Hone your multicultural brand strategy for a globalized market

multicultural brand strategy for a globalized market
Dr Prem Digital Healthcare Marketing

The markets all over the world have seen major demographic shifts, which mean brand managers need to focus on honing their multi-cultural brand strategy. Your customer base is no longer one which belongs to a single culture,but has expanded to include people of different cultures with different sensibilities.

Keeping this in mind, those brands that act on this multi-cultural customer base, will have greater profits, and an edge over their competition. Brand managers need to focus on creating inclusive strategies, to target this multi-cultural customer base, consisting of Asian, Hispanics and Middle Eastern people. You need to focus on finding connectors between different segments of their demographic. 

Enhance brand engagement

Brand managers need to get their customers to understand their brand as it will lead to engagement and brand loyalty. The brand manager who takes care to target the Hispanic and non-Hispanic communities, will have a definite advantage. Research shows that non-Hispanic whites live longer too, so investing in multi-cultural campaigns may pay off in the long run. Some major brands are striving to establish bonds with customers belonging to different cultures by running separate campaigns that are sensitive to the perceptions and nuances of each cultural segment.

For example, a general ad for a detergent is more discreet and the same ad is adapted to suit the Hispanic market by being more slapstick. This is because the same ad for both cultures will not hit the mark at all, especially in the Hispanic segment and will mean losing a huge customer base.

Establish empathetic relationships with multiple cultures

The rapidly changing demographics calls for brand managers to sit up and take notice. The concept of a single mainstream market has become almost obsolete, as more and more companies have started to recognize the importance of devising strategies which address different cultural segments.

The new demographic consisting of Hispanics, Asians and people of other origins, are not just shoppers – they’re the ones starting new trends. They’re also conscious about retaining their cultural heritage along with assimilating the culture of their adopted country. They are continually blending values, attitudes and perspectives.

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Your brand strategy should be developed keeping this new generation in mind. For example,in the 2014 Superbowl, two major companies, one selling cereals and the other cola, targeted the multi-cultural demographic. One showed a young girl from a multi-cultural family relishing the cereal of that brand and the other had people of different cultures singing together the same song.

Multiculturalism is now embedded in the daily lives of mainstream Americans, and you must be sympathetic to the subtleties of each culture, in order to hone your brand. You must make thoughtful decisions regarding the presentation of your brand, as a specific single identity of the customer is no longer there. For example, there is no typical “American” family anymore, and you have to look at working out strategies that address different families. One cannot assume implicitly that a brand’s message will be accepted in the same way by people of all ethnicities.

Establish a cohesive brand identity

To compete in a globalized market, your brand has to take into consideration multiple identities and cultural choices. What is acceptable in some cultures are considered taboo in others. This factor has to be kept in mind while formulating your brand strategy, so that your presentation of your brand goes down well with all segments of society. The world has truly come closer with people of all races and cultures living together due to many reasons.

This presents a challenge as well as opens up a new market of customers who are being exposed to new things. Multicultural consumers have gradually influenced the market with their choices in products and services. As a brand manager, you must work to project your brand which addresses its customers as a cohesive group, and integrate your marketing team and strategies to ensure a consistent brand identity, capturing multiple demographics.

To build a successful brand which reaches out to people of different cultures, you must be sensitive to all cultures. Acknowledging the changing demographics and changing mainstream culture, and working out brand strategies keeping that in mind will help in honing your multi-cultural brand strategy.

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