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What if They Tried to Sell Us a "Recession" and Nobody Bought It?
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  [7] BFC Reaches Disabled Consumers: Guaranteed Income and Money to Spend Many with disabilities have a higher-than-average disposable income and consistent buying patterns regardless of real — or perceived — changes that might occur in the economy. If your business can provide the products and services they want and need in an environment that is accessible for them, that 22% of the population who are disabled — a population with a collective annual income of more than a TRILLION dollars — can be a vital part of your company's stable customer base that can help carry your business through periods of financial turbulence, even when other customers have cut back their spending habits. From a recent FORTUNE Magazine article: "Companies marketing to people with disabilities can reach 4 in every 10 consumers." Disabled Consumers' Shopping Patterns: For average consumers, going out shopping or dining may or may not involve friends or family members. For disabled consumers, a shopping trip or visit to a restaurant — or even a trip to the dentist — almost always involves additional companions, since generally most people with disabilities do not prefer going out alone. Studies have shown that people with disabilities tend to go out more frequently with friends, family members, neighbors, co-workers, schoolmates, whoever they know that might want to go (or be willing to go) somewhere with them. And when friends go out in groups that include someone who is disabled, where they go is usually determined by the degree of accessibility necessary to accommodate that member of the group with a disability. And for that reason alone, being sure to include people with disabilities in your marketing efforts is a major factor in helping your business become truly recession-proof! Characteristics of "Disabled Consumers" as a Market Segment: Here are a few important facts about "Disabled Americans" you may not know: |
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People with disabilities are roughly 22% of the U.S. population, and are designated "America's largest minority population segment" by the U.S. Census Bureau. |
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Collectively, disabled Americans earn more than $1 TRILLION annually — more than the Gross Domestic Product of most Nations today. |
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Among disabled Americans who are employed, job stability tends to be 50% higher than that of the general U.S. population. |
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The financial stability of many of those disabled individuals who are not employed is usually augmented by one or more entitlement programs [no Java?] that help stabilize incomes by fully covering or supplementing their ongoing expenses (see below). |
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Disabled Americans collectively have a disposable income (i.e., money to spend after all the "bills" have been paid) of more than $220 BILLION annually. |
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The summary below classifies the "community" we serve into several subgroups and briefly explains why each may be of value to your bottom line. [For more comprehensive discussion of this issue, see "The Demographics of Disabled Access", also in our Business Section.]
Market Segments BFC Serves, and What Each Means for Your Business: |
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Individuals with Disabilities:
Each person is an "individual." Contrary to popular belief, a "Disabled Community" does NOT actually exist. Neither does an "African-American Community" or "Chinese-American Community" or "Methodist Community" or "Blue-Eyed Community." Such terms are just constructs by statisticians and demographers to classify people into groups according to commonality of one characteristic or another. But a person with a heart condition may not have much in common with another person who has Asthma, or another person who is visually impaired. Each of these individuals may be "disabled" ... but in vastly different ways. And each of us will have our own "special needs". What "disabled people" do have in common is that each of them might have a challenge in going about their daily activities, in one way or another. And whenever possible, they seek to do business with those businesses able to accommodate their individual needs. And collectively they have more than $220 BILLION in disposable income. |
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Caregivers of Disabled Family Members:
People who provide in-home care for disabled family members are entitled to participate in Federally-funded "Personal Assistant" programs that greatly reduce caregiving costs, and sometimes actually increase a family's income. This improves a family's financial stability as well as increasing their disposable income. |
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Senior Citizens:
Seniors control more than 77% of America's wealth. Their mortgages are paid, they may receive Social Security, and Medicare covers 80% or more of their medical costs. Seniors have plenty of time on their hands. Seniors like to travel, and go shopping, and dine out with friends and family. Many Seniors also have a high disposable income. And more than 53% of Senior Citizens have some sort of "disability." |
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Disabled Veterans:
They did their duty, served their Country, maybe got a little banged up along the way. Many bought their homes through the GI Bill, and now receive health care coverage from the Veterans Administration. Regardless of length of service, Veterans who are disabled receive a retirement check (or disability pension), whether or not they are now working. All of these factors indicate the likelihood of a high disposable income. There are over 30 million Veterans in America today. Many are "disabled" or survivors of combat, still proudly "being all they can be" despite their disabilities. |
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People Who Became Disabled "On the Job":
Those who were injured at work typically receive "Workers Compensation" as well as Medicare (or Medicaid) and SSDI (or SSI, or both) entitlements. These various entitlements, provided by Federal and State governments, cover their ongoing health care expenses (if any), and provide them with a guaranteed monthly income, regardless of what might be happening with the Stock Market. |
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Parents of Young Children (whether "disabled" or not):
Parents who are attempting to go shopping or out to dinner with babies or small children in strollers or baby carriages often encounter many of the same navigational challenges as people in wheelchairs. They use our Information Service to find safe places they can go with their children, because when they have barrier-free places to go, the whole family can go out together, which is preferable to leaving the kids with a baby-sitter. It's more cost-effective for them too, which enables them to go out more often, and have more to spend. |
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People Who Are NOT "Native English Speakers" and Foreign Tourists in the U.S.:
Wait a minute, you may be thinking to yourself right now ... that's not a "disability". Don't think so? Try visiting a country where you don't speak a word of their language, and see if that "language barrier" makes it difficult for you to get around. For people who weren't born in the U.S. (and we are, after all, a nation of immigrants), the challenge of learning English increases as one grows older. People who came here as children, or studied English in their own country before they came here, usually get around pretty well. However, those who came here as adults, or are visiting as tourists, may not do so well. To accommodate those who are "language-impaired" we provide our Information Service in eleven languages, which serves the needs of 85% of recent immigrants to the U.S. as well as most tourists, who may also need the consumer information we provide. Our Service can be translated into Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. As reliable translation technology for additional languages becomes available, we will include those too. |
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We Can Help Make Your Business More "Recession-Proof"
If some of the various population segments BFC serves, as described above, seem like they would be appropriate target markets for your business AND if your business is equipped to accommodate the accessibility needs of people with disabilities, we can help your business become more recession-proof. E-mail us by clicking on the link below. If not, you are still welcome to look around our site. Maybe you'll find some helpful information you can use. Our objective is to help maximize the quality of life for all Americans. When each of us is able to achieve our highest personal potential, the entire Nation benefits. [Our related article, "Thriving in the Shadow of Recession" discusses additional marketing strategies for survival during economic downturns. If you haven't read it yet, you should.] |
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The Business of Business IS Business:
Most of the Executive Board members of BarrierFreeChoices have been involved in advertising, publishing and marketing for about 4 decades now. During those years, we have bought, sold, and created advertising in print and electronic media (including the Internet) for a varied clientele that included government agencies, businesses, professional and trade associations, political organizations, and the non-profit sector. In our next Business Section Topic, we will dispel some common advertising myths and explain what really counts in advertising. We hope it is helpful to your business success. |
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To find out more about advertising with us, E-mail us: advertise@barrierfreechoices.com
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| References: [ Additional "Recession/Depression" Resources | No Java? ] (opens in a "new" window, so this page will still be here when you're done) |
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