Where Do Multicultural Marketers Come From?

As the multicultural marketing discipline grows in importance in today’s business environment, I am frequently asked how to build the necessary skills to become an effective multicultural marketer, and my first answer is that not all experts are created equally.

Unfortunately, historically there hasn’t been a robust, formal educational system to adequately prepare the new generation of marketers in America for a new multicultural consumer marketplace, driven by the demographic changes the country is facing, but this scenario is slowly changing.

Most executives involved in multicultural marketing are either marketing professionals who came from a minority ethnic background or executives who came to the U.S. from markets like Latin America or Asia, bringing with them a deep understanding of these markets from a cultural perspective that could be useful in the American market.

A positive development in our industry in recent years has been the creation of several programs focused on multicultural marketing offered at some of higher education schools. I want to highlight a pioneer among of these programs, the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communications at Florida State University (FSU), which is commemorating its 15th anniversary this year.

I reached out to the Center’s founder, and Professor Emeritus, Felipe Korzenny, Ph.D., and asked him about how the industry has been evolving when it comes to building the next generation of multicultural marketers, and this is what he said:

“I started the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication at Florida State University in 2004 to educate young people on how to reach this important marketing constituency. One of the fallacies common in our industry is that one’s cultural background is key to knowing how to reach a specific cultural group. Unfortunately, that is not accurate. Having experience with the culture definitely helps but is far from sufficient in understanding the nuances involved in marketing to a unique cultural group.

Members of a particular cultural cohort are not necessarily aware of their cultural components because living a culture is not the same as understanding it. The Center at FSU educates students on the nuances of Hispanic/Latino culture and how to apply them in the generation of insights to connect with consumers. A central element of the program is the process of account planning to better establish a connection with the Latino consumer and make a specific brand more relevant and emotionally engaged.”

In my experience, being from a specific ethnic group significantly increases the chances for an executive to understand the challenges and opportunities associated with that particular segment, but it may not guarantee it. To put it in a more direct way, for example, being a Latino or Latina doesn’t automatically make a professional an expert in U.S. Hispanic marketing.

Assuming the above premise could be a slightly risky business proposition, as this person may bring with her/him assumptions and experiences that are particular to a few individuals and not the broad segment.

At the same time, executives that come from different countries also may not fully understand the challenges and dynamics of the U.S. market. Furthermore, while a Latino consumer has many similarities when compared to a Latino living in the U.S., like language, and culture, they also live a completely different reality when it comes to social and economic institutions, such as the way healthcare operates in this country, for instance.

I also spoke with Doris Aguirre, a well-respected executive recruiter with expertise in the multicultural marketing industry, and asked her opinion on the evolution of the multicultural marketers’ skills and experience over the past decades, and she replied:

“In the past, when identifying a candidate to manage multicultural efforts, ad agencies and corporations had a requirement that the candidate comes from that particular cultural background. Today that is no longer as important an issue. While it always helps to identify with that particular cultural market, what is important is that the candidate has the sensitivity to the issues of the multicultural markets they are targeting. In a few years, the general market will be the multicultural market, and that means that current general market marketers will need to have and understand the sensitivities that go along with each of the diverse markets they are targeting, or they will be left behind. My recommendation to all marketers is to roll up your sleeves, put your education cap back on, get in the trenches of the various markets, become a social scientist and digest as much as you can about each diverse market in the U.S., so you will not be left behind.”

In my career, I have faced similar challenges, coming to this country decades ago from South America. In my particular case, I developed my own crash course in the U.S. Hispanic marketing (and later expanding to a broader multicultural opportunity) by reading and listening to some of our industry experts like Felipe Korzenny, Isabel Valdes, Chiqui Cartagena, David Morse, and many others. Their books and conferences helped to open my eyes to the multicultural opportunity in the U.S., but also to the dangers of stereotypical thinking.

Here are some suggestions I have learned over the years that you can use before you partner with a multicultural marketing expert:

• Fully understand their background, their life story, what relevant experiences shaped the individual’s life, and how these experiences made them better experts.

• Ask for specific examples of where the experts led/participated in building multicultural marketing strategies and tactics, and about their roles on these projects, what insights were unearthed during the project and most importantly, what tangible results these projects achieved.

• Inquire about what conferences, seminars, or training programs on multicultural marketing they attended in the past twelve months. Moreover, ask what work influenced the individual’s professional life such as case studies, benchmarks, or books. These serve as a reference point on how curious the expert is and how much the expert invests in growing her/his intellectual capital.

• Most importantly, explore whether the potential candidate understands that her/his ethnic background doesn’t automatically make them multicultural experts.

Over the next few years, we will hear more about how brands need to shift their approach towards the “new minority-majority.” However, this process will only be effective if its foundation is based on a talented pool of marketers who fully understand how to create effective multicultural marketing strategies.

I predict for the next few years a significant demand in educational programs on multicultural marketing at every level (from college students to C-suite and board of directors levels) and specialized recruitment services. Competition for talent will be fierce as the high-quality offer is still below the current and future demand. Are you ready for it?

Source: Forbes.com

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