Power of a Zip Code

In my current retailing course, we discussed how marketing tactics should vary depending on your selling area’s psychographics. We learned how to use ESRI's Zip lookup, which is a tapestry tool that segments populations based on zip codes. You simply type in a zip code and the top three segments of that area will appear on the screen.

If you type in Ada’s zip code, you probably wouldn’t be surprised to find Salt of the Earth as a top segment, and College Towns was in third. Go ahead and type in your hometown, it is fun to see if the results are what you expected.

This tool is extremely beneficial for marketers to understand demographics, and it is completely free. It gives information on income, age, family size, interests and family life cycle. All of these elements are beneficial in choosing who and how to target your products or services. Not to mention, the tool is kind of fun.