Why Your Business Should Target BME Groups

In a world of diversity where Britain’s ethnic communities are constantly growing, it is important to take these communities into consideration to maximise marketing opportunities. What’s more, black and minority ethnic (BME) groups with be twice as large as they are now by the time we reach 2045.

The UK’s multicultural community has a disposable income of £12 billion, and with this figure continuing to increase, the future is held in these customer’s hands. After establishing why, the next vital step to understand your target’s needs. Concise research needs to be conducted, starting with gaining an understanding of specific culture. This is known in the industry as ethnic marketing; helping businesses to connect with people. If your target audience believes that you can recognise their emotional and physical needs, they are more likely to trust you and remain loyal; which is what we all want right?

As mentioned above, now is the optimum time to pay attention to and focus on multicultural marketing and this is because there are a great deal of businesses and organisations that still haven’t taken advantage of this. Why? Many companies believe that their advertisements have little relevance to ethnic communities however this is far from true. A report conducted by IPA in 2014, known as “The New Britain” report, suggested that approximately 77% of British Asian’s feel that mainstream adverts are irrelevant to them. These statistics are particularly concerning when you consider the fact that Asians are the fastest-growing middle-class group, standing for around half of all new UK millionaires. The same report found that 65% of black people felt unmoved by mainstream media. English is the second language for 57% of London’s population with Brixton Village and Borough Market being key locations that promote multiculturalism in the capital.

Once ascertaining where your targets are based, the next step is establishing the best ways to reach them. There is more to segmenting customers through their language but for optimum target marketing, there are other aspects that need to be considered. What benefits are they looking for that you can offer? What is their price range? What social media do they use? 50% of ethnic communities are frequent users of online platforms and with smart phones being the latest technology, it is easier than ever to reach people worldwide. One major ethnic digital and social media campaign that was very successful was The #BornandMade campaign which enlisted a host of multicultural and influential celebrities to make a bold statement about diversity in the beauty industry.

Offline campaigns such as festival events that target ethnic groups are ideal advertising opportunities. Key examples of these are Melas Festival, Carnaval de Pueblo and Billingham international folklore festival and World Dance. By having these events, marketers are able to reach out to members of BME communities, whether it’s Chinese, Indian, Polish or Nigerians across the UK as well as creating awareness

If you can see potential for your business to reach out to multicultural clients, please don’t hesitate to fill out the form below and one of our team will be in touch as soon as possible.

Story written by Shannon Dunne, Accounts Support Executive at GottaBe!