A MultiCultClassics visitor pointed to “Essential Lessons About Targeting Multicultural Audiences With Your Advertising Dollars”—the latest wonky wisdom from the Forbes Agency Council.
Uno, the content is actually focused on reaching Latino-American audiences. Dos, it’s hard to tell if any of the Forbes Agency Council members delivering advice are Latinos/Latinas. Tres, the article appears to be a not-too-thinly-veiled promotion for the ANA. Cuatro, the lessons are common-knowledge clichés—and ironically, the final lesson cautions to avoid clichés.
The biggest indicator that the Forbes Agency Council is a sham can be ascertained via the opening paragraph:
Latino Americans have until recently been unserved? Really? Latino advertising agencies in the U.S. have been around for well over 40 years. Granted, the multicultural firms are treated like second-class citizens in adland, forced to work for crumbs. Plus, as the Latino-American audience has grown, White advertising agencies have seized the assignments without bothering to diversify staffs to properly and professionally service the targeted needs. Thank goodness the Forbes Agency Council—along with the ANA—can play the heroic roles of the Cisco Kid and Pancho to save the day.With Hispanics comprising nearly 18% of the U.S. population and growing, according to an Ad Age report, targeting this market segment can be beneficial to your business. Not only is your business reaching an increasing audience that makes up nearly half the country’s annual population growth according to Ad Age, but you may be setting your business up to increase its revenue with a population that until recently has been unserved.
Essential Lessons About Targeting Multicultural Audiences With Your Advertising Dollars
By Forbes Agency Council
With Hispanics comprising nearly 18% of the U.S. population and growing, according to an Ad Age report, targeting this market segment can be beneficial to your business. Not only is your business reaching an increasing audience that makes up nearly half the country’s annual population growth according to Ad Age, but you may be setting your business up to increase its revenue with a population that until recently has been unserved.
Many companies, such as Procter & Gamble and AT&T, are directing their advertising dollars toward Hispanics and are coming together under the Association of National Advertisers to determine the best way to target these multicultural customers.
Seven members of Forbes Agency Council detail the lessons that can be learned from the success of agencies under the Association of National Advertisers to effectively target multicultural populations with their products and services.
1. Give And Take
The first thing you have to do is figure out who you want to reach. Narrow it down to the demographic that you want to target and win them with interesting content. Giving them the content they want will get them in the door, and you can market to them later. — Anthony Katz, INexxus
2. Embrace Diversity And Inclusion
Marketers are finding powerful opportunity in embracing diversity and inclusion in the marketing mix. Consumers, particularly younger citizens, are looking for brands and organizations that are in touch with the changing face of America and its place in a diverse world. The sooner brands embrace this movement, the better off they will be for attracting and retaining employees and consumers. — Daryl McCullough, Citizen Relations
3. Offer Quality Mobile Experiences
According to Facebook, this audience is highly active on mobile. Roughly 95% of Hispanic users are on mobile and 47% are exclusively on mobile. The most effective way for brands to reach this audience is by creating high-quality mobile experiences from the initial advertising touchpoint, to the point of purchase. — Steve Dinelli, Blackbird Garage
4. Remember Family Comes First
The Hispanic consumer in the U.S. is first and foremost a family member. They are a part of a tightly knit nuclear family. They proudly belong to a large extended family. They are family first. Advertisers need to learn that family first is what brings this growing population to their brands and when that Hispanic consumer is treated like family by your brand, you’ve hit marketing gold. — Katina Kenyon, Applaudo Studios
5. Embrace Culture Correctly
With being a 30% Hispanic-owned agency, we take this market seriously in most facets of our digital marketing. Imagery and inclusion are very important, along with life event details such as addressing the Quinceañera as a major event with our fashion and styles clients, or even making sure we do not misuse symbols, such as sacred Dia de Muertos images not being used for irrelevant creative assets. — Loren Baker, Foundation Digital
6. Focus Research On Driving Key Insights
As marketers and creatives, we tend to default to what we know when it comes to developing campaigns for our brands. It can be difficult to embody and target a different culture unless you have the appropriate information that drives your key insights. Being a part of the Association of National Advertisers can help provide resources and information that would take countless hours to achieve on your own. — Chris Carter, Rep Interactive
7. Make Sure You Avoid Clichés
The spirit of different cultural legacies and voices amongst those cultures can be respected and given a platform without resorting to clichés. Integrating the voices themselves is the No. 1 most effective way to do this, as with any attempt to tell the story of another culture, it can come off hollow and stale if not done right. — Tim Brown, Tim B Design
It's usual in the multicultural markets for experts to obscure their origins. They presume that no one will ask questions about backgrounds and take face value. So case in point, like here, you get a Greek American woman or an Armenian American man putting themselves front and center as the go-to choice for Latinx, and few Latinx get to be heard above white experts.
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