Subject Guides: CMJ 367: Public Relations: Industry Research

Finding Company History

Below are a couple of resources that can help you explore companies within an industry of interest to you for your Career Discovery assignment. Looking at company histories can give you a sense of an industry's priorities, which can help you determine what their PR needs may be.

A-Z Databases
Includes company information, like demographic profiles, revenue & employment trends, and competitors. These are short and sweet (not much depth), but can give you quick insights into their primary interests and goals.

Business Premium Collection
Includes company profile, history, and principal competitors, and oftentimes a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats).

One approach is to search for your company and add "SWOT analysis" to your search (e.g., Microsoft AND "SWOT analysis"). You can then limit to a recent year of interest.

Another is to search for your company in the Advanced Search page (e.g., Microsoft Corp.), and limit your results to Company Profile in the "Document Type" section. You can further limit your results to a recent year of interest.

Finding Demographic & Psychographic Information

Demographics and psychographics provide insights into why consumers spend their money, and on what types of purchases. More specifically, demographics refer to who your consumers are, such as their age, race/ethnicity, gender, relationship status, occupation, or income. Psychographics refer to why your consumers consume, such as attitudes, preferences, opinions, or values.

Looking at this type of information can help you determine the PR needs of your industry. For instance, does your industry need to focus on a particular demographic group? Is there room for growing their audience? Are they missing opportunities to reach people in certain parts of the country, or the world? Are there consumer opinions/perspectives/values that resonate with your industry and that your PR work can capitalize on?

Market Research Database

Mintel
Mintel publishes over 220 marketing reports in the US every year. Reports include data such as answers to consumer survey questions to identify key demographics or target markets; a comprehensive overview of the market size, including a five year forecast; and brand share, category trends, consumer attitudes and behaviors, and analysis on what’s working, what’s not working, and what’s coming next.

To access Mintel, click on the link above, then click on Mintel Academic under the section titled, Your Subscriptions.

Trends in American Attitudes

Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
U.S. public opinion questions and answers. Search questions by keywords, topics, and dates regarding important issues facing the country.

Useful Online Resource

Marketing Charts
Information for marketing professionals, with a focus on graphs and charts that show some of the latest marketing trends from major research reports and surveys.

Useful Books

American Attitudes: who thinks what about the issues that shape our lives by New Strategist Press (Prepared for Publication by)
Call Number: ebook
Results from the latest General Social Survey, revealing what the public thinks about topics ranging from gay marriage to the American Dream, how Americans feel about their financial status, their hopes for their children, how often they socialize and with whom, their religious beliefs, political leanings, family life, and standard of living. Includes the history of responses to questions, where available, enabling one to track public attitude changes over time.
American Buyers: Demographics of Shopping by New Strategist Press
Call Number: UM Orono Reference HC110.C6 A54 2014
Unique weekly and quarterly spending data that show the percentage of households that buy individual products and services and how much buyers pay for them. American Buyers can tell you the percentage of households that buy fast-food lunches during an average week and how much the buyers spend on them. Includes statistics like the percentage of households that buy airline tickets during an average quarter and how much the buyers spend on them. Spending data are detailed by the demographics that count—age, income, household type, race and Hispanic origin, region of residence, and education.
The Baby Boom: Americans born 1946 to 1964 by Cheryl Russell
Call Number: ebook
Presents statistical information about the quality of life of the baby boom generation, with information on such topics as education, health, housing, income, living arrangements, and spending.
Best Customers: Demographics of Consumer Demand by New Strategist Press
Call Number: ebook (one user at a time)
This report analyzes the demographics of household spending in the United States on hundreds of products and services, by age, income, household type, race and Hispanic origin, region of residence, and educational attainment of householder. Identifies which households spend the most on those products and services, and which control the largest share of spending. Also included is a product-by-product analysis of spending trends before and after the Great Recession, and a prediction of future trends.
Consumer Behavior, 2019-2020 by Richard K. Miller and Kelli Washington
Call Number: ebook
Dozens of surveys analyzing consumer spending characteristics, behavioral responses, and preferences.
Consumer Marketing 2018-2019 by Richard K. Miller and Kelli Washington
Call Number: ebook
Gen buY: how tweens, teens, and twenty-somethings are revolutionizing retail by Kit Yarrow; Jayne O'Donnell
Call Number: HF5415.332.Y66 Y37 2009
Marketing to Millennials: Reach the largest and most influential generation of consumers ever by Jeff Fromm; Christie Garton
Call Number: ebook
Marketing to Women: How to Understand, Reach, and Increase Your Share of the Largest Market Segment by Martha Barletta
Call Number: ebook
Millennials with Kids: Marketing to this Powerful and Surprisingly Different Generation of Parents by Jeff Fromm; Marissa Vidler
Call Number: HF5415.332.Y66 F763 2015
Demographic profiles, interviews, and examples of brand successes and failures.

Finding Research on Public Relations and Industry

There is a lot of research on the relationship between public relations and company success. Some databases to consult for this type of information include:

You can limit your search to scholarly articles, and will find things like: the effects of social media use across Fortune 500 companies; examples of public relations campaigns in various sectors; the relationship of evaluation and transparency to PR success; and windows into the history of the PR industry itself. These can provide insights into the role(s) and function(s) of a PR professional.