Inclusive marketing is about more than getting brands’ products and services in front of target markets; it’s about creating meaningful connections with diverse audiences through relevant strategies. We heard from award-winning DEI communications and marketing strategist Juanita Slappy (Cadillac) and seasoned multicultural content, branding and strategy pro Isabel Nieto-Cañon (Hemisphere Media Group) about key considerations for building a multicultural marketing strategy.
The takeaways:
- If you’re not doing effective multicultural marketing, you're not doing effective marketing
- Consumers (and marketers) want to see multicultural from end to end – not only the talent in the commercials, but the teams behind them
- Authenticity is key for successful multicultural marketing, not only with brand partners/influencers/campaigns, but also with the internal team at the organization
- Authentic multicultural marketing means tailoring your message to the diverse consumers you are marketing to so they feel seen, heard and valued
- Marketers must scrap the old way of executing inclusive marketing, which was just adapting a mass market campaign for a smaller sector, or even just translating on a language level (not the concept)
- Authenticity of message = intersection of language context culture (far beyond translation)
- Numbers don’t lie: 4 out of 10 Americans identify as a race or ethnicity other than white - that’s major buying power
- Know your audience deeply! Only 1 in 4 US adults identifying as Hispanic or Latino/Latina have heard the term “LatinX”
- Hispanic and Latino refer to a broad group of people, many refer to their country of origin (i.e. Cuban) - each have their own cultural nuances and identities, which affects their purchasing power
- Adopt and advocate for a multicultural mindset. Get your entire team / organization involved (DEI needs to be a priority within organizations)
- Don’t homogenize: Localize, identify values/pain points/wants of buyer personas
- Measure and test your assumptions periodically within the community you are serving
- Do your research to avoid tokenization, stereotyping, cultural appropriation
