The Plan.

    Plagued by skepticism and overwhelmed by the advertising onslaughts that have invaded most aspects of their existence, the average consumer is beat. Worn down, tired, and done with it. Fast-forward commercials, install pop-up blockers, “Report Spam,” dodge all overeager sidewalk salesmen, and for what? The world of billboards, Broadway ads plastered on buses, brand-sponsored subway stops, and blimps trailing promotional messages in the sky still awaits you. Crouching inward day by day til no one remembers what “personal space” was all about. All not-so-subtle attempts to get your attention and next, your money. No wonder the ennui.

    The multiinfluentials are no exception; they are a smaller segment of this larger, apathetic majority. They are different, however, in the sense that they have more specific –more culturally unique - needs, and so, for the most part, broad spectrum marketing strategies are even less effective in reaching their segment. So how do you catch (and more importantly, keep) the attention and loyalty of a multiinfluential? What makes a multiinfluential sit down and watch an entire commercial, even call the number on a billboard? What makes her continue to use a product for years, even decades? The answer, I believe, is three fold.

Oh Hey, Didn’t See You There.  

    First, and foremost, acknowledge them. They are here for the long run and their numbers are growing every year. Marketing to them is investing in your future. Multiinfluentials are a group with diverse origins, and no matter where they are now, they will always retain some degree of attachment to their original culture, language, and ethnicity. In order to capture their interest, marketers need to tug at those emotions that take them back years and/or miles away. A print ad for airlines aimed at a Latina multiinfluential may do well to show an image of a large family lounging on a patio, relaxed and centered idly around a table of ethnic dishes- hot from the oven. A tagline could read, “Make time for them, they always seemed to have all the time in the world for you.” In other words, hit ‘em in the soft spots.

Let’s Get Together.

    Secondly, make them care about you. If you could get your multiinfluential consumers to care about the success of your brand, you’d have it made. If they felt responsible for your product or service, half your job would be complete. Old target market = new marketing team. Sounds great. But how is that possible? Because it is true, most people only care about themselves...

    So make it about them. Involve your multiinfluentials with your product, as if they own it and are in charge. The consumer needs to feel like they had some part in creating it. Because why wouldn’t you buy something you put effort into making? Here begins their attachment to the product, and thus your interests meet. You both want success. They will buy their product, invest time and affection in it, and best of all, spread the word. Multiinfluentials are marketing to other multiinfluentials. What more could you want?

    So, bring in the multiinfluentials en masse. Give them tools for change, allow them to design new product lines, brainstorm entirely new brand images. Complete freedom. Put them in groups, have them work together, listen to them talk. Bask in the chaos. Take the end products with the most potential and launch them.

    A women’s footwear brand that wanted to target multiinfluentials might ask a group to list/describe/draw 10 styles of sandals or slippers that they remember from their country of origin. The test group would be encouraged to think back to remote villages and bustling cities alike, reaching into the far depths of their memories. Pool all their ideas and designs together, mix and match, and create hundreds of new styles that will cause an African-American multiinfluential to pause in front of a display case and look at a pair of green and black beaded sandals that remind her of a trip to Ghana several years ago. She’ll call her sister in California about it and her sister will tell her best friend. And all of them will care. For the multiinfluential, by the multiinfluential.

You Complete Me.

    Lastly, be the balance they desire. Market yourself as the product that will complete them, fill the holes and bridge the gaps. If they are overworked, be their leisure. If they are under-appreciated, be their confidence. Focus on the things that worry them. For example, multiinfluentials are now, more than ever, a prominent force in the workplace. Yet they still face some of the same challenges women faced decades ago. Women in America have poured into the modern workplace in the past half-century, but there are still nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin-America where cultural mores do not support female professionals nearly as much. In some ways, strong ethnic ties have the ability to weigh down a woman’s career.

    So ask the multiinfluential in your office. Are your in-laws and parents involved in your life? Do they wish you didn’t work as much? Do they suggest you spend more time with your kids, or at home? Do you take too many days off from work at their behest? Do you feel guilty? Identify the gap, the hole. How do you balance family and work? Which one should take priority on what occasion and who do you let down today? Company launch party with the big execs or kid’s first piano recital? These are the issues that boggle the multiinfluentials, that tear them up inside. And this is where you come in. The bridge, the balance.

    A TV commercial for an electronics brand aimed at Asian-American multiinfluentials could show a mother wheeling a carry-on travel bag out the door, turning to look at her two teenage girls descend the staircase, in shock. One daughter is dressed in black and chains with spiked hair, and the other in revealing clothes and blonde-dyed hair. The voiceover would say, “Sometimes the generation gap seems impossible to bridge.” The Asian-American mother looks at her children in continued shock and the scene flashes to her in Beijing amidst the celebrations of a Chinese new year parade. She is dressed in a pantsuit and is holding a briefcase. She takes out her new digital camera and starts filming the scene around her, particularly a group of tattooed acrobats on the street. She uploads it onto her laptop from a hotel café nearby and her kids are shown watching the video at home, genuinely entertained. The voiceover says “But with our help, sometimes it’s just about manageable.” Be their stability, their better half.

 

Checklist:

• Figured out how to catch their eye. 
•  Figured out how to make them care about you.  
•  Figured out gain their trust (and share-of-wallet).  

Now get to it.

Attention: The Brand.

From: The Multiinfluential

    Hello. I am Indian. Asian-Indian, not Native American-Indian. The two can be confusing to those of you not paying attention. So pay attention. I am a woman. I am in your stores, on your websites, watching your commercials. I browse through your products and services and compare your prices. I spend on me and mine. But I don’t use skin-tanning moisturizers and I don’t wear leather. I don’t eat products containing eggs or gelatin and I don’t fit into your skinny jeans (at all...I’ve tried). I choose your competitor’s products when you don’t understand me. I buy Sabra hummus for my kids because it’s spicier than the others and I remember to order HBO for my husband because it airs international cricket matches year-round. I make more money than women of my ethnicity have in the past, and am more likely to spend it than I used to be. I may work in the office next to yours. Chances are, mine is bigger and has a better view. I may be that woman you overlook in the crowd. Chances are, I will be the guest speaker at the seminar you are heading to. I am here to stay. So pay attention. You want to know me.

• 35.2% of the U.S. female population are of non-Anglo descent. By 2050 this number will grow to 50% and in states like California, Texas, Washington, D.C., and Hawaii multi-influential® women of color are the majority of the population.

• From 2000 to 2007, women of color grew +18.7% in population while the non-Hispanic White female population only marginally increased by +1.1%.

• 88% of the absolute growth in U.S. female population from 2000 to 2007 was attributable to births and immigration among women of color.

• Over 500,000 U.S. households are headed by a family of color earning over $200,000 per year.

• 1 of every 7 adult women of color is an entrepreneur.

• 57% of college students of color are women; 43% are men of color.

• Women of color are 11 years younger than non-Hispanic White females. This represents an opportunity to stimulate greater sales among women of color over their lifetime and to tap into the employee talent represented by this highly educated, younger market.

Get to know the multi-influential women of color market. This is a trillion dollar consumer group that is poised for continued growth and significant market impact for years to come.