What's the Fuss about Diversity Marketing?

It’s funny how topics for blogs come about. The other day someone asked me what does diversity marketing really mean. This rather seasoned pr professional went on to ask if you had to be African-American to market to African-Americans. To that I said, "Certainly not, I develop campaigns targeting mainstream Americans, so of course non African-Americans can specialize in marketing to African Americans." The key is truly understanding your audience. It’s about developing campaigns that speak to the heart of your target audience. Sounds like PR 101 but it might not be as elementary as one might think. Speaking as someone who specializes in niche marketing with a core business area focusing on marketing to African-American moms, I can't help but notice that more companies than not have started to develop a less than diverse approach to this practice area. The definition to diversity marketing according to Wikipedia is written as follows:

Diversity marketing (or in-culture marketing) is a marketing paradigm which sees marketing (and especially marketing communications) as essentially an effort in communication with diverse publics. According to the paradigm, the main focus of marketing today should be to create effective communication methods and a communication mix appropriate to each of the diverse groups active in the market.Diversity marketing recognizes the influence of cultural programming and acknowledges that different consumer groups have life experiences in different cultural and social settings. Because of this different cultural programming, the tastes, values, expectations, beliefs, ways of interaction, ways of entertainment, and lifestyle preferences of these groups tend to be different from others. These differences require the creation of customized marketing strategies.

Wordy definition, but it is certainly on par with the spirit of the practice. However, what I am finding is that often time’s companies are trending towards finding Specialist on marketing to the Hispanic community, but not doing anything innovative or new with the African-American community, and certainly not doing much else with other people of color.

Now obviously there is true merit in really going after this previously undervalued market. the Hispanic population is growing astronomically, the Hispanic community is contributing to the US economy in the tune of billions of dollars, and Univision & Telemundo usually beats the pants off of the big 4 broadcast channels in most of the major television markets.

So, if that is all true, what the issue? The issue is that by viewing a pr effort as simply a diversity marketing effort instead of a customized Hispanic marketing effort or a targeted African-American, or Asian effort, the campaign is really no more effective than just having one shotgun blast mainstream effort.

Not only are corporations getting this wrong but so are most large pr agencies, and even PRSA. In attending the International Public Relations Society of America Conference this past October, this issue couldn't have been more evident. There were probably 4 seminars on diversity marketing and 3 of them were on targeting the Hispanic community, while the other that was to be more diverse, had 5 panelists, 3 Hispanic, 1 Asian, and 1 African-American. Again I reiterate that diversity marketing must be much more diverse.

As I said, one of Playground Public Relation's key business areas in marketing to African-American moms. While potential clients have approached us wanting us to mount a campaign geared towards African-American, but then also wanting that same campaign to be used to get the Hispanic market I have to say whoa. These markets are so different that no single campaign would work on both audiences without doing some serious differentiating. Not that I want to turn potential business away but because we are such a specific niche market boutique PR agency and have yet to acquire the talent that truly understands the nuances and motivators of the Hispanic community, we have to refer the business elsewhere. That is, in my belief, the only truly responsible thing to do.

The PR community needs to get to the point where specialization and niche marketing is the standard. Fleishman Hillard does a great job of this with the Boomer market. They have done a tremendous job identifying and understanding the Boomer woman. Fleishman Hillard FH Boom is not trying to market to the 30 something woman and the Boomer woman; they have identified their target audience as the Boomer woman and are putting the research and resources in really speaking to that woman.

I submit that this is the wave of the future. Gone are the days of twofers. By that I mean, corporations and agencies that subscribe to the logic, 'If you can do African-American then you can do Hispanic marketing or vice verse'. While this methodology may appear most cost efficient, it certainly is not effective and gives the client no true value.

The African-American community is a unique consumer group with a great diversity within itself. While some of the core issues are the same for many African-American moms, the motivators and triggers are as unique as the hues of the African-American woman.

I think this is an important conversation that needs to continue in the public relations community. Not for the sake of being divisive, but for the purpose of being responsible practitioners that have appropriate professional training on each specific audience. It is a topic that was discussed at the 2007 PRSA conference amongst practitioners that attended the conference wanting to learn more about multicultural marketing. A number of the practitioners I spoke with came with the intent of learning how to create effective campaigns that spoke to the various communities of color, these particular attendees left feeling sorely disappointed.

I guess there is hope for the 2008 PRSA Conference in Detroit. For Detroit is the capital of the Arab media in the United States, home of Motown, and has a sizable Hispanic and Asian population. I am truly excited and optimistic. Motor City, here we come.