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"Black History Month, Hispanics in Government and Pet Ownership” Insights #4

•  It is Black History Month. Did you know that Black History Month traces it origins to 1926 when it was known as “Negroe History Week?” February was eventually chosen as Black History Month for Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln who were born during that month. Just as African Americans share a different historical perspective than other Americans, they also have some differences when it comes to product and service usage. Blacks are a viable and rich marketplace that smart companies are focusing on to grow their businesses. Consider:

•  African Americans lead the way as early adopters in electronics and telecommunications innovations

•  There are 38.3 million U.S. residents who were black or black in combination with one or more other races as of July 1, 2002 . This race group then made up 13.3 percent of the total at that time and continues to grow along with the Hispanic population.

•  Over 1.1 million African Americans in the United States have advanced degrees. That includes Master's, Ph.D., M.D., and J.D.

•  As talk of the Presidential Election heats up, Hispanics are playing an even more important part in America's government. The Census reports there were 4,432 elected officials of Hispanic origin in 2002, an increase of almost 41% since 1985. Seeing these numbers is a direct reflection that the new general market in America is changing rapidly.

•  Dogs or cats? There as been some debate about whether there are more cats or dogs in the United States. Conventional wisdom suggests there are more cats overall, recently surpassing dogs, but the latest government numbers say that 36% of American homes had dogs and 32% had cats in 2001 (the latest year numbers were tallied). Either way, pets and the pet industry are big business among all consumers and it is more than just pet food. Do you know how pet ownership breaks out among cultural markets?

•  A lot of companies are looking for ways to market to Hispanics and African Americans as a whole without ever knowing who their current specific customer base is. The first step to effective marketing is understanding who your current base of consumers are. Once you understand this, you can expand research to understand how you can further expand your product reach. Don't neglect understanding your current customers with analytics like Psychographic Profile Insights. This analytical method helps to not only understand the demographics behind your current client base, but the psychographic and attitudinal mindset as well. Knowing what your current customers have in mind about your product goes a long way in attracting other like-minded consumers and also helps develop alternative marketing to those hard-to-get customers. Your product or service may not have mass appeal among multicultural consumers, so understanding who you have now goes along way in getting the most out of your marketing efforts. If you have a product with mass appeal, the sky is the limit to growing your business.

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