“Location, location, location.” If you have ever dealt with real estate, odds are high you’ve heard someone say this phrase. Why? Because location changes everything in real estate. Where a property is located determines its value, how much taxes are, and whether or not it’s within city limits.
Location also matters in advertising. When you create a print ad, you want the best spot in the newspaper or magazine. Where your billboard is located will determine how much traffic sees your ad and how much you pay for it. Location even matters where your product is placed in a store or what page your digital ad appears. But, did you know that location is also critical for your marketing strategy?
Location Impacts Customers Profiles
Your customers will look different from region to region. For example, if your customer has a family of 4, makes $100,000 a year, and lives in Los Angeles, they would be considered to live just above the poverty level. But say that same family of 4, makes $100,000 a year, and lives in lower Alabama, they would be considered well off. Your customers in Philadelphia and Chicago will have very different behavioral traits than those living in Wisconsin or Florida.
Location impacts your customers’ economic status, their interests, how they spend their time and money, their behaviors, and how far away they are from your business. It’s detrimental to create one strategy for your entire customer database. Your customer profiles will vary, so create a marketing strategy that changes with the customers’ needs.
Location Impacts Store Needs
Location even impacts your individual stores. One store may have rural customers who live further away, visit less frequently, and have fewer options competing for their business. Another store may draw in an urban crowd who live closer, visit more frequently, or have more stores competing for their business. The rural store may need specials and campaigns that run longer while the urban store may need specials and campaigns that change out frequently.
If you sell items that are seasonal, you’ll find that locations in the southern regions will have longer periods of warmer temperatures. While locations in the northern regions will see cooler weather soon and have longer winters. Where your stores are located will impact how much foot traffic they receive and what items are in high demand. Your marketing strategy should vary for each location.
Location Impacts Micro-Markets
You can see the impact of location not only by region and state but also by county, city, zip code, and neighborhood. Where your customers are matters, and by diving into spatial and geographical data, you can see a better picture of who they are and their behaviors.
At Analytic Marketing Partners, we understand the importance of location in marketing and created our own MicroModeling® tool that has over 2.6 million Micro-Markets. This tool changes the way we analyze data and gives us a clearer pictures of target audiences. Understanding the differences between micro-markets allows businesses to create stronger strategies that work. They are able to customize messaging for their target audience and market on a one-to-one level.
How well do you know the impact of location on your business? Do you lump your audience all together or do you examine the nuances of your customer database? If you have more questions about Micro-Markets or want to talk to us about data analytics, send us an email.