Page 20 - Going for Growth: Targeting Today's Diverse Consumers

GOING FOR GROWTH: TARGETING TODAY’S DIVERSE CONSUMER 19

V. MEDIA CONSIDERATIONS

One of the toughest decisions marketers will make is how to allocate their investment of
media dollars. When looking to engage with a more diverse consumer base, doing so in
an audience-led way is critical. Diverse audiences engage with content and media in both
endemic and non-endemic platforms. It is critical to gain an in-depth understanding of
their media journeys and how these diverse segments differ from White Non-Hispanics.
These insights allow a marketer to identify the best way to engage and infl uence them in a
meaningful manner.

Based upon fi ndings from the 2018 ANA/AIMM Multicultural and Total Market Benchmark
Survey Report, 80 percent of respondent advertisers report they do not utilize key
Multicultural metrics, such as market share, brand relevance, or ROI, when creating
marketing, strategic, and media plans. Today, both proprietary and secondary data make it
possible to sharpen strategies to increase customer acquisition, reduce attrition, and boost
revenue. It is time to ensure marketers are well informed about how to direct their initiatives
and make appropriate budget allocations to optimize segment outreach.

This section provides an overview of the media considerations that are integral when
developing strategies that proactively recognize the changing demographics and refl ect
modern marketing in all its dimensions.

A. MEDIA BUDGET ALLOCATION

To ensure marketers engage with opportunity segments in the most effective manner, the
media budget allocations should take into consideration business and revenue advantages
that individual segments represent to a given brand.

Unfortunately, there is a clear disconnect between intention and practice here. Surveyed
advertisers want the business from these exponentially growing groups, but rarely
have strategies and resources in place to get the business. As previously outlined, the
ANA/AIMM Benchmark Survey reveals the four primary reasons marketers cite for not
undertaking more Multicultural and Inclusive marketing initiatives, which don’t add up
if you are facing a need for growth. The stated obstacles revolve around limited budget,
bandwidth, and beliefs that reveal limited appreciation of cultural importance.

Among the study fi ndings was the belief that, without doing anything targeted, marketers
are already reaching Hispanic, Asian, African-American, and LGBTQ+ audiences. But
upon inspection, this belief is often based upon generalized assumptions instead of
culturally-supported analytics of specifi c strategies and tactics. In some cases, General