“Summertime” means more than the end of the traditional school year, vacations and July 4th festivities. Just ask any realtor or leasing agent, early summer is the prime relocation period for many families.
US Census Bureau data estimates that 1 in 10 people move each year. Even in markets with limited population growth, there are many new families relocating each month.
Relocations occur to accommodate new employment opportunities. Young families move to bigger houses or to their preferred school districts. There are countless reasons why people relocate. And people move each and every month of the year. Having said this, there are simply more relocations in the summer months than in the winter months.
The traditional “summer break” school calendar is one of the driving forces around the heightened relocation activity from April to August. People wait until early May for the final school bell to ring and want to be nested into their new residence before the start of school in September. This all makes sense. Families don’t want to unnecessarily uproot kids in the middle of the school year if possible.
For marketers who understand the value of new mover campaigns, there is no better time to be communicating with this valuable target audience than the summer months. The more families that recently relocated into a brand’s geography, the more opportunity that brand has to engage new movers. The time to actively implement a new mover campaign is the summer.
The first step to understanding the relocation patterns in any geography is to find a partner that can provide you zip code-specific monthly new mover estimates. In other words, develop a list of zip codes that comprise your primary service area and ask for new mover counts by month. Marketers can then see that while there are a high number of families relocating every month, there is an increase in relocations from the April-to-August time period.
Next, select a marketing partner that is dedicated to Evidence Based Marketing. Testing is the absolute most important indicator of ongoing success in new mover marketing campaigns. You must have a marketing partner that is A/B Split Testing each component of their direct mail and digital new mover marketing campaigns. The market can and will teach brands how best to engage new movers when a testing component is present in their ongoing campaigns.
Finally, understand that not all new movers are created equal. The “best” new movers are those families that have relocated from “a far enough distance away” that they will be forced to make new healthcare, banking and retail decisions. For example, if a family relocates more than 50 miles from their previous address, they will most likely be forced to find a new primary care physician, urgent care, bank and grocery store. Marketers will be surprised by the high number of families that relocate from more than 50 miles away each month.
As a marketer, the next time you hear the word “summertime,” think “opportunity.” April to August is the most active time period for relocations in America.
The original version of this page was published at: https://cmpkc.com/Blog/busiest_months_for_relocation
Creative Marketing Programs of Kansas City (CMPkc) is a full-service marketing firm specializing in digital marketing, database and CRM solutions for healthcare, retail and other consumer and B2B s... Read more
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