Glossary

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A-I

Affinity and Affinity Groups
A community of people sharing a common culture. Includes people with similar interests who congregate in one place, like at meetings, in online chat rooms, on discussion boards or on social networks.

Behaviors
Consumer characteristics that explain what they do and why they buy (or not), such as benefits sought, price sensitivity, status, loyalty, readiness to purchase and attitude towards a product, company or brand.

Bizographics (AKA Firmographics)
Similar to demographics, but define an organization by size, seats, revenue and  more, and the people who fall within a target business profile by title, role and responsibility.

Consumer Profile
Comprised of demographics, psychographics, behaviors and geography.

Demographics
Characteristics of a market or population, including: age, gender, income, occupation, education, family size, home ownership, stage in lifecycle, generation, nationality, race or ethnicity, religion and social class. As opposed to psychographics and behaviors, it's more easily defined and quantitative in nature.

Differentiation
In marketing, it's what gives a business a strategic advantage by setting it apart from the competition. Differentiation value may be found in products and services, pricing, distribution or the way a business organizes and promotes itself.

DMA (Designated Market Area)
A region where the population can receive the same (or similar) TV and radio station broadcasts; may include other media, like newspapers and internet content. May also be called a media market, broadcast market, media region or television market area.

Geography
Typically used to characterize a target market and may be defined by city block, neighborhood, city, state, zip, county, region, country, international or MSA (metropolitan statistical area).

J-R

Mashup
A web page or application that combines data or functionality, not usually found together, from 2 or more sources to create a new service or to provide new insights. For example, it's common to combine maps with neighborhood information.

MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area)
U.S. government classification for a free-standing urban area.

NAICS codes (see SIC codes)
The North American Industry Classification System was introduced in 1997 to replace SIC codes, representing the NAFTA countries of Mexico, Canada and the U.S. NAICS differs from SIC in that it focuses on business processes rather than end products. SIC codes are still used, but the system isn't being updated.

Psychographic
Used to characterize a population and may be defined by beliefs, values, attitudes, lifestyle, personality and affinity groups.

Primary Research (see secondary research)
The collection of original data, which is normally done after secondary sources have been exhausted. Methods include surveys, focus groups, questionnaires, telephone interviews, observation and mall intercept.

S-Z

Secondary Research (see primary research)
The summary, collation and/or synthesis of existing research. It's what Dempsee helps you find.

Segmentation
Divides people into groups based on shared consumer profiles. It's a practical way to target with some precision, without needing to implement a separate marketing approach for each individual.

SIC codes (see NAICS)
The Standard Industrial Classification codes are used by the U.S. Federal Government to classify economic activity into 10 major divisions. First 2 digits describe the nature of the activity (i.e. Mining, Construction, Manufacturing). The remaining digits describe specific products and sub-industries. With companies with more than one  SIC Code, the first one is the primary line of business. SIC codes are useful for market sizing, segmenting and general business research. 

Telecommunities (AKA Video Villages)
Groups of people who surf and comment on the Web while simultaneously watching TV.