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| Laura Criscione |
The United States can described as a melting pot; portraying that those who live here come from all different ethnicities, races and backgrounds. Because of this, we now live in a society where a monoculture is dead. Over generations, more families are becoming multicultural, which is changing the way companies and businesses can effectively market towards them. The largest generation of multicultural people are the millennials, who are those born between the early 1980s into the early 2000s. Most millennials identify with more than one niche cultural group, which is the reason why marketing tactics directly focused on just one group are unsuccessful. According to the 2010 Census, the growth of the multicultural population increased by 32%, when the single race population only increased by 9%.[1]
Many ethnicities in the United States have been growing exponentially over the years. The largest growing are Hispanics, followed by Asian Americans and African Americans. These ethnic groups also show their powerful buying power, which has drastically increased from $661 billion in 1990, to over $3 trillion last year.[2] Due to the increasing buying power, there is a new “super consumer” who are known as the top 10% of a category’s household consumers; these are the customers who drive at least 30% of sales, 40% of growth and 50% of a business’ profits.[3] These super consumers are “product enthusiasts” and are very culturally connected. They are loyal to specific brands and companies with whom they share the same values and cultural roots with.
Technology is also an important part of the millennial generation. This generation is incredibly technologically adept. They are a generation that loves digital mobile screens but hates phone calls; it is much easier to contact others through email and text messages. This can be seen as a benefit for marketing to this generation through the diaspora effect. Because they are so technologically advanced, they have close contact with their families in different countries via technology. Therefore, it is easier for businesses to establish brand awareness from the consumers in the U.S. to their families overseas. Using this tech-savvy generation can be used as an advantage to corporations who use hyperlocal digital marketing to appeal to their super consumers.
Knowing more about this multicultural millennial generation, especially the new super consumer, is what large companies need to do in order to market themselves to their customers. Millennials, in general, value having a positive experience in a store when making purchasing decisions. They are more likely to buy from companies who are altruistic and donate to charities, showing they care about their community. Also, most millennials still live with their parents, showing they are young and have a large potential buying power in the future.
Understanding more about this specific target market, and focusing on their needs and wants would be the best way to appeal to this multicultural generation.
By: Laura Criscione
SOURCES:
[2] "Newswire ." The Making of a Multicultural Super Consumer. 18 Mar. 2015. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.
[1] "Newsroom Archive." 2010 Census Shows Multiple-Race Population Grew Faster Than Single-Race Population. 27 Sept. 2012. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.
[3] "The Multicultural Edge: Rising Super Consumers." The Nielsen Company, 2015. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.
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