Multicultural audiences know when brand marketing is authentic and when a company has become consumed by a ‘this audience checks the box’ mentality.
To wit: In a just-released Hispanic Sentiment Study, only 45% of Latinos believe big brands are representing their values – a drop from 54% in 2018. However, 67% of the community feels represented by small businesses. One takeaway: Small businesses are authentic parts of their communities.
Perhaps surprisingly, the study did find a whopping 84% of Latinos still are willing to show loyalty and favorability to big brands that demonstrate their interest through community involvement and stand behind their DEI commitments.
Again, authenticity.
This should be a wake-up call to marketers and researchers who say they invest in multicultural marketing when, in fact, they too heavily rely upon demographics alone. Demographics may tell you abstractly who your potential customer is but will not explain why people think, feel or behave the way they do. Each member of a distinct ethnic and racial group will not share the same emotional, cultural and social dynamics that contribute to their decision-making.
Treating the groups as homogenous populations is insulting; to authentically reach them as individuals requires a human-first approach.
The news is littered with brands that clearly tried to ‘check the box’ on multicultural marketing. Most recently, it’s been Target and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Particularly during Pride Month, we see companies that are rainbow-washing and those that are authentic. In part, these corporations charged at the ‘check the box’ mentality because they did not stay true to their own North Star and stand by their convictions.
As a communications firm that focuses on trying to help people make progress in their lives, our teams often attempt to reach people who have been underserved in various ways be it in the health care, education or financial services industries.
Connecting with these audiences requires going far beyond demographics. To establish true relationships and not merely engage in transactions requires employing psychographic research, leveraging other relationships, communicating with culturally and locally important groups and, quite often, putting boots on the ground to build these foundational relationships.
The next time you’re looking for a marketing partner to help connect with underserved, multicultural or hard-to-reach audiences, just remember: Homogeneity is the enemy of authenticity.
