How Marketing Across Canada’s Culturally Diverse Consumers Helps Brand’s Reputation

Canada is a multicultural country. Connecting with Canada’s culturally diverse consumers can help your brand’s reputation.

Canada’s Multicultural Landscape

According to Statistics Canada, 1 in 5 Canadians are born outside of Canada. Toronto and Vancouver, in particular, are the most culturally diverse cities, with 49% to 51% of their residents born outside of this country but call Canada home. Statistics Canada said the number of visible minorities in this country will only become bigger, with nearly one-third of the population will be a visible minority by 2031.

A study conducted from June 2017 to July 2017 by MediaCom showed that only 25% of people who self-identify as a visible minority feel that brands speak to people with different cultural backgrounds. More than a third of those who self-identify as visible minority feel that in cases where their ethnicity is represented, it’s frequently done in a stereotypical manner.

Finances and Spending Trends

The MediaCom study found that many of the first-generation visible minorities in Canada are professionals. While their household incomes aren’t higher than the average Canadian consumer, first-generation visible minorities have significant savings.

With their significant savings and the desire to live permanently in Canada, the study found that first-generation visible minorities tend to spend more on personal care to electronic gadgets to cars.

The study showed that first-generation visible minorities in Canada make up 34% of those who opened a bank account in the past 12 months in Canada, 43% of those who subscribed to an internet service provider, and 57% of those who bought a mobile phone.

Mobile-First Consumers

In the study "Marketing across Canada’s multicultural landscape? New research from MediaCom Canada reveals what you need to know", MediaCom surveyed these ethnic groups: Chinese, South Asian, Latin/Central/South American, Arab, and Southeast Asian (including Japanese and Korean).

These ethnic groups who now consider Canada as their home are mobile-first consumers. The reason why they’re considered as mobile-first consumers is because these ethnic groups came from countries that moved directly to mobile to access the internet, skipping the broadband internet connection phase.

Visible minorities in Canada reported spending 20% less time watching TV, 12% less time listening to the radio and 42% more time on mobile phones compared to the average Canadian consumer.

First-generation visible minorities reported they are exposed to 13 digital touchpoints (defined as any digital means a consumer interacts with a business) each week; second-generation visible minorities said they are exposed to 12 digital touchpoints each week; and the average Canadian consumers said they’re only exposed to 9 digital touchpoints each week.

Marketing in a Multicultural Society

Here are some takeaways on how to connect with Canada’s culturally diverse consumers and in the process help build your brand’s reputation:

1. Mobile-First Approach

If your company wants to connect with the first-generation and second-generation visible minorities, the right venue is the mobile platform. As mentioned, these visible minorities are mobile-savvy, taking into consideration that they’ve skipped the broadband internet connection phase.

2. Targeted Media Campaigns

As the Canadian marketplace is becoming more and more diverse, it’s important for businesses to balance the need to reach the masses with specific targeting. According to MediaCom, if you want your brand to connect with a particular ethnicity, it’s important to provide content for them in their native language.

Nearly two-thirds of the visible minorities surveyed by MediaCom reported that when brands communicate via advertising using their native language “they feel closer and it makes the brand appear more meaningful”.

3. Diversity in Media Campaigns

“Marketers can serve an ad in a native language, but that is just the first step,” MediaCom said. “They need to create content that accurately represents consumers of different cultural backgrounds. The longer-term goal would be to build culturally meaningful connections with these consumers that celebrates diversity.”

One approach in accurately representing Canada’s diverse cultural backgrounds is by using diverse imagery.

“Businesses and brands have been slow to move with the times as it relates to how they visually market their brand and products,” said Robyn Lange, Curator and photo Editor at Shutterstock. “However, the world is increasingly diverse and multicultural, meaning these businesses need to quickly catch up if they are to continue engaging their customers and growing their business.”

Lange added, “In a time where images and video content dominate our feeds, visual choices are critical considerations as a brand looks to stand out from the crowd and connect with their audience.”

Coca-Cola is an example of a company that promotes diversity and inclusion in its ad campaigns. In the late 1960s, following the Detroit race riots and assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the company came up with an ad that featured African-Americans and whites together – something that the company had never done before.

The ad known simply as “Boys on a Bench” showed an iconic shot of a group of boys – African-Americans and whites – sitting shoulder to shoulder on a segregation bench, with their arms touching across the segregation bar looking relaxed and happy, sharing a lighthearted moment over a Coke.

Companies are beginning to take a stronger stance on diversity and inclusion. For instance, "CoverGirl” launched in late 2016 its diversity and inclusion campaign featuring a Muslim woman wearing a hijab.

A study conducted by Shutterstock and Censuswide showed that UK marketers are increasingly using images that promote diversity and inclusion. Seventy-nine percent of the marketers surveyed by Shutterstock and Censuswide confirmed they are using more images of homosexual couples and 71% are choosing more racially diverse images.

The study showed that marketers are conscious of the need to be more inclusive in the images they choose for ad campaigns, not just for promoting a brand message (30%) but also to better reflect modern-day society (71%).

Nowadays, social media savvy consumers are quick to call out those brands that don’t promote diversity and inclusion in their campaigns. Employees, partners, stakeholders and investors are also becoming less tolerant of homogeneity and are turning to brands that better reflect culturally diverse society.

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Why It's Important to Monitor Your Business' Internet Reputation

68% of shoppers agree that they read and value the information fellow consumers post online. 

Translation? 

What people are saying about you online - AKA your brand's internet reputation - is important. 

In fact, over 25% of your brand's total market value is determined exclusively by its reputation. 

In this post, we're going to talk about why you need to take your internet reputation seriously - and why looking into reputation management services is a smart idea. 

1. You'll Learn A Lot

We know - nobody likes to get a bad review. However, even negative comments on review sites or your blog can help you to improve your business. 

But if you don't read them, or even know they're out there, you wouldn't know what to improve. 

Plus, if an unsatisfied customer's comment lingers unanswered for long, that's not going to say anything good about the way your brand handles customer service. 

Of course, knowing what people are saying about you also helps you to know what's working, and what people love, about your products and services!

That way, you'll know what your customers want more of, and you can even ask for their feedback and ideas directly. This makes customers feel valued, and it's a great way to develop your next steps!

2. You Can Make Sure Your Employees Are Representing You Well

Of course, internet reputation management isn't exclusive to your company itself - it also extends to your employees' social media accounts. 

If your employees are trashing your brand or company online, that's certainly something you need to know about.

You also need to know if they're promoting your products and services, or if their general "vibe" on social media is in line with corporate policies and culture. 

3. You Can Handle Any Negative Press Before It Gets Out Of Control

Let's get real: we've all seen the kind of dog-piling that can happen online to both brands and individuals who have sent out a poorly-timed or insensitive Tweet or status. 

It only takes one stupid, throwaway comment to drag down your entire brand. 

If you've posted something you shouldn't have, or if hackers have gotten a hold of your account and done the same, how soon you take control of the situation matters. 

A reputation management service can help you to craft an apology that's sincere, and explain to followers how you'll make sure a similar situation doesn't happen again. 

They can also help to approve future postings, so you don't get yourself or your brand in hot water again!

Let's face it: some of us are more in touch with what is "ok" to say and what's not than others. 

Don't let a careless but honest mistake ruin your business - have a professional take a look.

Ready To Manage Your Brand's Internet Reputation?

Now that we've outlined why your reputation is so important, we know you're ready to make sure your customers only see great things when they search for your brand online. 

Stop losing sleep over bad reviews or a careless social media posts. 

Instead, get proactive by managing your brand's internet reputation today. 

We're here to help. 

Get in touch with us to learn more about our online reputation management services. 

How come multi-location businesses fail to manage online brand reputation? Here’s the reason why.