5 ways to get your multicultural marketing strategy right!
As a multicultural marketing agency, we work with brands to help them reach ethnic audiences through various marketing channels. With over 14 years of experience, our expertise in this field allows us to create campaigns to ensure an effective multicultural marketing strategy.
With over 4,000 community ambassadors on hand, GottaBe! Ethnic have an insight into the ever-changing ethnic communities here in the UK, so they know just how to engage the ‘hard to reach’. If your brand wants to expand your reach to a new audience, this post will help you get your multicultural marketing strategy right the first time!
Representation
With an untapped spending power of £300bn, ethnic minorities in the UK should not be ignored. But unfortunately, only 1 in 5 UK brands effectively reach out to the 9.3 million people from ethnic minorities and are therefore missing out on the opportunities the ethnic minority groups present. By representing the different minority groups, your brand can expand your reach within and outside your target audience, opening up a pool of new customers.
Influencers
Ethnic influencers have a strong engagement with their followers. By engaging with ethnic influencers, your mainstream brand can effectively target ethnic audiences as the engagement rate is higher among ethnic influencers. As consumers see someone they admire and look like showcase a product or service on their page, they are filled with the confidence to make a secure purchase.
Your brand will see a higher return by including a diverse range of influencers within your social media marketing campaign. Not only will ethnic audiences appreciate the representation, but mainstream consumers will also see your brand making good of your purpose.
Imagery
We have mentioned this in previous blogs, but one of the most effective ways to run a successful multicultural marketing campaign is to use the correct imagery. But this must be done authentically to gain the trust and loyalty of the target audience. When including ethnic minorities within your campaigns, authenticity will help your brand avoid looking like it is following a tick box exercise. Whilst we understand photoshoots can be expensive, the return on investment is worth it. However, if your brand is not yet in a position to create organic imagery, there are many options which don’t include using stock images. Whilst stock images serve a purpose and can be effective; they are not recommended for all marketing materials.
Graphics and illustrations are a great option and cheaper alternative to represent minority groups in your marketing materials. Other options such as user-generated content (UGC); can be linked to including ethnic influencers in your campaign as it will encourage ethnic consumers to shop with your brand. Resharing UGC can be highly advantageous for your brand as it continues to showcase how diverse your product or service is and tells minority groups that your brand is suitable for them. Including reviews and testimonials will increase brand awareness as this confirms purchase security.
Reach
Channels
How you connect with audiences matters, and this will differ per ethnic group and demographic. As we know from our experience, one of the best ways to engage ethnic audiences is to reach them face to face or via a key person of influence. This could be a shop owner, doctor or religious leader. As these people are already established within the community, they are trusted and can spread information quickly through word of mouth.
Word of mouth marketing combined with target ads will see a high return on a multichannel marketing campaign. Alongside word of mouth marketing, social media outreach within ethnic groups can be highly effective at raising brand awareness. This also compliments word of mouth marketing as the online campaign intertwines with the offline and, therefore, will reach a wider audience.
Ethnic media
When targeting ethnic audiences through a multicultural marketing campaign, an excellent channel is ethnic media. Within ethnic media, you can deliver your campaigns directly to your target audience in a tailored manner. As the channels are more targeted to a specific audience, they have a better engagement rate because the audience trusts the channel you are looking to advertise through. Some ethnic media channels require translated materials, but most do not, so it is an option for all brands. Here at GottaBe! Ethnic, we have connections with the 250 different ethnic media channels in the UK and can help your brand get a spot in some of the most effective channels in ethnic marketing.
Research
Local community
Understanding the local community will allow your brand to effectively reach your target audience as the behaviours and habits will differ. This will, of course, depend on your product or service, and the degree of localisation will vary. Things such as population within a town or city will allow your brand to strategically place OOH advertising to have maximum reach within an audience.
Avoid tokenism
By taking the time to understand the audience you are reaching, your brand can avoid tokenism within multicultural marketing which will do more harm than underrepresentation. Many brands recently ran ads they felt were inclusive and diverse, which caused offence and had the opposite effect than initially intended.
Ways to avoid tokenism would be to hire experts within the field to remove this worry, ask the opinion of your staff from a range of ethnicities, or run focus groups. However, a multicultural marketing agency can run these checks for you. As a diverse team, we have differing opinions and backgrounds that allow us to cater for all minority groups. According to a recent study by the ASA, there are higher expectations for advertising to correctly represent race and ethnicity compared to other areas of life. The ASA also found that stereotyping created a “limiting set of perceptions and beliefs around what is expected from people from the BAME communities and on self-perception.” To avoid upsetting and offending a minority group, we suggest doing plenty of research on the culture and ensuring each campaign is authentically created.
Beliefs/ cultural differences
This again looks at the importance of taking time to understand your target audience. There are differing beliefs within each minority group, and each culture will view things differently. For example, when targeting a Chinese market from the UK, your brand must be aware of the colours and symbols used within your marketing. Each colour’s meaning significantly differs between the countries.
Other things, such as the representation of roles, folk tales etc., should be considered and should not offend the audience you wish to engage. Your marketing materials should not be offensive, but by ignoring the culture and beliefs of an ethnic minority, your brand could miss out on the reach altogether.
Language
A multilingual campaign can be highly effective when reaching ethnic audiences. While many ethnic minority groups living in the UK understand the language, delivering your campaign in the consumer’s first language may be better engaging as they are more comfortable. Research commissioned by the European Commission found that 82% of consumers were less likely to buy goods online if the site was not in their native language.
As marketers, we must be able to communicate a brand’s message to the consumer through different channels. Doing this in the most effective way is what drives a high conversion rate. Each demographic and ethnic group will look at your advertising in a unique way of how it is perceived and will be interpreted differently based on the culture. To evoke the right reaction from the target audience, your brand must deliver the campaign effectively. We suggest a multilingual leaflet or booklet that targets a range of audiences or a specific campaign aimed at the group.
Generations
As discussed in one of our most recent posts, there are many generational differences within ethnic minorities. Your brand must understand these to reach the correct audience effectively. The generations within an ethnic minority will range in age, and there can be several subgroups within. Your multicultural marketing campaign should be tailored to the correct generation, and prior research will help you determine each generation’s needs.
To get your multicultural marketing strategy right, your brand must be consistent with its approach to be seen as authentic. By combining all the above and delivering this throughout the year and not just following trends, your multicultural marketing strategy will be a success. If you’re not sure where to start or are worried about getting it wrong, speak with the team at GottaBe! Ethnic. They will help you find the right multicultural marketing strategy for your brand and find the solutions to your marketing challenges. Call today to get started +44 2380 634283.