By the Gonzales Group
RISMEDIA, Dec. 11, 2008-The one-size-fits-all approach to marketing worked great 20 years ago but the world has changed. Understanding and addressing your target audience through the communication vehicles they prefer is critical.
Researching and understanding literacy rates, media distributions, and identifying community influencers are the first steps to getting your in-culture marketing and recruiting message out.
Begin by analyzing the business environment to ascertain how the organization views itself in the marketplace and what the perception is of how you are viewed.
Identify what is happening in the local environment. Who are your key competitors for this customer segment?
Determine what stage in the multicultural outreach life cycle you are for accommodating the changing demographics.
While no one can accurately forecast the future, understand what the changing demographics means to your organizations future.
Explore scenario planning.
Determine what the company needs to look like for this change and how you will get it there.
More importantly define your strategic direction.
Determine the commitment from the organization for taking action on the multicultural market opportunity.
Begin to describe in more detail what the future model will look like for customer acquisition, processes, and competencies.
Ensure there is a decision process for problem solving the multicultural market initiative.
Ensure there is alignment with internal and external forces.
Determine how much will be expended on the initiative.
Establish a benchmark for return on investment.
Establish a goal for the number of customers that will result from the initiative.
Determine the company’s market share and penetration.
Identify elements of the company that may not work well in the new environment.
As you examine your organizations strategy, it is important to not only consider economic changes but societal and consumer changes that may be driving the local economic engine. Leverage the three strategies we recommend to help you develop a strategy for dealing with these changes and go on the offensive to help you bridge the economic and consumer gap you may be missing out on.
At the Gonzales Group we provide the multi-dimensional business development discipline to help you develop and execute an effective multicultural strategy build profitable connections with the multicultural consumer.
For more information, visit www.thegonzalesgroup.com.
