What is a Key Person of Influence in Multicultural marketing?
Key people of influence hold a level of authority within a community, as they are seen as a place to go for trusted information. Within this blog, we will be discussing key people of influence within ethnic minority groups and looking at how we utilise them to gain insight into the ethnic markets. We will also look at how we use our community ambassadors to create unique and informed campaigns for the ‘hard to reach’ communities.
Why is a key person of influence so important when reaching ethnic minorities?
Ethnic communities are typically un-trusting, especially with brands that do not usually connect with their demographic. Our research found that only 1 in 5 brands reach out to ethnic minorities. So, by getting a key person of influence on board, your brand will find marketing to new communities more effective.
Key people of influence in multicultural marketing are people within a community who are trusted by the ethnic minority. They are usually: Doctors, Shop Keepers, Community Centre Leaders, and Religious Leaders. By connecting with them, your brand will find you can effectively reach the broader audience as they trust that the KPI would only recommend something legitimate.
KPI add value to your brand similar to the way influencers do; they have the trust and influence in a community. Again, just like influencers, key people of influence can cut through the community to make audiences listen. Engaging with ethnic minorities can be very hard for brands, especially when first connecting with a new audience. If you are looking to engage with new audiences, your brand will need to gain the trust of the KPI as they will only promote a product or service that serves consumer needs.
GottaBe! Ethnic support our clients by running outreach projects. Which often involves connecting with key people of interest, whether through merchandising ethnic stores, contacting community centres, or looking for groups on social media.
How can I use a key person of influence to reach new audiences?
Word of mouth is a powerful marketing tool, apparent in ethnic communities. Ethnic minorities tend to live in tight-knit, family-oriented communities, so news travels fast (this can be good and bad, so ensure your message is correct). By getting your product into the community, you are more likely to get a better response if you first connect with a key person of influence.
If your brand were looking to reach lots of people at once, connecting with a religious place of worship or community centre would allow you to use the platform these places have to spread your message. Gillette famously did just this when they connected with the Orthodox Jewish community. Gillette used the words of the bible to market their 48-hour protection deodorant through the Sabbath, the holiest of days, were putting on deodorant is considered work and therefore is forbidden. The brand unknown to the Orthodox Jewish community in Israel grew from 3% to 12% two months after the campaign. The deodorant brand used key people of influence to target the community through targeted media channels, places of worship and used their jingles to mark the start of the Sabbath throughout the city.
In recent years, with the popularity of social media, we have found targeted ads within ethnic groups on platforms such as Facebook works well to gain the target audience’s attention.
Along with targeted social media ads and word of mouth referrals, merchandising within ethnic stores has proven to reach ethnic minorities effectively. GottaBe! Ethnic has partnerships with ethnic shops across the UK and often provide them with leaflets and flyers to raise brand awareness for our clients. Targeting audiences directly helps to gain the trust of minority groups. When GottaBe! Ethnic supported the University of Chichester with their recruitment drive; we used merchandising alongside radio and TV ads, all directly tailored for the target audience.
Community ambassadors
GottaBe! Ethnic has over 4,500 community ambassadors across the UK who give an insight into the everchanging consumer habits of ethnic communities. With the ability to speak over 45 languages, we have a community ambassador to reach each minority group. Not only do the community ambassadors give GottaBe! Ethnic the ability to connect with the ‘hard to reach’, but they also allow us to create highly effective tailored campaigns with invaluable insight into the communities.
How can GottaBe! Ethnic help your brand?
As multicultural marketing specialists, we have built relationships within ethnic communities across the UK. With over 13 years of multicultural marketing experience, we know the importance of engaging with key people of influence authentically. If your brand needs help with your ethnic marketing, we are here to help. Our friendly team are here to chat; call us on +44 2380 634283 or contact us.