During the US presidential election of 2016, many brands and marketers realized that there is a problem in understanding and marketing to a massive swath of the US population – namely those who live in the Heartland. So, Fluent LLC. conducted a conducted a national survey of 1,800 Americans with the purpose of recognizing this demographic.

Discover the main insights that help marketers better understand and reach the US demographic with more relevant messaging:

• Coastal consumers are 31% more likely to consider education more important than Heartland consumers who are 12% more likely to consider family more important.
• Coastal consumers are 19% more likely to be single, while Heartland consumers are 24% more likely to be married.
• Heartland consumers indicated that saving money is 23% more important than education.
• 29% of Americans say they want to see ads from brands that provide them with information on how they can save money.
• Colleagues (+33%), friends (+30%), TV (+29%), family (+23%) and social media (+18%) are the main sources that Heartland consumers are more likely to learn about new brands and products.
• Americans living in the Heartland are more likely (53% vs. 48%) to shop with brands that share, or exemplify, their core values than coastal Americans.
• 46% of Heartland Americans say they rarely or never see ads that appeal to their core values.
• 65% of Americans said that they look for the cheapest price all, or most of, the time and 54% purchase items on sale at all, or most of, the time.

A Graph Shows the Most Important Things to American Consumers 2017 Fluent

Methodology:

The Heartland region is comprised of 26 states in the Southwest, Midwest and parts of the Southeast (AL, AR, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MI, MN, MO, MS, NC, ND, NE, OH, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, WI, WV) and is based on a definition designed by the New Heartland Group.

The study was conducted online within the United States on March 20, 2017 among 1,865 US consumers (aged 18 and up). Respondents were randomly selected, and the findings are statistically significant at a 95% confidence level.