Multicultural Marketing
Should you choose diversity vs. homogeneity?
In 2011, multicultural marketing gained significant ground, as businesses large and small attempted to connect with the second-largest Spanish speaking country in the world—the United States.
According to integrated Hispanic communications agency Cassanova Pendrill, Latinos in the United States now number 50 million—that’s one in every six people, representing the 12th-largest economy in the world.
Given these figures, does your business need a Latino marketing effort?
When it comes to targeting, one of the biggest questions to answer is whether or not you have the time, money and energy to go beyond one homogenous target segment. In other words, should you choose diversity vs. homogeneity?
So ask yourself if the Latino segment meets any of the following criteria:
• Does it have similar or wants, needs and purchasing behaviors as my primary target?
• Is it growing in size and importance in my industry or category?
• Could it make purchases in sufficient quantity to be profitable?
The answer to point number one could be where your Latino target segment sits on a continuum of acculturation. About 44 percent of Latinos, according to Cassanova Pendrill, identify with their culture of origin and are Spanish-dependent. So that sub-segment of the Latino target needs a separate, more one-to-one marketing effort, which takes time, money and energy.
Answers to points two and three might be driven by your geographic distribution. In states like California and cities like Houston, Dallas and Miami, the Latino market makes up about one-third or more of the general population. That’s a lot of people, which might lead to more mass marketing economies of scale.
And here’s one last statistic: One in four of every new babies is Latino. So if you’re not marketing directly to this target segment in 2012, you probably will be soon.
« Steve Wehrenberg is CEO of integrated communications agency Campbell Mithun, a grad school instructor in strategic communications at the U of M and co-author of the just-published textbook The Successful Marketing Plan.
