The main goal of any promotional material is to deliver the message to its target market. However, in order for this material to be successful, your audience needs to understand and feel connected to it – and that’s where multicultural marketing comes along. So, what is multicultural marketing, and how can your business benefit from it? In this post, we will help you understand more about diversity marketing and present you with examples of multicultural marketing done right (and wrong).
What Is Multicultural Marketing? Defining the Concept
Multicultural, also known as inclusive, ethnic, and diversity marketing, is a marketing strategy that considers and implements the different cultural and ethnic backgrounds of a target audience. It takes into account the tradition, religion, language, and many other factors of the diverse customer base and uses it to create promotional material that will attract customers to a specific product or brand.
The multicultural population makes up a big part of America’s demographic. It’s the reason why many businesses decide to change their marketing strategies and utilize multicultural marketing campings in which they target diverse groups. The reasoning is simple – minority consumers are more likely to support and buy from a brand that understands and embraces their culture. By not investing in diversity marketing and failing to connect with its target market, a company risks losing many potential buyers.
Why Is Diversity Marketing Important?
The old-fashioned generalized approach to marketing campaigns does not acknowledge diversity and has proven to be less effective. Many businesses and companies have figured out that they can’t count on one message to fit all groups, which is why they started to develop marketing strategies and branding for multicultural audiences.
Why Is the Multicultural Approach So Important?
There is a great opportunity that has not been fully explored when it comes to diversity advertising. More than before, marketers, brands, and companies have the chance to build connections with multicultural audiences and make them feel seen and heard.
As we mentioned earlier, the US population is changing rapidly. Companies need to acknowledge the evolution of consumers and adapt their marketing efforts over time. It takes research, resources, time, and intentional commitment in order to understand culturally different audiences. By having an understanding, you can create unique relationships between your brand and your multicultural consumer.
Be Mindful of Your Strategy Development
In order to maximize your inclusive advertising efforts, build your brand on trust, and connect with your target audiences in a more personalized way, you should follow these tips:
- Use technology in the best possible way because it’s always a good approach when it comes to younger consumers.
- Don’t make assumptions, but instead – do your research the right way. The best way to do this is to have someone on the team that comes from a similar background as your intended audience.
- Build empowering messages by clearly defining your goals, and communicating them with your consumers.
- Commit to this type of strategy without refrain.
In the following video, you can see how Proctor & Gamble have embedded their strong message of “let’s talk about the look so we can go beyond it.”
What is a Multicultural Marketing Audience?
According to the US Census Bureau, multicultural consumers are defined as being composed of several different race categories – African-American, Black, American Indian, Pacific Islander, other, and two or more races. Hispanics of any race are also considered multicultural consumers, defined by the US Census Bureau as an ethnicity, not a race.
In other words, a multicultural audience is everyone who does not identify themselves as non-Hispanic white American or is either from a foreign country or has immigrants parents or grandparents. To engage a multi-ethnic consumer, your marketing strategy must genuinely understand your consumer’s cultural background, wants, and needs. The best path will always be the one where your brand builds empathy with your customers instead of directly pushing a product or service.
Understanding Minority Consumers
Many organizations lack the understanding that minority and multicultural consumers want to receive messages that reflect their culture. And by understanding, you have a better chance of gaining trust from minority audiences. According to the University of Pennsylvania, it’s simple to grasp what exactly are multicultural or minority consumers. Any buyer with more than one ethnic or cultural ethnic origin or association is considered a multicultural consumer. An Asian American buyer may concurrently identify as both Asian and American, and as a result, may enjoy brands that target both demographics.
How (Not) to Use Diversity Marketing?
If used the wrong way, diversity marketing can have the opposite effect from what you wish to achieve. When the cultural background of a target market is not researched to the fullest and appropriately implemented, the content that should have shown inclusion and diversity may become offensive to the demographic you want to engage. To make a clear distinction between great multicultural marketing campaigns and those that aren’t so, take a look at some of the examples below.
#America Is Beautiful Campaign
One of the great examples of well-implemented diversity marketing can be found in Coca-Cola’s #AmericaIsBeautiful commercial. While you are visually presented with different regions of the USA, you can hear the song “America Is Beautiful” sung in multiple languages and see many different culturally diverse groups of people. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the ad received truly positive feedback.
The Fenty Beauty
With the launching of her brand Fenty back in 2017, Rihanna has shown what authentic diversity marketing should look like. She has not only stated the importance of every woman feeling included in the brand but created a marketing campaign that proves it. Fenty Beauty’s campaign promotes cosmetics that provide much more diverse options for women of color, which is accentuated by an ad that features many models that belong to different ethnic groups.
Dove Real Beauty
Dove has made many successful multicultural marketing campaigns in the past. However, there is one ad in which content has been deemed racially insensitive. The ad presents three women of different ethnicities removing shirts and revealing the next model. This way, the African American turns into a white woman, which leads to a subliminal message that darker-skinned women are not good or beautiful enough or that there is a white woman beneath every African American girl. The negative effect of this campaign was so significant that many people called for a boycott of Dove’s products.
What Is Necessary for a Successful Multicultural Marketing Campaign?
The goal of every promotional material is to engage customers in your product and brand, and you are bound to be more successful in it by properly implementing diversity in your campaign. Here are some tips on how to do it right:
- Do your research – to avoid multicultural marketing fails, you must be well aware of your consumers’ cultural backgrounds and understand the multicultural consumer mindset. Consider creating a marketing team of experts that come from your target audience community since they are less likely to miss the mark.
- Personalize the message – promotional material that supports cultural appropriation or stereotyping can hurt your brand by offending your target audience. On the other hand, if you wish to speak effectively to a multicultural audience, note that using language, words, and images close to your target consumers could make more people interested in what you offer – as long as you’re not overly aggressive.
- Be authentic – if your campaign doesn’t represent your true values and your multicultural marketing has an ulterior motive, you won’t be able to see the desired success of your marketing efforts.
Trust the Experts in the Multicultural Marketing Field
Good marketing has a crucial role in making your business successful. Through promotional materials that resonate, marketing teams are able to achieve business recognition and raise the interest of your target audience. However, when you want to maximize your messaging to an audience that comes from different cultural backgrounds, you can’t do it without implementing diversity marketing strategies.
Employ Phu Concepts as Your Rochester Marketing Team
Do not wait until it is too late. If your company does not have the knowledge and expertise to develop a top-notch marketing campaign targeting your multicultural audience, you can always count on a multicultural marketing agency that is equipped with a variety of marketing professionals specialized in your target market.
As one of the best Rochester marketing agencies, PHU Concepts is here to help you build successful multicultural marketing projects. If you’re looking for professionals to help you with digital marketing in Rochester and beyond who are capable of bringing your project to life, feel free to get in touch with our multicultural marketing agency. We will be happy to schedule your free consultation.
