Marketing to ethnic groups requires an adjustment in how we approach marketing issues. Since marketing is heavily married to psychology and sociology the very basic assumptions we have about how messages are received can change. This is one of the reasons why ethnic marketing is much different then the status quo. It lives and breaths on different basic assumptions about life, products and about the needs of the community.
Each of these different ethnic groups may have their own media that is printed from their particular perspective or language. For example there are around 640 Asian media outlets and the total Asian market is worth $427 billion dollars annually (Imada, 2007). That is a lot of money. The same can be said for any other ethnic group like Hispanic, Arab, Muslim, Jewish, etc...
The total value of the ethnic markets combined is around 1.5 trillion dollars annual which highlights the necessity of companies starting to compete for these dollars (Imada, 2007). African Americans, Asians and Hispanics are growing in population size which means their dollars are going to make larger influences on politics, businesses, and local economies. Companies will need to learn how to tap these resources.
Ethnic make up will continue to grow into the future. By 2050 the United States Census Bureau has indicated that 10% of the population will be Asia and 25% of the population will be of Hispanic descent (Scarborough, 2007). If we were to assume that African American and other ethnic groups made up an additional 25% that would mean only 40% of the population is of traditional Caucasian background.
Those companies that learn how to cater their marketing campaigns are going to be able to make more money then those who don't. They will be more successful in their marketing approaches because their marketing messages are hitting the right audience and appealing to that audience more readily. This translates into more sales revenues.
Knowing all of this information doesn't necessarily help companies to determine precisely how they are going to reach these ethnic markets. In order for companies to be successful they should understand the culture of each of these different groups and develop their messages that appeal to the group in question. This may mean the research and study of such people.
In recruiting, sales, and advertising it is often necessary to market your products or services within ethnic media outlets like newspapers, journals, television, radio, ethnic neighborhoods. Focusing on these groups and marketing in multiple arenas so they hear the message more then once isn't difficult if the group is still relatively small.
A piece of marketing is also to ensure that there are people within the company that can deal with this group. For example, if an advertisement is completed in Spanish the consumer will assume that he or she can call the company and speak Spanish. If there is no one within the company they can talk to in their native language it may appear to be insensitive. The same can be said for websites and product descriptions being in the language of the customer.
Imada, B. (2007). Forget the Asian-American-market myths-but remember these truths. Advertising Age, 78 (44).
Imada, B. (2007). Mass-market agencies seem to have long learning curves. Advertising Age, 78 (42).
Scarborough, M. (2007). Finding your niche. Community Banker, 16 (10).
Murad Ali is a three time published author, a human resource professional, a business professor and the owner of a website marketing company at [http://www.article-agent.org]
For more great articles written by Murad visit [http://www.thenewbusinessworld.blogspot.com]
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