Ask Morty: New chatbot providing free data analysis for local business

Published 27 September 2022

Moreton Bay businesses can now have the latest Census data interpreted for them for free, following the launch of ‘Ask Morty’.

This free, automated data-concierge service puts key demographic data right at the fingertips of local businesses.

Mayor Flannery said Council hopes the chatbot will help local companies to reach more customers and grow their business.

“With more than 90% of all businesses in the region being micro or small businesses, an increase in small business performance throughout the region will be a key contributor to the achievement of the goals of our Regional Economic Development Strategy (REDS) 2020-2041,” Mayor Flannery said.

‘’For this reason Council is committed to being the best small business friendly council in Queensland. Providing enhanced data access is one way we can support them to better connect with their target markets and ultimately grow their customer base and our economy.

‘’Historically, leveraging data for profit has been the domain of big business and governments - and that is simply because sourcing, interrogating and interpreting data is a time-consuming and costly exercise. 

‘’And we all know there are two things almost every small business doesn’t have - spare time and spare cash - so we wanted to make data available to all small businesses in our region. 

‘’Moreton Bay Regional Council is incredibly proud to be the first council in Australia to offer this type of tool to its residents.”

Council partnered with TechConnect IT Solutions to develop Ask Morty.

To benefit from Ask Morty, all business operators need to do is to share with Ask Morty a few different characteristics about their customer profile, such as age range, gender, living circumstances or the like.

The tool will then find which suburbs currently have the highest concentration of these population segments now and where they are likely to be living in the future and present it back to the business. Businesses can then use this information to inform their marketing strategies, expansion plans and product diversification, amongst other things.

Local business owner, Mandy Schultz of Caboolture’s Luvaberry said, ‘’The tool is a great opportunity to find out where my target demographics are living, it enables me to take the guesswork out of choosing locations for target marketing.

‘’I’m always looking to grow the number visitors to my Luvaberry farm. Thanks to Ask Morty, I have increased confidence that I’m connecting with my target customers’’.

Lawnton small business owner, Wes Brughuis of Drone Games said, ‘’We are a relatively new business in Moreton Bay, and we are still building brand awareness in the local community.   

‘’At Drone Games, we offer STEM programs for schools and great all-year-round options for school holidays and birthday parties.   

‘’To reach more local families ahead of the next school holidays I am preparing a letterbox drop.  By using Ask Morty on Council’s website I simply answered two questions and Morty gave me the top three areas with highest numbers of families.   

‘’It has saved me a huge amount of guesswork and given me peace of mind that we are actually promoting our business in the right area”.

Ask Morty will help small businesses achieve commercial success said TechConnect IT Solutions CEO & Founder Mike Cunningham.

‘’By answering a few quick questions, a small business operator will be pointed to areas where they can target their marketing activities, identify new consumer segments and find locations where their target markets will be living in the future.

‘’With ‘Ask Morty’, Moreton Bay Regional Council’s understanding of small business and TechConnect IT Solutions expertise in data has successfully solved a small business barrier to using big data.

‘’We are proud to have partnered with Moreton Bay Regional Council, a highly innovative council, to develop ‘Ask Morty’. With so much data being collected by governments, MBRC’s innovative thinking of using that data to help small businesses shows their commitment to their community’’.

To experience Ask Morty for yourself visit: https://www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/Services/Business-Investment/Ask-Morty