When dealerships market a particular make or model, they may only think of targeting by geography. In a previous article, we talked about hitting the mark for effectively geo-targeting down to the ZIP Code™ level.
The trouble is this is only one half of the puzzle. You may know where you should target but might not know whom to target. What is the best way to create campaigns tailored to the individuals within the specific area you are targeting?
If you already use Experian’s Dealer Positioning System (DPS), you have a leg up on this.
Since we already talked about targeting by ZIP Codes, the next step finding out household attributions and profiles in those areas. The above example is a ZIP Code in Sun City West, Arizona. We see three different lifestyle segments sourced from Experian’s Mosaic®, a system that classifies households into 71 unique types and provides information about consumer’s choices, habits, and preferences.
Within the 1,702 households in this Zip Code that registered a vehicle within a defined timeframe, we can determine the three primary types of household segments. As we can see, Footloose and Family Free dominates this area at 66%. This group consists of elderly couples and widowed individuals living active and comfortable lifestyles. Gold Carts and Gourmets, upscale retirees and empty-nesters in comfortable communities comes in at 20%. The remainder is Booming and Consuming, older empty-nesting couples and singles enjoying relaxed lives in small towns.
This information gives us insight into the people living in various types of households within this particular ZIP Code and. These also show personal preferences for purchasing such as clothing, accessories, electronics, and so on, household marital status, and what types of vehicles they usually purchase. From this information, for Sun City West, Arizona, we can see that the average income in this ZIP Code is $67,000.
After we look at the Mosaic profile of households, we can look at advertising propensity and channel dominance. These demonstrate how vehicles buyers in this ZIP Code were influenced in their purchase decision and shows what advertising influenced them the most. Traditional advertising such as newspaper, TV, or radio was more effective versus Direct Mail in this area with a ratio of 8:7. The difference between Email and Direct Mail for channel dominance is 1:1. That’s good because it means consumers here were equally responsive to both emails and direct mail.
The left side of the table displays the type of households you can target, but the right side is all about how to best market to them. “Messaging Attributes” indicates the top key messaging that influenced the people in this ZIP Code’s buying decision. For this ZIP Code, Buy American is the top attribute. Consumers in this segment would like to know the history of your dealership, and details of your community involvement, and if your vehicles are made in America. If we go 9% lower, we see Look at me Now. This messaging focuses on customer relationships, dealership reputation, and gifts for going on test drives. Finally, there is On the Road Again. Here, focus is on customer testimonials, base trim levels of vehicles, and simple, value-focused messaging. As a dealer, you have three effective messaging attributes that you can use to bring consumers from this ZIP Code into your store.
Effectively marketing your vehicle to consumers is easier once you know to whom you’re marketing. By using the Lifestyle Cluster and Mosaic lifestyle segmentation system, you can see not only who you are targeting but what kind of marketing they prefer. Along with idenitfying which ZIP Codes to target, figuring out what marketing attributes resonate with these consumers means you’ll provide the right message in the right place to the right consumer.
