Angels Camp Jumps On Visitors’ Spending Data

Angels Camp. CA – As the Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee comes to Angels Camp this week, the city has already gotten a jump on and is now digesting spending data of nearby visitors and tourists, thanks to a recently presented study.

The city’s marketing partner, Buxton, made its interim final report at a special public workshop, held last week during the city council meeting.

Destination Angels Camp President Anne Forrest shares her key take-away thoughts, so far. Marketing-wise, she states, “We learned we could target specific households that meet the demographics of the visitors groups by latching onto mailings…the kinds of tourists and visitors we would like to attract to Angels Camp…which magazines, radio, TV, other media that people use the most — and pay the most attention to. Also, what types of messages would be most appropriate to them if we were to do a targeted mailing.”

As for nearby visitor business, Forrest says, “We found that 80 — almost 90 percent of the sales that are coming into Angels Camp from people in the area are coming from Murphys and Copperopolis, which makes our neighbors very valuable to us in terms of retail and restaurant sales.” Near visitors are those that reside within 25 minutes of Angels Camp.

As one result of the study, Forrest points out, “We really will be able to help [businesses] look at what people are buying who live in Angels Camp, versus people who live in the area, versus what tourists are buying, and help people better target their retail offerings to their customers.”

Among Buxton’s objectives are to educate community leaders on how to understand and leverage consumer the profiles it has generated of residents and visitors, which will help hone in on specific retailers and restaurants that are seeking customers with complementary purchasing habits. Through data mining efforts, the city is getting details on its visitor types; overnight, day-trippers and nearby residents, and their impacts on the local economy. Using this and other analysis, the city will ostensibly be able to design direct marketing campaigns that target its best potential tourists at the household level.

According to the report findings, Angels Camp’s overall spending visitor profile summary indicates roughly two-thirds are age 45-plus; three-quarters are homeowners with an income level of $50,000-plus. About 45 percent are college educated. Interestingly, almost 80 percent are married – and more than 60 percent are visiting without a child present. Roughly three-quarters of the overall visitors are accustomed to making online purchases and own high-tech devices. Two-thirds of them are responsive to mail communications.

Unsurprisingly, almost half of the overall visitors spend at restaurants, the largest spending category. The second largest was sporting-related purchases, which came in at just over 20 percent.

Buxton also provided prospective visitor demographics and additionally dove into prospective business demographics. The report outlined plans to produce a marketing mailing list and packages for targeting potential retailers. The latter will assist the city’s outreach efforts to attract small area businesses that might potentially be a good fit for Angels Camp as well as franchises and national chains, says Forrest.

She notes that related data will be available on the Destination Angels Camp and city websites in the coming months.