Use the Right Marketing Numbers

A marketing expert and entrepreneur tells why marketing strategies not based on hard data are doomed to fail.

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In his forthcoming book, Predatory Marketing, C. Britt Beemer, founder of America's Research Group (ARG), argues that marketing strategies not based on hard data are doomed to fail:

"For as long as anyone can remember, the upper-end furniture industry assumed that people with bigger incomes make up the high-end furniture buyer....[But an] ARG study revealed there is only a 65 percent correlation....[We also] learned there was only a 38 percent correlation between education level and high-end furniture purchases....

"In over 95 percent of the high-end furniture purchases, the single factor that influences Americans most is how often they entertain guests in their home....With this information, many new avenues are opened to high-end furniture manufacturers and retailers.... Architectural Digest [is] filled with ads that cater to this furniture-affluent shopper. But a far better place to reach these consumers would be magazines such as Gourmet or Bon Appetit."