Marketing a business in Myrtle Beach, SC

The households

The metropolitan statistical area covers Myrtle Beach, Conway and North Myrtle Beach.

Homes are valued at a median of $287,700 against $332,700 nationally, 14 percent below the national figure. The median household in Myrtle Beach, SC earns $66,880 a year, 17 percent below the national figure (the US median is $80,734). Read together, they frame the buying power of the market.

Three quick reads on the people of Myrtle Beach, SC. Myrtle Beach, SC has a median age of 48.7 (9.8 years above the national median). Bachelor's degree or higher: 27.1% of adults, 9 points below the US share. 77.3% of homes are lived in by their owners, 12 points above the US share. The civilian labor force numbers 173,843 people with unemployment at 4.9%, about the same as the US share.

Relative to South Carolina, household income in Myrtle Beach, SC is 4 percent lower than the South Carolina figure, home values are 11 percent higher than the South Carolina figure, and businesses per 1,000 residents are 19 percent denser than the South Carolina figure.

Competition, counted

Start with the count: 10,550 establishments with payroll. That is 27.5 establishments per 1,000 people, 10 percent above the national figure. The home-services trades that most often advertise locally number 665 establishments, a 6.3% share, 2 points above the US share.

Reading the index: 1.00 matches the national mix, 1.50 means half again as common here, 0.50 half as common.

Where competition is thickest: specialty trade contractors, road and paving contractors, self-storage operators and restaurants all hold a larger share of the local base than they do nationally. Specialty trade contractors lead at 175 establishments, 3.2 times the US share. Where the base is lighter: general freight trucking, child day care services, dentists and general automotive repair. General freight trucking show the largest gap, 70 locations, about half of what the national mix would give. Plumbing and HVAC contractors, automobile dealers and physicians' offices sit near their national proportions.

Three categories dominate by count: restaurants at 1,100, physicians' offices at 283 and legal services at 216. On a per-capita basis restaurants come first at 287.2 per 100,000, ahead of physicians' offices and legal services. The group picture: the home-services trades above the national pattern at 1.3 times, automotive businesses below it at about 82% of.

Implications for a local business

specialty trade contractors, road and paving contractors and self-storage operators face a full field here. Each new review, each answered call and each page that matches a specific search is a small edge, and the edges add up. For general freight trucking, child day care services and dentists, the opportunity is coverage. Few competitors means the business that shows up for every nearby town and every variant of the search collects most of it. With 77.3% of homes owner-occupied, the people searching for a plumber or a roofer here are usually the ones paying the bill, which shortens the sales cycle. With household income 17 percent below the national figure, price transparency and financing matter more in the ad copy, and a phone call is usually the conversion to optimize for. With a median age 9.8 years above the national median, the classic path of search, reviews and a phone call still carries most of the business.