Marketers Still Confused about Multicultural Marketing
Though 84% of marketers agree that multicultural marketing is critical to their business, nearly 40% say they don’t know how much minority groups contribute to their companies’ revenues, according to a Brandiosity study conducted for Heidrick & Struggles, reports AdAge.
Asked what type of agencies they use to reach Hispanics, African-Americans and Asians, 58% of marketers said they use general-market-research firms; 51% cited multicultural agencies; 42% said general-market agencies; and 35% cited multicultural-research firms.
Among the findings cited by AdAge:
- Nearly half of the top 20 challenges that executives cited had to do with convincing management and their peers of the value of multicultural marketing.
- Asked which minority segment was most important to their company, 65% selected Hispanics, 30% said African-Americans, 24% cited Asians.
- Asked whether it “takes a Latino to market to a Latino,” 35% said yes - but 39% disagreed.
- Despite increased efforts in multicultural marketing, its perceived effectiveness in companies remains low. One reason may be systemic - that is, multicultural marketing is not an integral part of the organization - as 44% of executives say companies are not structured to efficiently conduct multicultural marketing.
About the data: More than two-thirds of the 60 survey respondents were chief marketing officers or senior VPs of marketing; 14% were VPs, managers or directors. Respondents represented a variety of industries, including retail, CPG, telecom, financial services, fast food and apparel.
What is the difference between Multicultural Marketing and Market Segmentation and Differentiation? Further, is there also such a thing as a universal Brand? Can a brand have both commonalities and differences by group, at the same time? Sorry for only questions. But, these were the first things that came to mind when I read the article.
If 84% of marketers says that multicultural marketing is important then it is necessary to know how much do minorities contribute to the growth of the company because, if a larger percentage of Hispanics buy a brand then it makes sense to bring that brand where this particular group is highly concentrated. This can bring in more revenue and in the long run it will cost less to retain these customers. When I think of Multicultural Marketing, I think of different ethnic groups or religions but with Market Segmentation, I think of location, age etc. These terms are more similar than different if anything, simply that Segmentation refers more to an era when marketers did not take into account of the non homogenized American culture; now we live in an era where the Hispanics, African Americans, Caribbean and Asian are the makeup of the market therefore the more appropriate term is Multicultural.
We’ve all seen the trends showing that general market is becoming more and more multicultural over time, but marketers are consistently slow to respond to these glaring trends. Those who have responded remain successful. Those who ignore the trend are wasting time, energy and money trying to reach the Hispanic, AA and Asian segments by only using general market messages and general market media channels. While it’s true that general market makes up all races, genders and sexual orientations, not identifying the nuances of specific segments in terms of media consumption habits, media channel relevance and message relevance, marketers are missing the mark.