Last week I spoke at the Atlanta Diversity Summit. It was an enlightening and very multi-cultural event. My hat is off to the Atlanta CVB and their sponsors for making this such a great event. My learning session was the Interactive marketing and how to address the diverse global marketplace. I realized that so many companies do not see the real business advantage in addressing these diverse groups as niche markets. Here are some top line eye opening facts. For more information you can email me at lwoolford@usdm.net.

General Use by Ethnic Groups

• 75% of Internet Users are White
• 11% of Internet Users are Black
• 13% of Internet Users are Hispanic

African American

• More than 10 million African Americans are online
• Online Spending of African Americans continues to rise
  • Projected to spend $852.8 billion online in 2007
• African-Americans spend $35 billion on travel

Hispanics

• More than 14 million Hispanics are online
• Hispanics rely on the internet more than the average consumer
  • Spend 9.2 hours a week online -- above the 8.5 hour national average
• Hispanic travel is outpacing other minorities and growing 10 times the overall rate for the traveling population as a whole

Gay/Lesbian

• Median household income is $87,500
• 53% spent $5,000 or more per person on vacations in the past year
• The American gay and lesbian community represents a US $65 billion travel market
  • That is 5% of the annual $1.3 trillion U.S. travel industry
• Gay and lesbian travelers took an average of six overnight trips in the last 12 months
• 41% book hotel accommodations online

It's easy to see why you would want to communicate with these groups in a way that is both linguistically and culturally effective for your business development efforts. Here are some key observations and some recommendations that we make to our clients.

Key Observations:

• Use images that "talk to the group"
  • The Black or African American population wants to be represented online with images of black people and black families having fun, using products and participating. They do not respond to "white images" in black magazines or as ads on black web sites
  • Using the right images tells the audience that they are "welcome"
  • Hispanics want to see Hispanics represented in online marketing and advertising, and not the old stereotype Hispanic, but much more of a hip, stylish Eva Longoria representation

• Use headlines and copy that are culturally correct
  • Using a headline and copy that works for a white audience does not work as well as well for other diverse groups if they do not identify; this applies to Hispanics, Blacks, Asians and Gays

• Use online marketing tactics that target the group and measure your response
  • Very targeted email marketing
    • Geo targeted
    • Ethnicity targeted
    • Income targeted
    • Preference targeted
  • Affinity marketing programs to gain opt ins to your database
  • Search Engine Optimization linking to the specific section or micro site for the diverse audiences

If you look at the stats above, you realize how important these markets are to your business bottom line. I would love to hear your comments on what you are doing with diversity marketing.

Leah

Posted at 08:54 AM