Imagining My Own Business | Part 2: Small Town Details

Pop quiz. Should small town, small business dreamers target everyone in their zip code or should they also narrow it down to a smaller segment? Spoiler alert. You can’t efficiently market to everyone – including those in your small town. No matter how tiny, not everyone wants a cupcake. I mean, they should. I guess some folks just have better will power when it comes to their waistline. (I am not one of those people. The jeans-to-sweatpants shift this holiday season is proof. Thanks a lot, pumpkin pie and peppermint bark. And, PS. Who immediately pictured Dennis Hopper saying, “Pop quiz, hot shot!” in Speed when I started this post?)

My point? Nailing down the demographic and psychographic details of your target segments are imperative – even if you’re in Small Town, USA. Digging up demographics is reasonably easy. Shining a light on what gives your target market the feels is a different ballgame – but the psychographics are worth the journey as those feels very much matter to your marketing efforts.

Here’s the challenge for my situation. I live in a small valley consisting of two cities, two states, and two rivers. The big daddy research tools don’t cover tiny zip codes, but this little thing called the Census does. Some demographic nuggets . . .

• POPULATION | Approx. 34,000 (slightly smaller than my home of 4 million people)

• RACE | 89.3% White (yikes)

• SEX | 48.9% Male; 51.1% Female

• MEDIAN AGE | 39.8 (with 25-54 accounting for 37%)

• FAMILY STATUS | 40.2% Married; 44.7% Parentals

• MEDIAN INCOME | $56,872

• LARGEST OCCUPATIONS | Educational Services + Health Care and Social Assistance

Just as with any small town, the locals are wary of newcomers, but check this . . . only 51.4% of the population was born here. Oh hi. I’m part of the 49.6% who aren’t actually from here. Boom. Mic drop. This could be an interesting marketing angle at some point, but we’ll pocket that for now.

When looking for the psychographics, I have a good idea on what makes these people tick from a general sense.

I get it. We are one. But, to properly love on this assignment and make my instructor proud, I had to get creative. Instead of focusing on my town or cupcake lovers (because neither were available), I focused on espresso drinkers. Why? Because 71.5% of the non-natives are from western states and we’re all about fancy caffeine. People who love espresso also love treats, so researching espresso drinkers was a roundabout way of researching baked good lovers. They value good ingredients (noted), they prefer to stream their entertainment (intriguing advertising swirling in my head), they’re willing to pay more for quality and environmentally friendly products (also noted), ease is a big thing (allow me to make your life easier – and sweeter) and so is Yelp (light bulb).

Now to morph this into a pretty picture. Check out the next post, buddy!

REFERENCES

- U.S. Census Bureau. (n.d.). Explore Census Data – Lewiston City, Idaho. data.census.gov.

Retrieved November 30, 2022 from https://data.census.gov/all?q=lewiston,+idaho

- Simmons Research, LLC. (2020, March 27). Brand Catalyst: Espresso/Cappuccino - HH Use?: Yes. mrisimmons.com.

Retrieved November 30, 2022, fromhttps://insights-mrisimmons-com.wwcc.idm.oclc.org/catalyst/brandcatalyst