What You Need to Know About Tampa Consumers

The beauty, beaches, and diversity of Tampa Bay is calling people in – and not for retirement. The population is changing rapidly and it’s time to make sure your marketing strategy isn’t falling behind.

The Millennials Are Staking Their Claim
Ah, the millennials. They’re looking for a place to call home, one that has a mixture of fun and opportunity. And they’re realizing that Tampa fits the bill. Since 2010, the percentage of the population made up of 18-34 year olds has jumped by 7% to 24% of the population.

The opinionated, hard-working, and ready-to-spend millennials grew up in a world of technology at their fingertips. And you need to market to them where they’re at: social media. They’re constantly looking for inspirational posts to read, great restaurants to eat in, and great products to purchase – and it’s common for them to find all of those things through their social network.

They share recommendations, ask for advice, and seek out new experiences across the social media platforms. If you don’t have a presence on social media, you’re not giving them the opportunity to easily share what you have to offer – even if they wanted to.

Open a Facebook page for your business and start conversations with the millennials there. Offer them incentives to visit your location or buy from you. Keep them engaged and thinking about you with daily posts that resonate with them. Do the same with Twitter, Instagram, and other platforms (like LinkedIn for the more business-oriented youth).

If you’re uncomfortable setting up and maintaining a social media presence for your business, hire an organization to do it for you. It will be worth the investment.

Oh, the Diversity!
Tampa is becoming more of a cultural hub than ever before, fueled by the continued growth of the Hispanic community. The steady rise of the Hispanic population can be easily seen at Tampa Bay Boulevard Elementary School. There, the student population is 78% Hispanic, as reported by the Tampa Bay Times.

The article provides even more data regarding the youngest segments of the Tampa population: over the last 10 years, the Hillsborough district shifted from 25% to 35% Hispanic enrollment, the Pinellas district from 7% to 15%, and the Pasco district from 10% to 21%.

This means that the growth in the Hispanic population of Tampa is only going to continue as these students get older.

The best thing you can do when marketing to Tampa consumers is familiarize yourself with the various Hispanic cultures. Learn why they will need your product or service and find out how to touch their emotions. It goes far beyond advertising in Spanish. You need to get to know them in the same way you’d get to know any segment of your target market.

There Are More Workers with More Money
One of the reasons the millennials are arriving in Tampa is because the job market is booming. In this data, you can see that three neighborhoods (the Channelside District, South Tampa, and Brandon) have median ages of 31-35 with medium household incomes between $46,000 and $61,000.

Depending on what neighborhood(s) your ideal clients live in, you’ll want to market differently to them. You should go visit the neighborhoods and even organize a free event there, just to get to know some of your potential clients in person. Use the time to find out as much about their lives as you can.

Well, now you know a lot more about Tampa Bay consumers and have all the ammunition you need to tailor your marketing strategy to your ideal customers. Use this data wisely and plan for the continued growth of the millennial and Hispanic populations, while also getting to know where they live. If you take the time to do that, you’ll be way ahead in the game.