With the changing cultural scene throughout metro Atlanta, how do businesses attract new clients or consumers? Targeting new audiences can be as simple as reaching out to their needs and understanding their cultures.
Companies looking to market their products across cultures need to have sophisticated approaches to customers, who are increasingly picky about where they spend their dollars.
 PAM PROUTY/Special |
| Eduardo Peréz, president and strategist at PM Publicidad, an advertising and brand-marketing firm, says that companies need sophisticated approaches to attracting diverse audiences or clients. |
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| A crowd enjoys last year's Cinco de Mayo event at Centennial Olympic Park. Marketing experts say that targeting the needs and understanding the mind-set of a specific audience can help companies gain customers. |
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| Rick Kern, owner of MixIt Marketing, says targeting an audience should be more than 'just talk.' |
"There is no silver bullet," said Eduardo Peréz, president and strategist at PM Publicidad, an advertising and brand-marketing firm in Midtown that focuses on the Hispanic community. "It's not as simple as translating messages from English to Spanish; you have to have cultural relevancy."
The same goes for marketing to English-speaking communities, such as African-Americans and gays and lesbians, experts say. Companies need to go beyond stereotypes to demonstrate an understanding of their targeted audiences.
For example, in a campaign for Napa Auto Parts aimed at Hispanic consumers, Peréz promoted the company's products as safer for the family.
"Family is a common theme," he said. "It's all about giving your family the best. You might not think of auto parts as being family-oriented, but the family spends a lot of time in the car."
Within the Hispanic community, are Mexicans, Colombians, Puerto Ricans and others, all with their own likes and dislikes.
And, while some Hispanics immigrated here, many were born on American soil. Second- and third-generation Hispanics are more Americanized but still are influenced by their parents' native countries, said Peréz, whose parents emigrated from Spain and spoke only Spanish at home.
"What's key is understanding the mind-set," he said.
Peréz is not afraid to use humor in his campaigns, but he is careful to find themes that are universally funny.
"Humor can be hit-and-miss," he said, adding that he keeps in mind Super Bowl advertisements, which transcend culture and appeal to everyone.
Campaigns must also be mindful of language differences among Spanish-speaking countries, similar to English differences between the United States and Australia. What means "candy" to Colombians may be slang for something distasteful in Venezuela.
When working on a campaign proposal, Peréz shares his ideas with everyone on his staff, which includes professionals from Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Venezuela. The payoff is worth the extra effort, Peréz said.
Among Hispanics, incomes are soaring, giving marketers the opportunity to promote luxury brands that weren't always associated with Hispanic consumers.
"Hispanics spend more on clothing, shoes and cellphones than non-Hispanics," he said.
In the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual community, high incomes have always been on radar screens.
But consumers are drawn to companies that look beyond the stereotype of the free-spending gay professional, said Rick Kern, owner of MixIt Marketing, a firm that works with companies that want to sponsor events such as the annual Atlanta Pride Festival or to join the Atlanta Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.
"We've moved beyond this, 'Let's just slap rainbow flags over everything, and say we're gay friendly,' " Kern said. "We want to know it's not just talk."
A more sophisticated message would be to show two men or two women shopping for groceries or visiting a bank, Kern said.
"The message shouldn't be phony or flippant," he said.
Before working with a client interested in sponsoring the Pride Festival, Kern looks up the company to see if its workplace policies are inclusive.
Only companies with high ratings on issues such as domestic-partner benefits are allowed to display their logos at the Pride Festival.
For companies, the benefits of connecting with the festival go beyond selling products.
"It's a recruitment tool," Kern said, noting that a Pride Festival visitor may lean toward working for a company that had a presence at the festival.
Kern works with a variety of companies, including Washington Mutual, Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola and Orbitz.
After he makes sure that the company's policies back up its marketing message, he works on a campaign appropriate for the Pride Festival audience. The best promotions are fun and relevant to gay consumers; the least successful involve handing out pamphlets from behind a card table.
As an example of a successful marketing strategy, Delta Air Lines promoted its international destinations with a Velcro map during last year's festival. Visitors threw a ball at the map of destinations to win SkyMiles and other prizes.
"[Delta] delivered a message," Kern said, "and the community was having fun."