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Consumers are on the move. Maybe they are moving to your locale—are you ready to welcome the newest additions to your area?

In honor of National Moving Month, we will provide a brief overview of the moving landscape. We also share 3 ways you can welcome your new neighbors (and hopefully convert them into your new customers).

The Moving Landscape

The United States is one of the most geographically mobile countries in the world—the average person in the U.S. moves 11.7 times in his or her lifetime. Nearly 1 in 4 people (24% of U.S. adults)  have moved within the past 5 years. About 35.5 million Americans move each year, which is about 11% of the U.S. population.

Why is the U.S population so mobile? The top 12 reasons include:

• 16% Relocate to new/better home

• 12% Establish own household

• 11% Other family reasons

• 10% New job/transfer

• 8% Cheaper housing

• 8% Other housing reason

• 7% Own instead of rent

• 6% Closer to work/easier commute

• 5% Change in marital status

• 5% Unspecified reasons

• 3% Attend/Leave college

• 3% Neighborhood with less crime

Now that we’ve covered the general moving stats, let’s examine how many people are planning to move in 2019. A total of 13% of U.S. consumers plan to buy a home in 2019, according to the most recent National Association of Home Builders Housing Trends Report.

Of the approximately 42.5 million people planning to buy a home this year, 53% are first-time buyers.  Most of these first-time buyers (77%) are Millennials.

Further, most of the prospective buyers are not just planning to buy a home but are actively searching for a home to buy in the next 12 months.

Where are people moving? The top 10 states people move to are:

1) Idaho

2) Nevada

3) Arizona

4) Oregon

5) Montana

6) South Dakota

7) North Carolina

8) Vermont

9) Florida

10) Colorado

So, how can businesses welcome their neighborhood newcomers?

#1: New Neighbor Direct Mail Campaign

People who move need a lot of stuff—groceries, furniture that best accommodates their new space, hardware/tools to personalize and settle into the space, etc.

Send new residents a postcard with coupons or an offer for a free housewarming gift. Remember, your new neighbors are not only new to their home but also new to the neighborhood. Galvanize them to make your business their new favorite store.

An effective New Neighbor Direct Mail Program targets new residents within a certain mile radius of your store, sends them the offer and makes it easy to track redemption rates.

Why direct mail? It’s a way to stand out. The average office worker receives 121 emails daily. The average online consumer sees 63 display ads per day while the average person gets 2 pieces of mail a day.

#2 Targeted Ads on Social Media

As we mentioned in item #1, people who move need things. Social media is another great channel to send your new neighbors offers for their essentials—about  77% of the U.S. population has a social media profile. Facebook, YouTube and Instagram are the top 3 most-used social media sites in the U.S.

Once you have your offer in mind, you can target Facebook and Instagram ads to the life event “recently moved.” (Instagram uses the same advertising features as Facebook.)

We suggest hiring professionals to design and execute your social media advertising to ensure your ads have maximum impact.

#3: Optimize Website with Local SEO in mind

Newcomers to the neighborhood need to be able to find your business in order to cash in the sweet coupon or freebie you’ve offered them via direct mail and/or social media. There are two important ways to optimize your website to make it easier for people to find your website and your business.

The first optimization method to tackle is addressing the content on your website. Information to reconsider with a neighborhood newbie in mind includes:

• Easy-to-find name/address/phone number

• Store hours

• Directions (include how to find you if in a plaza/shopping center/etc.)

• Parking information

• Reviews/Testimonials

The second optimization method to manage is local business listings on other websites. Is your information correct on Google? (If not, Google My Business is free and allows you to update your business information.) Can you get your business includes on other websites that will help customers find you, such as on the local chamber of commerce website, visitor information sites, etc.?

You can track how many new vs. returning Internet users visit your website in Google Analytics. (Here’s a guide on how to get started with Google Analytics if you don’t have it set up.) Monitor your new vs. returning visitors to see if your efforts to optimize your website for new locals (visitors) are working!

We recommend hiring professions to help you manage your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) marketing.