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Most Black Women Say Marketers Don't Understand Them

An overwhelming majority (86%) of African-American women say that advertisers need to do a better job of understanding and marketing to them, according a Lattimer Communications study.

The study, “A Profile of Today’s Black Woman” revealed frustrations among Black women with the way many types of companies communicate with them. The companies that need the most improvement, the research found,  are those in the automotive, banking/financial, travel, healthcare/pharmaceutical, and fast food industries.

Information gathered from the survey helped Lattimer Communications develop six psychographic profiles of African-American women that it says can help marketers better target marketing campaigns to specific groups of Black women.

The six psychographic profiles of Black women:

• Achievers: At 23%, they make up the largest percentage of Black women and are characterized as confident, capable caretakers.
• Cynics: Described as skeptical, complacent, internalizers, they comprise 21% of US Black women.
• Traditionals: Spiritual, frugal and respectful, Traditionals account for 20%.
• Tag-A-Longs: At 15%, these women are insecure, risk averse and followers.
• Self-Sufficients: Independent, ‘wired’ women who love to shop, this group accounts for 14%.
• Fledglings: Young Black women who are just starting out, are baggage-free and job-focused make up 7%.

“We felt that we needed to give a voice to African-American women who have so often been silenced and misrepresented due to stereotyping and deemed one-dimensional,” said Sarah Lattimer, president of Lattimer Communications. “Inspired by First Lady Michelle Obama and the fact that there are so many other Black women like her whose stories often go untold, we wanted to provide research that would identify profiles of African-American women.”

About the study: The national study was developed and fielded in collaboration with The Bantam Group. It is the first of its kind to examine attitudes and consumer behaviors for African-American women with the hopes of developing psychographic profiles.