Exercise 3: Find out where your target customers are

You're planning to launch a large advertising campaign for a new line of furniture, and you'd like to make the most of your advertising budget by targeting the areas of the country that are most likely to be interested in these products. Your research staff reports that the type of person most likely to buy this type of furniture is in the 25-year to 44-year age range with an average household income of $60,000 to $80,000.

In this exercise, you use the demographic data that comes with MapPoint to locate this target customer. You display two sets of demographic data on the same map: a Shaded Area Map for your target age range and a Shaded Circle Map for your target income range. You choose these map types because layering data as shaded circles on top of shaded areas allows you to pinpoint the areas where these two variables both exist.

Step 1: Map your target age range

1. Clear the current map by clicking New   on the Standard toolbar.

   Note  If you are prompted to save changes to your current map, you may do so, but it is not necessary for completing this exercise.

2. On the Data menu, click Data Mapping Wizard .

3. To accept the default Shaded Area map type, click Next.

4. Accept the default selections of Add demographics to the map and United States demographic data, and then click Next.

   Note  On this page, you can also choose to add worldwide demographic data or import or link to your own custom data.

5. In the Select the data field or column to map box, scroll down to your target age range, and select Population, ages 25–44 (2007).

6. Because you want to view this age range as a percentage of the overall population, in the Divide the data you chose above by box, scroll down to and select Population: total (2007).

7. You want to see the age range data displayed across the entire country by state, so make sure that State is selected in the Show the data by box, and then click Next.

8. In the Legend title box of the Format the Shaded Area Map legend page, change the title to Target Age Percentage to conserve space on the legend and simplify the description of the data set.

9. In the Range type list, click Discrete equal ranges.

   Note  MapPoint chooses certain options on this page based on the way your data is organized. You can also use the Format the Shaded Area Map legend page to change the way your information is displayed on the map.

10. Click Finish.

Result

MapPoint places this set of demographic data on the map to create a Shaded Area Map that displays your target age range. The next step is to enhance your map with income demographics.

Step 2: Map your target income level

1. On the Data menu, click Data Mapping Wizard .

2. Because you have already mapped data as shaded areas and you want to be able to easily view this additional set of data on the map at the same time, click Shaded Circle, and then click Next.

3. To add another set of demographic data to the map (as opposed to editing the existing data map), select Add demographics to the map, accept the default selection of United States demographic data, and then click Next.

4. In the Select the data field or column to map box, scroll down to and select Income: household average (2007).

   This demographic category contains your target income level.

5. To show both sets of data by the same geographic area (state), in the Show the data by box, make sure that State is selected, and then click Next.

6. In the Legend title box of the Format the Shaded Circle Map legendpage, change the title to Target Income to conserve space on the legend and simplify the description of the data set.

7. Map a custom income range ($60,000.00 to $80,000.00). In the Range type list, click Discrete equal ranges. When you change the data in the Data Range boxes, Custom is going to appear. In the Data range, enter 60,000.00 and 67,000.00 for the lower range. Enter 67,001.00 and 73,000.00 for the mid-range. Enter 73,001.00 and 80,000.00 for the upper range.

8. Click the arrow under Color and then click the color palette of your choice that will best represent and coordinate with your other data.

   For example, you may have chosen purple as your target income level range, which means that you'll be able to pinpoint the intersection of your target income level and age range by looking for areas that have both dark purple shaded areas and purple shaded circles.

9. Click Finish.

   MapPoint places the second set of demographic data on the map as shaded circles.

10. To get a better view of mainland U.S., on the View menu, point to Zoom, and then click To 48 States.

11. To remove roads from the map and make your data more visible, on the Viewmenu, point to Map Style, and then click Data Map.

Result

You now have a map with two sets of layered demographic data. The states of California and Colorado have both dark green shaded areas (which represent your target age range) and purple circles (which represent your target income level). These states would be good places to get the best use of your advertising budget. But what's happening in the northeast? It's hard to tell at this zoom level, so the next step is to zoom in to take a closer look.

Step 3: Take a closer look

There are also several purple shaded circles in the northeast, but you need to zoom into that area to get more detail, because the shaded circles are obscuring the shaded area information underneath.

1. On the map, position your mouse pointer at the upper-left corner of the northeastern area of the U.S.

2. Right-click the map and drag the pointer diagonally until you've drawn a box around the area.

3. To quit drawing, release the mouse button.

   If the box you've drawn isn't quite where you want it, click outside the box to make it disappear, and then redraw it.

4. Click inside the box.

Note: You can also zoom in on an area of the map by double-clicking the area.

Result

Now that you're zoomed in closer, you can see that several states, such as New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Virginia are probably good places to launch your advertising campaign as well, because they show both green shaded areas and purple shaded circles.

After you complete this exercise, your map should look like this:

  Move on to Exercise 4: Plan a business trip.

  Go back to the MapPoint Tutorial start page and try another exercise.