Marketing a business in Winston-Salem, NC

The households

The median home is worth $233,300, 30 percent below the national figure, which shapes what homeowners will spend on repairs and upgrades. Money first: median household income in the Winston-Salem metro is $65,975, 18 percent below the national figure.

Owner-occupied housing 69.2%, 4 points above the US share, which is the figure home-service advertisers should watch. Unemployment 4.7%, about the same as the US share. 30.8% of adults over 25 hold a bachelor's degree or higher, 5 points below the US share. The median resident is 40.7 years old, 1.8 years above the national median.

Compared with North Carolina: income is 9 percent lower than the North Carolina figure, home values are 19 percent lower than the North Carolina figure, and business density is 14 percent thinner than the North Carolina figure.

The local business base

The business base: 14,336 establishments with employees. That works out to 20.8 businesses per 1,000 residents, 17 percent below the national figure (the national rate is 25 per 1,000). The home-services slice is 893 establishments, 6.2% of the base, 1 points above 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.

Crowded categories in Winston-Salem, NC: landscaping services, automobile dealers, general automotive repair and plumbing and HVAC contractors. Landscaping services lead at 320 establishments, 1.6 times the US share. Fewer than the national pattern would suggest: physicians' offices, personal care services, legal services and dentists. Physicians' offices show the largest gap, 237 locations, about 63% of what the national mix would give. In line with the country: concrete contractors, road and paving contractors and restaurants.

Per 100,000 residents: restaurants 161.1, followed by landscaping services and plumbing and HVAC contractors. The most numerous of the listed trades: restaurants with 1,111 establishments, then landscaping services (320) and plumbing and HVAC contractors (252). Sector view: automotive businesses index at 1.4 times the national share, medical and dental practices at about 68% of.

How to advertise in Winston-Salem, NC

In the crowded trades (landscaping services, automobile dealers and general automotive repair) 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 physicians' offices, personal care services and legal services, 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. An older-than-average market (median age 1.8 years above the national median) responds to search results, review counts and a phone number that is answered; it is less swayed by feed advertising. Homeownership of 69.2% is above the national share; more of the households that search for home services are also the ones that decide and pay. With household income 18 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.