Understanding your audience is essential for your company’s success. That’s how you know that you’re meeting the needs of your market. But there are often subtle distinctions within your audience that a broad brush may miss—but that can have a huge impact on your firm.
For example, a tech company may want to market their product to those with a Southeast Asian background, so they develop a program they think will do just that. However, they fail to realize that treating members of Pakistani and Indian audiences as if they share the same background could lead to offending both groups. It would deny the history of tension between their two nations.
Similar issues may arise for an approach that targets all Hispanics as a group with common interests. However, beyond a shared language, Cuban-Americans in Florida may have little in common with Salvadorian immigrants who live on the West Coast.
To avoid mistakes like these, consider strategies such as:
- Reviewing research, such as data analytics, to make sure you’ve identified the best audience for your product
- Hiring specialized marketing experts to review diversity marketing strategies, checking to see that you’re using cultural references that will appeal to your audience
- Surveying members of your targeted demographic and experts to identify who they consider as members of their relevant peer group
- Conducting focus groups with your targeted audience to see how they respond to proposed marketing campaigns
- Examining competitors’ and others’ marketing strategies to similar audiences to see where they went right and wrong
To understand how subtle distinctions in your audience may be impacting your firm, contact Ebony Marketing Systems. We are experts at designing and conducting multicultural research—and turning that research into communication that reaches people in a new way. For more information, call us at (718)742-0006 or send us a message today.
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