Targeting A Minority Market

With the days of mass media far behind us and the minority population in the United States growing daily marketers are scrambling to focus their company's marketing powers to take advantage of new minority buying power. Minorities are no longer viewed as insignificant in the American marketing pool; over 1 in 8 of all Americans are of Hispanic origin (surpassing even the African-American consumer market), and 5% of Americans claim Asian ethnicity.

With ethnic pride and a return to our multi-cultural roots booming, it's time for marketers to sit up and take notice. Failing to target these minority groups will result in a huge loss to companies that do.

The question is, how do you target minority markets without stepping on any toes? First and foremost, avoid ethnic stereotypes while still considering cultural mores. Much like today's woman, who has no desire to find herself shown in the kitchen when she actually spends most of her day in the courtroom, minority groups have no desire to be displayed filling blue collar jobs or working against the grain of American cultural society.

Breaking free of the stereotypes will allow you and your marketing team to recognize these target markets for what they are-a group of newly empowered buyers.

Focus your marketing efforts on ethnic publications; for example, don't forget to advertise in Spanish language publications in areas with a high Hispanic population. These publications are often very affordable, since few of them have gone national, allowing you to maximize the frequency of your advertising.

Devise a culturally relevant campaign. Every culture has its own mores and values, and it's easy to offend. Take Mattel; when they started marketing Barbie in the Middle East she was banned because she didn't conform to society's views of how a woman should cover herself in public. Keep your marketing team ethnically diverse and open minded to make it easy for you to move past the stereotypes that have held minority marketing back in the past and find success in this rapidly growing consumer group.

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