Linguistic Analysis of Car Owners in Iowa. Does it matter?

Linguistic Analysis and car and truck ownership indicate traits are diverse by brand, model and location. Traits of people drive the reason to buy but where traits are located varies. For example, farming is a job to be done that influences the brand of vehicle we buy. I can’t use a Kia Soul to help me solve my farming jobs. The diversity of different brands offer customers different solutions to their ‘jobs to be done’.

We looked at common brands only, accessible to many without distribution barriers. Keep in mind, we looked at new and used cars and trucks over a 10 year period.

The above is Honda ownership density by county. The darker counties represent a more likely chance you’re going to see a Honda going down the road then not.

Chevrolet ownership density indicates a somewhat different story.

Buick is yet another density map.

Each brand has associated with it different traits and reasons why people decided on that brand. But what does it mean own different brands? Our research indicates that traits of people differ by brand and model. This particular post does not talk about data at the model level. We may examine one brand and various models in a later post.

Overall, the top 10 brands sold in Iowa that have high trait density (> 1.75 times the US average) for the above brands. If you were trying to sell a Chevrolet in Iowa, You’re messaging should be motion, feeling, leisure and biological oriented.

If you’re trying to sell a Toyota in Iowa you would prioritize different traits as indicated above.

What does it mean to prioritize traits?

It means focusing on different verbal usage, different creative and messaging that helps people realize that this brand solves a particular job to be done. It also means different media types and placements, not based on CPM but based on clear connections to the audience. Social media and optimistic topics can’t hurt when selling a Toyota in Iowa.

There are many different car manufacturers for a reason and likewise there’re many different models for the same reason. People have complex jobs to be done and one make and model does not solve them all. Whether it’s by purpose or by a haphazard strategy, manufacturers have found different needs and people.

Marketers such as Netflix, Amazon and a host of others realize this possibility and apply sophisticated capabilities and algorithms when understanding people.

Using a sophisticated technology, you can see data and people in a different way, based on a foundation of revenue and profit potential.