Multicultural Marketing

Expand your customer base by reaching out to diverse, growing markets
By Judy Artunian, Freelance Writer If you only think about the "usual places" where you market your products or services, you may be missing a massive segment of the population that may want what you sell. The African-American, Hispanic and Asian-American markets combined represent a $1 trillion market. Members of these and other minority communities often feel overlooked by marketers. To win them over, you need a savvy marketing strategy. The keys to tapping into the multicultural market include:

1. Understand the culture of the groups you want to reach.
2. Pay attention to the nuances that distinguish one market from another. One size does not fit all.
3. Show them how you can meet their specific needs.

 

Become immersed in the markets

To get a handle on your target market segments, start with the basics.
Try: The U.S. Census Bureau's Quick Facts provides statistics on the ethnic breakdown and other characteristics of each state's population. Multicultural Marketing Resources, a public relations and marketing firm, offers such resources as a multicultural knowledge center and a multicultural calendar of events. At Diversity Central, you get a cornucopia of news and data related to multicultural issues.

Get a read on multicultural media

Promote your business in culture-specific media outlets.
Try: New America Media publishes the National Directory of Ethnic Media annually. The directory, available either online or in hardcopy, includes more than 1,800 ethnic media organizations. 

Translate with care

Unless you have access to someone who is fluent in the languages of your target markets, hire a professional to translate your press releases, ads and other marketing material.
Try: viaLanguage offers translation services in 50 languages.

Consider hiring a consultant

Specialists in multicultural marketing can help you make quick work of developing and implementing your marketing strategy.
Try: Check out the American Marketing Association's Marketing Services Directory to find the experts you need.

• Check with a translator before running the same promotion in multiple markets. A flattering or humorous sentence in one language can be an insulting sentence in another.
• You can enhance your credibility with a minority community that you have never served, by sponsoring a fundraising event in that community.
• Trying to reach third- and fourth-generation Americans? They often relate better to campaigns that are targeted to mainstream Americans. In fact, they may not even speak their nationality's native language.
• If you want to draw ethnic groups throughout the world to your website, remember that a large percentage of Internet users outside of the United States still have dial-up connections. That means a graphics-rich web page will load slowly, and in the process may try the patience of some global customers.