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The Foster Letter —

Religious Market Update

The FOSTER Letter is a bi-weekly e-mail religious market intelligence report targeted to Christian market channel and ministry leaders.  Each issue reports on news, trends, events and research that will directly or indirectly impact your audiences and businesses in a convenient summary format  Better informed leaders make better choices!

Researched, Edited & Published by Gary D. Foster

Excerpts from the

November 10, 2007 edition of

The FOSTER Letter—Religious Market Update

Delaying Marriage U.S. Census estimates show that for the first time, unmarried adults represented more than half of American households. 73% of men and 62% of women in their 20s in ’06 said they had never been married, according to Census data. Just 23.5% of men and 31.5% of women ages 20-29 were married in ’06 vs. 31.5% of men and 39.5% of women in ’00. (Analysis excludes those who are married but separated.) (USA Today 9/12/07) 

Consumer Reviews According to a recent Deloitte Consumer Product group, 62% of consumers read consumer-written product reviews on the Internet, and of these, more than 80% say their purchase decisions have been directly influenced by the reviews, either influencing them to buy a different product than the one they had originally been thinking about, or confirming the original purchase intention. (Center for Media Research Brief 10/22/07) 

Cyber Ad Numbers According to industry research, approximately 40% of online ad dollars are allocated to search. That leaves approximately 60% allocated to online display ads. Of that remaining 60%, approximately half is allocated towards ad networks. This means that about 30% of total online advertising dollars are allocated towards non-search and non-network inventory. (OnlineSpin 10/23/07) 

Religious Books were top choice among America’s most avid readers in ’06. An AP-Ipsos poll found that 66% of U.S. adults read a religious book (including the Bible), the most-read category, followed by popular fiction, histories, bio-graphies, and mysteries. 1 in 4 did not read any book during the year, while the typical adult read 4. Women read more than men in every category except history and biography.  (Christian Retailing 10/8/07) 

Parents are taking a more active role in the lives of their children than they did 10 years ago, reports the Census Bureau. In ’04, 47% of teens had restrictions on TV viewing, up from 40% in ’94. 68% of 3-5-year-olds had TV viewing limits in ’04 vs. 54% in ’94. Kids’ 6-11 viewing restrictions grew from 60% to 71%. In ’04 74% of kids younger than 6 were praised by their mother or father 3 or more times a day. The same was true for 54% of children 6-11 and 40% of 12-17-year-olds.Children 1-2 were read to an average of 7.8 times in the previous week, while those 3-5 were read to an average of 6.8 times. The percentage of children participating in lessons, such as music, dance, language, computers, or religion, went up for 6-11-year olds, from 24% in ’94 to 33% in ’04. (Census Bureau News 10/31/07) 

C.R. Gibson has entered into an agreement to sell its business, CSS Industries. The deal is worth approximately $68 million and is expected to close on or about Nov. 30, subject to regulatory approval. (Christian e-Tailing 11/5/07) 

Adult Abuse A 2006 survey of state adult protective agencies found 565,747 reports of abuse of vulnerable adults in 1 year. With 89% of reports occurring in domestic settings, it’s a disturbing snapshot of mistreatment of people in their own homes, mostly by their own kin, who are also likely to be their caretakers. According to a yardstick developed by researchers, only 1 instance of abuse in 14 becomes known. A U.S. Senate committee has estimated the number of victims at 5 million yearly. As boomers age, the number is bound to multiply. (AARP Bulletin 7-8/07) 

Market Intentionally Small Business Computing, 6/24/03, advises we tackle some critical groundwork before we are ready to start speaking to our target market audience. Focus on the specifics of your business and your audience: Who are you? What are your objectives and strategic considerations? With whom are you communicating? Why should your audience want to hear from you at this time? How will you successfully address their needs and motivations? Simple questions but no easy answers! But answer them you must to avoid falling into the trap of focusing on the “how,” rather than the “what” or “why,” of marketing. Persuading people to take action requires understanding the fundamentals of marketing and how it supports sales. Your goal is to market intentionally. Intentionality demands an honest appraisal of all players. I can help you objectively make those appraisals and craft a cost efficient marketing plan for every Christian market channel. All you have to do is contact me at 419-238-4082, gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. 

Tenets of Publishing Jane Friedman, President of HarperCollins World, identified the “Five Tenets of Publishing” at a recent ECPA Publishers University. They are: foster relationships; create and develop great content; remember that the author is the most important asset; move with technology and embrace the digital revolution; and know the market and publish to it. (Christian e-Tailing 11/5/07) 

Wounded Depending on whose statistics you believe, anywhere from 15% to 40% of Christian believers today have felt betrayed or wounded by the church at some point. (Trusting God’s People…Again, Blake Coffee and Debbie Taylor Williams, VMI Publishers, 2007) 

Audio Book Sales are estimated at $923 million for ’06, a 6% jump from the previous year, reports the Audio Publishers Assoc. 69% of that was CD-format unabridged book-based fiction. (Christian Retailing 10/8/07) 

Women Staying Home The percentage of women choosing to work outside the home has been flat to down for several years running. Not coincidentally, the number of meals purchased at restaurants per person has stopped growing too, for the longest sustained stretch in the 23 years NPD Group has tracked the number. The decades-long rise of women in the work force -- and the related rise of meals bought from restaurants -- has ground to halt and begun to reverse since the turn of the millennium. The numbers have gotten little attention, and they fly in the face of conventional wisdom, but their ramifications are huge for many businesses, families and our entire culture. (Advertising Age 10/22/07)

China has too many men. Today, roughly 120 boys are born in China for every 100 girls, perhaps the worst gender imbalance in modern human history. Within 15 years, the country may have 30 million men who cannot find wives. Households have preferred male children because men are viewed as better able to support rural families, and boys inherit the land. Infanticide has often resulted. China’s one-child policy motivates couples to abort until they have a boy. This will turn China, by 2030, into a grayer society than the U.S. Single young men are far more likely to commit violence than their married peers. Even young criminals often give up crime when they marry and settle down. Today China is experiencing rising crime waves. Cities with the most unbalanced sex ratios have some of the highest crime rates. China’s State Population and Family Commission admits “the increasing difficulties men face in finding wives may lead to social instability.”  (LA Times 10/21/07) 

The New Golden Rule for business, first developed by Fred Reichheld, loyalty expert and author, is the one statistic that increasingly is taken most seriously by investors. Originally dubbed the Net Promoter Score, it could also be called the Customer Evangelism Score. It may be the most revealing question any business, ministry or church can ask its constituents. So what is this measure of success? Would you recommend us to a friend? I can help you find appropriate ways to ask this question to your customers and constituents. Contact me at 419-238-4082, gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com.  (The Gospel According to Starbucks, Leonard Sweet, WaterBrook, 2007) 

Fatherhood “Men today are far more involved with their families than they have been at virtually any other time in the last century,” says Michael Kimmel, author of Manhood in America: A Cultural History. In the late ’70s, sociologists found the average dad spent about a third as much time with his kids as the average mom did. By ’00, that was up to three-fourths. The number of stay-at-home fathers has tripled in the past 10 years. The Census counts less than 200,000, but those studying the phenomenon say it’s probably 10 times that number. Fathers’ style of parenting has changed, too. Men hug their kids more, help with homework more, tell kids they love them more. Or, as sociologist Scott Coltrane of the University of California, Riverside, says, “Fathers are beginning to look more like mothers.” (Time 10/4/07) 

Men Not @ Work Men’s participation in the labor force has been declining for decades, though it remains ahead of women’s, at around 75%. Women’s participation rate in the paid U.S. labor force topped out at just above 60% in ’99 and again in ’01 but has fallen since then, according to the Labor Department. (Advertising Age 10/22/07) 

Magazines A new guide from Magazine Publishers of America aggregates new findings from marketing research and consulting companies. The report analyzes cross-media accountability data from 32 studies to determine each medium’s effectiveness through the purchase funnel. The overall findings indicate that: media synergy is important; 3 media were better than 2, and 2 were better than 1 in generating results. The combination of TV and magazines provided significantly more lift than did TV plus online. TV and magazines produced the greatest lifts in ad awareness, with each medium contributing significantly more impact than online. Magazines were by far the most effective in increasing purchase intent. Magazines also were the most consistent performer in producing positive results in the most campaigns. Other key findings include: Magazine ads had a major impact on building web traffic, with a lift of more than 40% over the control group. Magazine ads generated web traffic at each stage of the purchase funnel, especially purchase intent. Including a URL address in magazine ads significantly increased web visits. When the URL was included, the percent change in visits tripled. (Center for Media Research Brief 10/25/07) 

New Man & SpiritLed Woman magazines, both Strang Communications publications, are being shifted from print to the Internet in response to the changing market of fewer paid subscribers. The online versions will be found at www.newmanmag.com and www.spiritledwoman.com. (Christian e-Tailing 10/22/07)

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