As part of the development process for AzCentral, the Phoenix Newspapers Inc. “skunk works” team undertook a couple of difficult, but important tasks.  One task was to better understand our potential audience.  With focus groups and other marketing research, we found some themes from our affinity groups:

• The Travelers
• Small business owners
• Parents of young children
• High school teachers

I really liked the idea that we wouldn’t talk only to “computer owners.” Rather we wanted to better understand how to serve the needs of our potential audience. Here’s what we wrote [I think by Dave Gianelli] about the process:

The four groups — people who like to travel, parents of young children, small­ business owners and high-school teachers – were selected after consulting with Ellen Jacobs, who guided the team throughout the process. We decided against creating focus groups out of demographics such as “computer owners” or “users of online services,” which are based more on the medium than content.

This strategy allowed the team to learn about the specific information needs of each group, and it pointed up some themes common across the groups. Also, the focus group members were varied in computer expertise: some used online services regularly, and others were thinking of joining one. Some said that they didn’t own a computer and that they didn’t plan to buy one.

We talked with the groups about how they get information (for planning a trip or a family outing, for example) and the frustrations they have in getting this information. What we found out can be used to help PNI shape its online services.

What is most interesting about this document is the VERY detailed inventory of the content that could be offered from existing material created by two newspapers, a business journal and an audiotext service.

From A (stock listings) to Zing!, our readers have access to news, sports, enter­tainment, computers, calendars, business and anything that fits under those umbrellas. And from The Arizona Republic, The Phoenix Gazette, Community and the Arizona Business Gazette comes access to other valuable reader services: PressLine, faxes and special sections.

As we wrote: It is a lot.  About 100 pages of inventory.  It is a great snapshot of the content that one newspaper in 1995 produced for its readers.