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COMMERCE READERS
ARE LEADERS
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WASHINGTON
UNIVERSITY'S OLIN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS DOCUMENTS... READERS ARE AFFLUENT,
INFLUENTIAL, WELL READ.
By Pam Droog
Who are you? You and your fellow readers of St. Louis Commerce
Magazine, that is. Well, you are an impressive bunch, according
to the results of the Readership Profile recently completed by Washington
University’s Olin School of Business.
“We have long known that St. Louis Commerce has a very substantial
and diverse readership, but we didn’t know the precise dimensions,”
says Commerce Magazine publisher Dick Fleming. “We wanted
to know who our readers are, and we wanted an objective third party
to do the assessment.”
The Commerce Magazine project at the Olin School was itself
the product of a competition. It’s part of an annual competition,
funded by a grant from the Jack and Andy Taylor Foundation that
picks projects designed to give MBAs practical, real-life business
experience.
The team, consisting of Olin students Jason Stadler, Sean Cunningham,
Robert Wolf, Steve Gradman and their professor, Stacy Jackson, contacted
2,786 St. Louis Commerce subscribers by e-mail. Some 20 percent
of those people answered the survey’s extensive 47 questions, providing
a wealth of useful and interesting information.
"WHO YOU ARE"
“While there were no dramatic surprises in the results, we were
pleasantly surprised at the high level of readership and top tier
demographics of our readership,” Fleming says.
Among Commerce’s regular readers are a number of millionaires,
with 30 percent claiming a net worth of more than $1 million. They’re
predominantly male (75 percent), age 35 to 65 (84 percent) with
no children (39 percent) with two or more (43 percent). Eighty-seven
percent are college graduates, with nearly half of those possessing
a graduate degree.
St. Louis Commerce readers are homeowners (94 percent) mainly
in West County (35 percent) or South County (22 percent). More than
one-fifth own a second home. Sixty percent dine out one to 10 times
in an average month.
Nearly 70 percent of Commerce readers own two or more vehicles.
Most own mutual funds (90 percent), and common stock (60 percent);
half own stock in their own companies.
To stay informed, besides reading St. Louis Commerce, respondents
also read the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (81 percent) and the
St. Louis Business Journal (69 percent). For national news
they turn to the Wall Street Journal (41 percent), Newsweek
(20 percent), Time (19 percent) and Business Week
(16 percent).
Readers watch cable TV and KSDK Newschannel Five (61 percent each).
That’s interesting because 28 percent watch KMOV, although the two
stations are tied in recent ratings. The radio station of choice
is KMOX (60 percent).
DECISION MAKERS
“The readership is very diverse in the size and scope of their companies,”
Fleming says. A notable segment is in the construction industry
(14 percent) or telecommunications (nine percent); media/advertising/entertainment,
banking/finance, manufacturing and healthcare also are represented.
The largest group, however, is “other” (39 percent), meaning readers
populate a wide range of fields.
Their companies also employ a wide range of workers. “Most, or 37
percent, are in the entrepreneurial segment with 50 or less employees,”
Fleming notes. “At the other end of the spectrum, 25 percent of
respondents employ 1,000 or more. It’s a pretty diversified range.”
Readers’ firm’s revenues also are diversified. One-fifth of respondents
say revenues are $1 million or less. Another 20% say revenues are
$1 to $9.9 million and yet another one-fifth say their company’s
revenues are $10 to $49.9 million. Nearly another fifth (19 percent)
work for firms with revenues of $500 million or more.
Approximately 70 percent of St. Louis Commerce readers are
among the top management of their firms, owners or partners in their
companies. A bulk substantially influence purchasing decisions (55
percent), services (40 percent) and advertising/ media/PR (31 percent).
They also influence policy (59 percent).
But they’re not always glued to their desks: 90% of our readers
entertain for business each month. More than 34 percent travel internationally.
KEEPING IT FOR OTHERS
Most respondents say they read St. Louis Commerce at work
(78 percent). It’s a regular half-hour to one-hour read according
to 91 percent of respondents. Forty-six percent look at it once
and 37 percent look at it twice before typically passing it on to
an average of 2.7 more people. “We were interested to note that
61 percent said when they finish reading St. Louis Commerce
they display it in their lobby or route it through the office,”
Fleming says. Sixteen percent bring it home.
The changes in St. Louis Commerce have not gone unnoticed,
according to survey results. In fact, 88 percent of respondents
say they like the magazine’s new look. The redesign was the inspiration
for the survey, Fleming says.
“The last time we did something like this was five years ago. We
felt with the changes in the publication, it was time to do it again,”
Fleming says.
The survey results will be useful for advertisers and for key decision
makers, he believes. “One way we’ll use the profile numbers will
be to better quantify how unique our audience is,” Fleming says.
What’s next? “We plan to do some additional assessment about what
people would like to see in the magazine that’s not there,” Fleming
adds. “We’re contemplating holding some focus groups in the near
future to determine that.”
Pam Droog is a frequent contributor to St. Louis Commerce Magazine.
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