Knowing how many people make up a community and knowing who makes up a community are two different things. While census data tell how many people live in a particular area, their ethnicity, how many live in a home and endless other bits of useful and basic information, consumer-based demographic information builds from the census information and provides greater insight into their “buying” behaviors.
Such behavioral consumer information is crucial to all businesses. Whether an existing business intends to run a marketing campaign or add new product lines, knowing how that community is inspired to action, i.e. spend their hard earned money, is critical to their success and longevity.
The City’s Economic Development office has contracted with Buxton to provide a Strategic Household Assessment report and access to their robust consumer based demographic software. Immediately, great insights into the community were brought to light, which can assist our business community directly.
Many in our community have heard the “poverty with a view” statement refuted with the Buxton data numerous times, which certainly checks expectations, but there is more to the data than that. A Consumer Propensity Report (CPR) indicates whether a population has a greater or lesser propensity toward a particular consumer behavior compared to the national propensity or tendency. For example, the CPR indicates that our region, which for this article is a 20-mile drive from the center of Flagstaff, has a propensity to purchase American Baby Magazine that is twice the national propensity. Or that our region has a propensity to purchase micro-brewed beer from Oregon that is four times the national propensity. Those two points may seem less intriguing, but if you were in the insurance business, would it be of interest to know that the region has a propensity to purchase a web-based insurance that is 1.5 times greater than the national propensity? Or perhaps you were thinking of opening a business that sells and trades collectible books or comics, would it be of interest to know that the region has a propensity to purchase such collectibles that is twice the national propensity?
Greater than the national propensity is a positive sign and when it comes to decision making –the more positive signs the better. When it comes to targeting your audience and how to reach and inspire your future customers to action, stronger propensities matter. From that point, it is important to delve into the data even further. What other behaviors does your customer exhibit? Does the population click through pop-ups (five points below the national propensity) or will they use a coupon insert in the newspaper (nine points below the national propensity)? Perhaps you’re better to place an ad in the business section of the Sunday paper since the region has a greater propensity to read that section than the rest of the country (25 points above the national average).
Having the data is certainly one thing; reading the data is another. The more you know about your customers, the better your chances of finding and reaching them. If you are interested in exploring the growth potential for your business through the power of analytics, visit us online at our new chooseflagstaff.com website or give us a call at 928-213-2966. FBN
John Saltonstall is the business retention and expansion manager for the City of Flagstaff.