 2. Providing thumbnail sketches to prospects facing (or contemplating) a move. 3. Material for press releases and/or personal newsletters.

The zip code data includes 1998 data, national averages and charts. Agents or their clients just enter the zip code they want and CACI provides the national averages for the same statistics. By clicking on the chart icon that appears next to the headings, you can view graphs of the data. The information also includes the dominant ACORN in your region.

ACORN(TM) Lifestyles is a trademark of CACI. It is a neighborhood segmentation system that analyzes a customer base into 43 clusters in nine categories. By identifying these categories and clusters you can better plan your marketing approach to the demographic of your choice.

Using this information, you can decide that the best way to find new markets and determine the make-up of your current market and find others that are similar. If you are targeting first time home buyers for example, you will be more interested in identifying and developing your customer base toward "Twentysomethings" and "Young Frequent Movers," two of ACORN’s 43 clusters, or neighborhood segments. With this information, you can now seek out other markets with a high percentage of these two clusters. By focusing on a selected demographic you can develop a marketing plan to appeal to that demographic including effective media, direct mail, and new services.

Published: November 27, 1998

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