Advertising services across Tennessee

The market's people

Statewide numbers first; the 10 metro pages linked below carry the same breakdown for each market. The biggest of them, Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN, holds 2.08 million residents.

Home values tell their own story; here the median is $286,700, 14 percent below the national figure. Income in Tennessee: a median of $69,595 per household against $80,734 nationally, so 14 percent below the national figure. For a business that sells to homeowners, that combination sets the ceiling on what a job is worth.

The household mix in brief. Age first: the median is 38.9, about the same as the national median. Bachelor's degree or higher: 31.1% of adults, 5 points below the US share. The civilian labor force numbers 3,527,571 people with unemployment at 4.7%, about the same as the US share. Homeownership is 66.9% here, 2 points above the US share; that is the pool of people who hire roofers, plumbers and landscapers rather than calling a landlord.

Set against its largest metro (Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro--Franklin, TN), household income here is 19 percent lower than the Nashville metro figure, the median home value is 30 percent lower than the Nashville metro figure, and the business base per resident is 13 percent thinner than the Nashville metro figure.

The local business base

150,129 businesses with employees operate in Tennessee. Relative to population, 21.2 per 1,000 residents, 15 percent below the national figure. Home-services trades account for 6,668 of them (4.4% of all establishments, about the same as the US share).

Ratio above 1.00: the trade holds a bigger share of the local business base than it does nationally; below 1.00, a smaller one.

Against the US mix, automobile dealers and self-storage operators are over-represented. Automobile dealers are the widest gap, 1,155 of them, 1.4 times the national share. On the other side, beauty salons, personal care services, specialty trade contractors and legal services are thin: fewer establishments per resident than the US pattern. Beauty salons show the largest gap, 1,062 locations, about 70% of what the national mix would give. In line with the country: plumbing and HVAC contractors, roofing contractors and electrical contractors.

The most numerous of the listed trades: restaurants with 12,351 establishments, then physicians' offices (4,471) and real estate lessors (2,625). Relative to population the leaders are restaurants (174.8 per 100,000 residents), physicians' offices and real estate lessors. By sector, automotive businesses are the most over-represented at about the same as the US share; legal services are the least, at about 80% of.

What this means for advertising here

In the crowded trades (automobile dealers and self-storage operators) the map pack decides more calls than the ads do. Business Profile completeness, review volume and review recency become the separating factors, and paid search has to be tight rather than broad. In beauty salons, personal care services and specialty trade contractors, the shortage of local establishments is an opening: the searches are there, the competition for them is not, and a listing that ranks plus a page that converts can own the category quickly. Incomes 14 percent below the national figure mean value and clarity carry the message; offers should be plain and the path to a call short. An older-than-average market (median age about the same as the national median) responds to search results, review counts and a phone number that is answered; it is less swayed by feed advertising.