April is Celebrate Diversity Month! It’s a great time to take stock not only of our personal knowledge of the value of diversity and inclusion, but our professional understanding as well. Digital marketing services can help brands understand how to bridge the gap between the general market and multicultural audiences. Here are a few ways in which we can embrace diversity and practice multicultural marketing through digital marketing services.
What is multicultural marketing?
Multicultural marketing is the practice of developing a culturally informed strategy and content for a marketing campaign that targets people outside your general consumer market and includes various cultures and backgrounds. It requires brands to embrace an omni-channel approach that connects people across cultures in an authentic way without stereotyping. To build authentic connections, companies need to take the time to recognize and acknowledge the uniqueness of each background and build a community versus just executing to check a box in strategy. Research shows that about 75 percent of consumers agreed they’re more likely to purchase from a brand when people who look like them are represented in their ads.” In addition, the message needs to resonate with the target.
The global population is becoming more and more diverse. Pew Research shows that Gen Z, those ages 10 to 25, are more racially and ethnically diverse than any previous generation. So, while we call targeting consumers of various backgrounds “multicultural marketing” now, it’s likely that in the future we’ll just be calling it marketing as the population becomes more diverse.
Best practices when looking to engage multiple cultures in your marketing
So, as marketers, how do we reach a diverse audience? Here are some best practices:
Embrace and learn about other cultures – This might be obvious, but the first step in being able to market to a variety of cultures is to learn about them! Do research on your target audience, find out more about their varying backgrounds and then make an honest effort to learn about those ethnicities and cultures.
Hire a multicultural staff – It’s helpful to hire team members with diverse backgrounds and insights that can empathize with your audience. HubSpot notes, “whichever minority group you target during your multicultural marketing campaign, just make sure someone on your team has the practical knowledge and life experience to vet it for accuracy.”
If you don’t have someone on your team of a specific background, hire an expert who represents that minority group to give feedback on your creative content and media strategy. It’s important to be respectful and get it right!
Influencer marketing – The world of influencer marketing has become a powerful tool for digital marketing. With everyone from big celebrities to micro and nano influencers, there’s bound to be someone of your target’s unique cultural and ethnic background who can help you reach your audience in an authentic manner.
Target strategically– Brand messaging should be compelling and unifying, although we understand that one message might not resonate with every audience. Therefore, embracing customization can help reach unique audiences based on their background and interests. Digital marketing allows us to deliver specific messaging to segmented audiences – based on location or interest. Since we can be highly targeted, all segments should be included and receive customized content, whether that be social media advertising, email, served blogs or other content.
Celebrate Diversity Month!
Successful marketing and public relations is based upon our ability to create a genuine connection with our target audience. That means celebrating what makes each culture special and recognizing the unique experiences and voice that will resound with our target audience.
Hire a PR agency for help reaching your diverse audience with multicultural marketing strategies.