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Serving the Christian Market Since 1968
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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 October 10, 2009 edition of The FOSTER Letter—Religious Market Update October 10, 2009 Read Any Good Vooks lately? For more than 500 years, the book has been a remarkably stable entity. However, in this era of new media, the notion of the book is becoming increasingly elastic as publishers mash together text, video, and Web features in a scramble to keep readers interested in an aging form of entertainment. Simon & Schuster is working with a multimedia partner to release 4 “vooks,” which intersperse videos throughout electronic text that can be read—and viewed—online or on an iPhone or iPod Touch. For example, Anthony Zuiker recently published a novel on paper as an e-book and in an audio version, in which readers are invited to log on to a Web site to watch brief videos that flesh out the plot. “Everybody is trying to think about how books and information will best be put together in the 21st century,” said Judith Curr, publisher of Simon & Schuster imprint Atria Books. Some authors believe the new technologies can enrich books. (NY Times 9/30/09) New Economic Order (NEO) is a new term attributed by market researchers to identify consumers that are somewhat immune to financial fads, because they value individuality and design over getting the lowest price. Numbering 59 million people in the U.S. (24% of the adult population), NEOs are even-keel spenders and less likely to shut their wallets during economic downturns. They can be in any income group; it is a measure of their spending habits, attitudes, and behavior, not demographics. 94% of NEOs are considered big spenders because they are in the top of discretionary spenders. NEOs are typically the first to begin spending as the economy emerges from recession. (Brandweek 9/21/09) The U.S. Hispanic Market is not homogeneous. It is a market comprised of subcultures from over 20 countries in Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Spain, with the majority (63%) of Mexican heritage. Each group has its own set of values, traditions, beliefs, foods, festivals, and consumer patterns. U.S. Hispanics are not identical. There are many differences in their countries’ geographies, their indigenous ancestries, and their colonial histories. Research shows Hispanics prefer ads to be in Spanish over English, even though the younger group is more comfortable in English. The under-44 Hispanic market will grow from a purchasing power of $295 billion in ’08 to $397 billion by ’10. (Center for Media Research Brief 9/18/09) Changing Labor Force According to a new nationwide survey by the Pew Research Center, 93% of the growth in the U.S. labor force from ’06 to ’16 will be among workers ages 55 and older. The study notes older adults are staying in the labor force longer, and younger adults are staying out of it longer. A majority of workers 65 and older say the main reason they work is that they want to. An aging but healthy population desires to stay active well into the later years of life. Nearly 4-in-10 adults who are working past the median retirement age of 62 say they have delayed retirement because of the recession. Among workers 50 to 61, 63% say they might have to push back their expected retirement date because of economic conditions. (Center for Media Research Brief 9/16/09) Market Intentionally Small Business Computing, 6/24/03, advises us to tackle some critical groundwork before 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 with 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, and intentionality demands an honest appraisal of all players. I can help you make those appraisals objectively 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. The Cost of Raising a Child A middle-income family can expect to spend $291,570 (adjusted for inflation) to raise a child born in ’08 to adulthood, up slightly from the federal government’s estimate a year ago. The estimate covers food, shelter, and other necessities for a child to age 18, said the annual report by the Agriculture Department. The figure does not include the cost of childbirth or college. (Leadership Network Advance 9/22/09) Christian Fiction Readers Over 66% of Christian fiction readers listen to radio. Of those radio listeners, 51.5% tune exclusively to Christian radio stations, with an overwhelming 93.5% listening to Christian music as opposed to Christian talk radio. (CBA Retailers + Resources 8/09) Book Sales tracked by the AAP for the month of July increased 2% to $1.54 billion and were up by 1.9% for the year. However, religious books saw a decrease of 9.3% for the month with sales of $42.4 million; sales were down by 8.1% for the year. (Rush to Press 9/28/09) More Screen Time Americans are increasing their overall media consumption, and media multi-tasking is part of the equation, according to data from The Nielsen Company’s Three Screen Report. During Q2 ’09, the number of people watching mobile video increased 70% from ’08, and people who watch video online increased their viewing by 46%. In addition, the average American TV consumption remains at an all-time high (141 hours per month). (Center for Media Research Brief 9/11/09) Most Americans Marry just once, according to new Census data. 76% of those who have ever been married marry only once, 19% twice, and 5% three or more times. The average U.S. marriage lasts 18.2 years. (CitizenLink.org 9/22/09) eAddicts “A surprisingly high percentage of Christian students who frequently engage in electronic activities report several troubling negative consequences. But, ironically, they also mention many positive outcomes related to the time spent on Facebook or text messaging,” said Gordon College’s Bryan C. Auday, who co-led a study titled Pulling Off the Mask. 54% of participants confessed to “neglecting important areas of their life” due to spending too much time on social media sites, and 12.7% believe they are addicted to some form of electronic activity. 21% said their level of engagement with electronic activities at times caused a conflict with their Christian values. (Christian Post 9/15/09) Virtual Working Today workers are juggling a 3-fold increase in project volumes since ’04, compounded by increased milieu work and the outsourcing of non-core activities, which is leading to an explosion in virtual working. Global thought leader John Blackwell says, “We’ve projected that by 2010, staff will be spending just 5% of their day in the same place on the project at the same time as their colleagues. 95% of time will be spent working alone, at a different time, place, or on a different schedule.” As a result, managers have a far looser understanding of their teams and must rapidly learn how to migrate from command-control to mentoring, motivating, and coaching. (Management Issues 8/18/09) Are The Right People Doing The Right Thing? Today’s rapid changes often overwhelm existing management and operations structures. I can perform an on-site audit and give you seasoned, objective, and step-by-step direction on how your organization can adapt. Contact me at 419-238-4082, gary@garydfoster.com or www.garydfoster.com. Halloween Spending Down Young adults, typically the big spenders, are cutting back on Halloween spending this year. 18-24 year-olds will spend an average of $68.56 on Halloween, compared to $86.59 in ’08 and $81.91 in ’07. “For them, this year’s theme will be, ‘How creative can I be, and how little can I spend?’” says the National Retail Federation. (Marketing Daily 9/30/09) Surprise—More Mag Readers While a decline in magazine newsstand sales has hogged the spotlight, a long-term trend of possibly greater significance has gone unnoticed: over the last decade, the total audience for leading consumer magazines, as measured by Mediamark Research, has actually increased by about 8%, finds a MediaPost analysis. Although general interest publications actually declined slightly from ’00-’09 with a -1.4% drop, but this was more than offset by bigger increases in the total audience for women’s interest (up 13.3%) and men’s interest (13.1%). (Media Daily News 9/28/09) You Market When you hire and when you fire. You market when you call tech support, and you market every time you send a memo. Information spreads like wildfire. Your words and actions, even those intended to be private, can and will be used against you in the court of public opinion. Call me, and I can help you more intentionally market whenever you communicate and carefully craft what you say and do. E-mail Gary@garydfoster.com or visit www.garydfoster.com. A Marquette University Study finds “religiosity”—defined as a set of institutionalized beliefs, doctrines and rituals, and ethical standards for how to live a good life”—to be a protective factor appearing to contribute to decreased sexual risk behaviors. Young people ages 15-21 who viewed religion as very important reported an average of 1.9 lifetime sexual partners and on average began sexual activity at 17.4 years. In contrast, those who viewed religion as somewhat important or not important at all began their first sexual activity at 16.9 and had an average of 2.9 lifetime sexual partners. However, those that held high religious attitudes toward sexuality remained virginal by 21 years—an effect greater than just frequent attendance of church services or religious values. Among those who valued religion as very important, 20% were still virgins by age 21; among those who attended church services frequently, 25% of participants reported they were still virgins by 21 years. But those who had high “religious attitudes on sexuality” reported the highest rate of virginity by 21 years and the highest rate of delayed first sex. 34% of these youth remained virgins by 21 years, and the average onset of sex began at 18.8 years. In contrast, only 8% of those with low religious attitudes toward sex were still virgins by 21 and began their first sex on average at 17.0 years old, about the same time as those who did not value religion. (LifeSite News 9/30/09) Foster Letter---Religious Market Update, E-mail us at: subscribe@garydfoster.com
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