Charlotte, NC, is one of the fastest growing cities and for good reason. While Charlotte may be the second largest city in the southeast, the small-town feel remains strong. The Queen City offers something for everyone. With state-of-the art performance facilities, museums, and public art murals, there’s so much in Charlotte to see. And with an NFL team, an NBA team, and a massive NASCAR fan base, sports fans are sure to show out for their favorite team. Charlotteans, whether they’re a transplant or not, love their city. When completing a marketing assessment, you must be sure to take into consideration Charlotte’s intricacies. Check out these tips for marketing in Charlotte, NC now!

Understand the Cityscape

Reach Diverse Communities When Marketing in Charlotte, NC

Starting from Uptown and venturing out in all directions, Charlotte comprises 199 neighborhoods. Plaza Midwood is known to house Charlotte’s international population, including Eastern Europeans, Greeks, Hispanics, and Middle-Easterns. It’s eclectic, quirky, and filled with things to do. From restaurants to nightlife to parks, there’s something for everyone. For the Asian American community, North Tyron and Sugar Creek are where many Asian Americans live. The North Davidson neighborhood, also known as NoDa, is the city’s epicenter for arts and entertainment. Each neighborhood provides its own unique demographic and experience for those that live in Charlotte. 

Focus on the rapidly-growing millennial market

Millennials come to Charlotte for the jobs, and stay for the affordability

In a SmartAsses’s study, Charlotte ranked #6 for top cities millennials moved to in 2019. Over 22 thousand millennials moved to Charlotte that year. And this isn’t a new trend either. So why are young people choosing to call Charlotte home?

Millennials are drawn to Charlotte for the great job market. It’s the second largest banking center in the United States, plus the city has many arts and entertainment opportunities. Once Millennials get to Charlotte, they typically stay for not only affordability but also quality of life. The infrastructure of Charlotte is walkable, bikeable, or transit-oriented. The city also invests in parks, food, arts, and entertainment allowing for much to do for their citizens. The millennial population in Charlotte isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. 

Millennials make up a $600 billion spending market. With millennial shoppers, it’s important to understand their shopping behaviors. They’re a fairly socially conscious buyer who would like to pay for an experience rather than a desirable good. 

Don’t forget about the college students

When marketing to Charlotte, NC, be mindful of your student population

The Charlotte metropolitan area encompasses over 30 higher education institutions. Don’t count out college students as consumers. College students as a whole create a $400+ billion market, and they spend their money on more than just college essentials. Just on clothes alone, college students spend about $5 billion per year. Among clothes, students spend their money on restaurants, beauty, electronics, entertainment, and more. They have the spending power, and if you get their attention, they may just spend their money on your brand. 

Localize your ad content when marketing to Charlotte, NC

Talk the Talk of Charlotte, NC Locals

There’s nothing wrong with using your market’s slang—within reason. Where Uptown is actually downtown and the locals essentially refer to the city as its nickname as much as they actually call it its real name, there will be chances for you to relate to the quirkiness of the market. 

Don’t be afraid to use the native language in your ads, social media posts, blog posts, or website content. Going overboard with the slang may not be the best idea, but finding the perfect balance will suit you well if the language works within your branding. 

Complete your Google Business Listing

Reach your local customers with powerful tools from Google

If you haven’t set up your Google Business Listing, do it right now! Your Google Business Listing is a wonderful, free way to be discovered in your market. Having a listing that’s complete and optimized will not only help with SEO but also with ensuring that your business shows when a customer is searching for you or your product. A GBL helps a potential customer decide if they want to use your business. It also provides crucial information like your address, hours, phone number, and reviews. If your GBL isn’t fully filled out, you could be missing out on giving your information to your customers—or even worse, incorrect information.

You can also utilize your GBL to show your customers photos of your products, videos relevant to your business, and any business updates you may have. Questions may be asked through your GBL, and you can provide them with the most accurate information through your listing. The GBL is a tool that you don’t want to go without. 

Reach more people with localized hashtags

Use Charlotte’s most popular hashtags to extend your reach

Hashtags are one of the easiest ways to help your content be discovered by a larger audience. You should be using a combination of industry hashtags and local hashtags. A good place to start for research is looking into your competition. See what hashtags they’re using and consider if using some of them would be relevant for your post. Instagram allows you to use up to 30 hashtags in your post, but you don’t have to use all of them. It’s actually generally encouraged to use less rather than more. Just choose which are the most relevant to your brand and location and stick with those

Here are some of the most popular local hashtags in Charlotte:

• #charlottenc - 2.5 million posts
• #charlotte - 7.6 million posts
• #clt - 2.6 million posts
• #704 - 947K posts
• #queencity - 1.5 million posts

Finding the right hashtags for your posts will come with trial and error. Make sure to measure your analytics to figure out which ones work for you and which ones don’t. 

Understanding your market is vital in any city. Charlotte comes with it’s own quirks that you’ll realize when you dive into the complexities of the market. Need help getting started? Get in touch with Responsival and we can help you come up with a plan to dominate the game of marketing inCharlotte, NC.