Target Your Market

As a librarian in the Science, Business and News division at Columbus Metropolitan Library, I’m accustomed to answering customers’ questions related to a business they currently own or are considering starting.
Here’s a recent question I received:

Q: I am revising the marketing plan for my restaurant. I need to know marketing trends, consumer expenditures, demographic and psychographic information. Can you help me find free sources for this information?

A: Business owners are often surprised by the amount of information they can get for free
with a library card. We have several resources that provide free access to full text articles from trade journals, consumer market data, industry profiles and company SWOT analyses. Some of the key resources that would help this customer can be found here.

The top resources I would recommend include:

1. Full Text E-Journal List for articles from trade journals like Nation’s Restaurant News, and Restaurant Business.
2. A full text restaurant industry profile from the Business & Company Resource Center or the Business Source Premier resource from EBSCOHost.
3. SWOT analysis reports for several companies in the restaurant industry from the Business Source Premier resource from EBSCOHost and Business &Company Resource Center.
4. Reports from Business Decision database for your city, ZIP code, or neighborhood. Business Decision is a consumer market database.

Remember all resources are available for free with your library card. Do you have any questions? I’m happy to help you research important aspects of your business. I can be reached at bbeardsley@columbuslibrary.org.