Marketing should reach a multicultural audience

If you’re not tailoring your marketing to reach all of your customers, you may be leaving money on the table

Companies that don’t tailor their marketing to reach a multicultural audience can be leaving business on the table, according to Hispanic marketing industry group AHAA.

An industry-wide initiative led by the AHAA and the Association of National Advertisers found that successful marketing requires a “total market” approach – both a culturally nuanced mainstream campaign and integrated segment campaigns.

“True total market success comes from both a new mainstream market lens and a segment lens,” said Clorox CMO Eric Reynolds. “There are no shortcuts to getting great work that moves the sales needle.”

“Inclusive campaigns are merely the basic minimum brands can do to reflect the new mainstream, but it falls short of addressing the total opportunity,” said AHAA Chair Linda Lane Gonzalez. “Without dedicated segment approaches working in synergy with mainstream work, business growth falls flat.”

According to an AHAA news release, marketing efforts can yield more if they include demographic, language and cultural segments in addition to a broader campaign.

“If you are only doing mainstream advertising and calling it total market, you are missing out on significant market share volume opportunities,” said Michael Lacorazza, executive vice president of integrated marketing at Wells Fargo. “You have to determine the importance of each segment for every campaign up front, budget accordingly, and provide all agencies the time to collaborate and find the best and most meaningful solutions.”