Secrets of Minorities and Brands

What are the secrets of minorities and brands? It was something we discussed at a recent #brandchat conversation and found BRANDidos shared this advice: 

Your target market – understand and learn what is truly at the core of your target market.   More than just demographics, understand the psychographics of your target customer.

Authenticity – creating a product that has that authentic feel gives you that unique edge. This increases your chance of selling and be talked about.  However, when it comes to attracting minorities, your product has to have three qualities to make it effective and authentic: Aim for product quality, must have a strong reputation based on heritage and historical narrative, and must be sincere and identifies moral crusade. Minorities have a vast history, and brands that have the same qualities are more likely to attract them.

Engage them in conversation –don’t be afraid to ask questions because this is one way of getting feedback on how your business is doing. A lot of companies are not taking advantage of engaging customers on social media sites. Consumers are more comfortable leaving a comment or suggestion on your Facebook page or “tweet” you, making it an easy place to get raw feedback from your consumers. It’s also a place where they can interact with you on a personal level. They will feel that their opinions are given importance by your brand.  It’s also a place to get connected with other minorities because you gain access to their network.

Go mobile friendly – according to statistics, a huge percentage of minorities use smartphones while only a fourth of white mobile phone users use a smartphone. This means that if you have a website, make sure that its mobile friendly. If you send out links to your website, make sure that they can view them on their phone because they are more likely to access it on their phone. Text-messaging is another factor. Minorities are into text messaging even though there are apps to make them communicate in another way.

Bloggers as brand ambassadors – a lot of minorities go online and when they look for information, they usually go to blog sites that they trust because they are created by peers. What your brand can do is partner with bloggers and let them feature your product on their sites. Or ask them to guest blog for your website. This will increase your reach and give minorities the idea that they can trust and rely on your brand. There are a lot of minorities who are expert bloggers; you can also ask them about how you can improve your products to appeal to them.

Brands that promote diversity and include cultural influences in their products will have a natural conversation reflective of their company and the people that make up their company.  This will also reflect in their social media interactions and voice if it is aligned with the company brand.