Marketing to Multigenerational Audiences

A key to successful engagement in public relations is to provide meaningful content that also takes into account the evolving habits, preferences and values of today’s multiple audiences. One useful way to define those audiences is to understand how members of each group have been influenced by the era in which they were born and raised, and how their experiences growing up have shaped their view of the world says BurrellesLuce PR agency.

Identifying Generational Markers
While there is some debate as to the start and end dates of each generation, these are the generally accepted demarcations usually associated with each American age cohort:
* The Silent Generation or Traditionalists (born late-1920s through 1945)
* Baby Boomers (born 1946 through 1964)
* Gen-X (born 1965 through 1980)
* Gen-Y, or Millennials (born 1981 through 1993)
* Gen-Z, or Generation Next (born 1994 through 2004)

Winning Tactics for Communicating With Multigenerational Audiences Today
1. Understand your audience by demographic. Determining the gender, age, and other key characteristics of your core audience is the first step in building an effective campaign. By working with other departments within your organization, you should be able to construct a clear picture of your target market and be confident that you're proceeding in the right direction. Even a little research can go a long way when getting to know your audience.

2. Consider audience traits in shaping messages. Take, for instance, Gen-X and the ramification of communications via geo-location sites such as Foursquare—understanding the distinctive preferences and values of each group can help you form messages that are precisely aligned with each constituency.

3. Avoid unexamined assumptions about an audience’s preferred media channels. It’s risky to assume that all members of a generation would rather receive, say, an email instead of a phone call, even if their generation is perceived as preferring one over the other. Instead, begin to build your own library of research (including customer surveys and testimonials), which can be a more reliable guide to the preferences of your target audiences.

4. Identify the generations most responsive to calls to action. It may be that you are aiming a product promotion toward Gen-X, but it is really the Baby Boomers who are the most responsive. Rather than continue to push the brand on someone who isn't interested, recalibrate the campaign to focus on those who are listening and engaging.

5. Look beyond generalizations. While some Millenials, for example, seem to need more attention and praise than, say, members of the Silent Generation, there are always exceptions to the generalizations. Gen-Yer Kristin Piombino, editorial assistant for Ragan.com, challenges people to move beyond "millennial myths and stereotypes" in this article. "We don’t want you to treat us differently than anyone else in the office or look at us like we’re another species," she states. "We just want your respect, and a chance to prove ourselves."

Indeed, respect and being heard are really what any audience or person wants, regardless of generation or industry. You must truly listen to your audience and view your constituents as individuals with specific needs—and not just another set of data—to enhance the conversation and foster engagement with important communities across multi-generations.

Minority Youth Media Consumption

Minority youth spend more than half their day consuming media content, a rate that's 4.5 hours greater than their white counterparts, according to a Northwestern University report. Television remains king among all youth, but among minorities who spend 13 hours per day consuming media of various types, electronic gadgets such as cell phones and iPods increasingly are the way such content gets delivered, the report found.

"Children, Media and Race: Media Use Among White, Black, Hispanic and Asian American Children" was touted by researchers as the first national study to focus exclusively on children's media use by race and ethnicity.

Minority youth media consumption rates outpace their white counterparts by two hours when it comes to TV and video viewership, approximately an hour for music, up to 1.5 hours for computer use, and 30 to 40 minutes for playing video games. In the past decade, the gap between minority and white youth's daily media use has doubled for blacks and quadrupled for Hispanics.

The study acknowledged that technology is a structural part of modern society but said the numbers suggest that young people are settling for a sedentary lifestyle and risk further exacerbating ongoing problems such as child obesity. Increased parental involvement, including limiting usage time and monitoring content, could mitigate those concerns.

The report analyzes by race data from the 2010 Kaiser Family Foundation Generation M2 study on media use among 2,000 8- to 18-year-olds and the foundation's 2006 Media Family study on another 2,000 children from birth to 6 years old. It did not chart the type of programming youth were consuming nor did it offer final conclusions. Young people in all groups read for pleasure 30 to 40 minutes a day, the only medium that no difference was found between minority and white youth.

Other findings include:

- Minority youth spend 3 hours and 7 minutes per day using mobile devices to watch TV and videos, play games and listen to music. That's about 1.5 hours more each day than white youth.

- Traditional TV viewing remains most popular. Black and Hispanic youth consume more than three hours daily; whites and Asians more than two hours.

- Access to TiVo, DVDs, and mobile and online viewing increase television consumption to 5 hours and 54 minutes for black youth, 5 hours and 21 minutes for Hispanics, 4 hours and 41 minutes for Asians, and 3 hours and 36 minutes for whites.

- Black and Hispanic youth are more likely to have TV sets in their bedrooms (84 percent of blacks, 77 percent of Hispanics compared to 64 percent of whites and Asians), and to have cable and premium channels available in their bedrooms (42 percent of blacks and 28 percent of Hispanics compared to 17 percent of whites and 14% of Asians).

- 78 percent of black youth, 67 percent of Hispanic, 58 percent of white and 55 percent of Asian 8- to 18-year-olds say the TV is "usually" on during home meals.

- Black children under 6 are twice as likely to have a TV in their bedroom as whites, and more than twice as likely to go to sleep with the TV on.

- Asian youth spend more time in recreational computer use: Nearly 3 hours a day compared to 1:49 for Hispanics, nearly 1.24 for blacks and 1:17 for whites.

Mobile Advertising's Battle of the Sexes

Leslie Horn writes in PC Magazine Men aren't from Mars, and women don't hail from Venus. But it appears men prefer Android and women tend toward BlackBerry, according to a new infographic from Inneractive that analyzes the differences in mobile advertising among males and females.

Inneractive reports that men tend to click on ads more frequently than women. Men have a click through rate (CTR) of 2.73 percent versus a CTR rate of 1.65 percent for women.

The company also takes a look at the top app categories used by either sex. The top three apps for women are entertainment, social, instant messaging apps, and brain and puzzle apps.

For men, the top three are sports, arcade, and action, and card and casino apps, Inneractive's infographic shows.

"It is understandable that men and women prefer different types of apps," the graphic reads. "What is even more interesting is the different return that developers generate based on the app category."

For example, women are almost six times more likely to click on ads within entertainment apps than in social and IM apps. This means the eCPM (effective cost per thousand impressions, or how much it costs to show an ad 1,00 times in an app) is higher for entertainment apps.

Men, however, click through ads at the same rate in the top two app categories for their gender, making the eCPM the same for these categories as well.

Inneractive also broke down the different operating systems each gender favors.
"When analyzing the gender of our users based on OS, we found that most platforms were split down the middle," Inneractive says. "Most, but not all. Android, we found, has a dominant male user-base and BlackBerry was just the opposite, mostly female."

Apple was found to be very close to an even split, with 49 percent female users and 51 percent male. Symbian reported the same stats.

Android, however, is 39 percent female and 61 percent male, and BlackBerry is 59 percent female and 41 percent male, Inneractive says.

Customer Segmentation and Predictive Modeling Improve the Results of Marketing Campaigns

There’s an important concept in marketing that you’re probably already familiar with called Customer Segmentation.
Here’s why it’s important:

• The more you segment your target market, the more you can customize your marketing materials;
• The more you customize your marketing materials, the more meaningful they become to your prospects;
• The more meaningful they become to your prospects, the more stuff you’ll sell. 

The more you know about Customer Segmentation and Predictive Modeling, the more stuff you'll sell. And that would be a good thing.

The bottom line — Customer Segmentation is an important concept because it can help you sell more stuff to more people. And that would be a good thing.
What are the different kinds of Customer Segmentation? Glad you asked. Here’s a summary of how Dr. George Belch and Dr. Michael Belch break things down in Advertising and Promotion.

Demographic Segmentation: This is pretty straightforward and something you’re probably doing already. Essentially, it’s dividing your target market on the basis of demographic variables such as age, sex, family size, education, income and social class.
You want to focus attention on the specific demographic groups that drive large chunks of your revenue. For example, when Ikea found out that 70% of their shoppers were women, they enhanced their store environment to be more “women friendly.” The results speak for themselves.

Psychographic Segmentation: Dividing your target market on the basis of personality and/or lifestyles is called psychographic segmentation. There is some disagreement as to whether a personality is a useful basis for segmentation, but lifestyle has been used effectively by the majority of sophisticated marketers.
The determination of lifestyles is usually based on an analysis of the activities, interests and opinions of consumers. These lifestyles are then correlated with the consumers’ product, brand and/or media usage. For many products or services, lifestyles may be the best discriminator between use and non-use, accounting for differences in food, clothing and car selections among numerous other consumer behaviors.

Behavioral Segmentation: Dividing customers into groups according to their usage, loyalties or buying responses to a product is called behavioral segmentation. For example, product or brand usage, degree of use (heavy vs. light), and/or brand loyalty are combined with demographic and/or psychographic criteria to develop profiles of market segments.
In the case of usage, the marketer assumes that non-purchasers of a brand or product who have the same characteristics as purchasers hold greater potential for adoption than non-users with different characteristics.

Benefit Segmentation: In purchasing products, consumers are generally trying to satisfy specific needs and/or wants. They’re looking for products that provide specific benefits to satisfy these needs. The grouping of consumers on the basis of attributes sought in a product is known as benefit segmentation.
Consider the purchase of a wristwatch. While you might buy a watch for particular benefits such as accuracy and water resistance, others may see a different set of benefits relating to style and prestige. Those different customer groups would be broken out using benefit segmentation.

Going Deeper with Predictive Modeling Customer Segmentation was just the starting point for marketing analytics. Demographic, Psychographic, Behavioral and Benefit Segmentation are important foundations, but they’re just the beginning. If you’re really going to get deep into this kind of stuff, you’ll want to get into  Predictive Modeling.
Predictive Modeling is used to describe the likelihood that a customer will take a particular action, usually in the form of a purchase. For example, a large telecommunications company will have a set of predictive models for product cross-selling, product deep-selling and churn.

Data, or different criteria, is used to analyze and predict how certain customer segments would respond to the marketing initiatives. The starting point might be to use Segmentation to develop your overall strategy and to use Predictive Modeling as a way to analyze transactional and other data to predict the likelihood that customer segments will respond to marketing messages.

Action Steps for You:

• At a minimum, you should have a good grasp of your different customer segments.
• You should also be customizing your marketing materials based on which customer segments will be receiving them.
• Ideally, you’ll also use sophisticated techniques like Predictive Modeling to super-charge your efforts and to improve the efficiency of your marketing programs.

The Hispanic Mom Car Buying Behavior

Coast to coast more dealers are starting to tap into the sales potential of their local Hispanic auto buyers' market. They are reaching out to the Hispanic community in ways that didn't exist just a couple of years ago. COO at Todobebé Cynthia Nelson says a new research explores Hispanic moms' insights, perceptions and involvement with the automotive category: ownership, usage, attitudes, considerations, and key factors influencing purchase. When it comes to automotive purchases, there is always a misunderstanding that women either aren't interested or don't have a say in which vehicle is chosen. Not so with Hispanic moms, who are not only interested in what type of car but also very involved in features that will not only make her life easier with children in tow, but also be safe and reliable. She is concerned as well with purchase vs. lease, and even performance.

This new research identifies key insights for approaches and messaging with this audience, particularly with regard to choice and selection of a family vehicle.

General Panel Demographics:

• 87% are women ages 18-34.
• 79% are married or living with a partner.
• 50% say their country of origin is Mexico.
• 67% household income is $45,000 or less.
• 60% are stay-at-home moms.
• 74% have children ages 0-5 in the home.

Key Outcomes & Marketing Opportunities:

Factors Influencing Purchase

• More than 56% of respondents said that expecting a child was a major factor influencing the purchase of a new vehicle.
• Room for passengers (78%) is a major factor in choice, followed by safety/security and price/value.
• Nearly all respondents said they test drove the vehicle that they purchased.
• Respondents also said that they test drove other vehicles -- averaging two or more.
• One in four purchased or leased a vehicle during the last year; a lesser percentage are considering purchasing in the next 12 months.
• Most respondents indicate preference for a SUV or Minivan, followed by station wagon or four-door sedan.
• The majority of respondents indicate they have a preference between foreign vs. domestic vehicles.
• Toyota (21.9%), Ford (21.1%) and Honda (18.8%) lead in brand preference.
• The majority of respondents say they receive information regarding family vehicles and auto safety via TV (79%) and the Internet (68%).

Key Take-Aways:

Hispanic moms are a key and influential target for automotive communications, particularly as related to selection and purchase of a new family vehicle. There are many, many ways to positively influence buyer behavior of your vehicle brand by making mom the central point of your marketing communication platform:

• Understand her needs/walk in her shoes in terms of how her family and having children is an important factor in the vehicle that she purchases -- what is important to her, should be reflected in your messaging. 
• Provide her with tips and information that help her visualize the features and functionality that your automotive brand will bring to her -- if it saves her money, time or helps her store more stuff -- let her know. 
• Don't limit yourself to TV spots -- the Internet, Video Downloads, Mobile, Grass Roots Events, In-Retail, non-traditional media, are all great ways to reach this busy mom.
• Remember she is a viral creature. If you build her trust, she will share your data with her friends and family -- priceless for any marketer.

How People Make Buying Decisions

The most important purchase you get from a customer is the second purchase.

Why? Because a two-time buyer is at least twice as likely to return and buy again as a one-time buyer, says marketer extraordinaire Jamie Turner.

So then the question becomes, "How do I get a one-time buyer to become a two-time buyer?"

Typically, that involves a combination of good customer service and the good sense of value. A good sense of value is achieved when a customer feels as though they're getting more of your product or service than they paid for.

For example, a Mercedes Benz is typically twice as expensive as a Volkswagen. Given that, you might assume that Mercedes Benz' market share would be significantly less than Volkswagen's, but it's not. They're almost equal (1.9% for Mercedes Benz vs 2.2% for Volkswagen).

Why? Because while a Mercedes Benz is twice as expensive, the perceived value is 2.5 to 3 times greater than a Volkswagen's. Customers who pay twice as much for a Mercedes Benz feel as though they're getting 2.5 to 3 times more value for their purchase.

See how that works?

How all This Relates to You
When you're thinking about how to sell more of your products and services, you can start by understanding how people make buying decisions.

Remember, most people make buying decisions in one of three ways:
With their gut
With their heart
With their mind

People who make decisions with their gut are intuitive, non-linear thinkers. They don't analyze a purchase in a structured "A...B...C" way as much as they analyze a purchase in a less-structured "A...Q...Z...Y...C...oh, look, there's a bird outside my window" way.

People who make decisions with their heart are driven by emotion. If your target market is driven by emotion, you'll want to work extra hard on establishing a strong, meaningful brand.

People who make decisions with their mind are logical, linear thinkers. If that's your target market, you'll want a feature-oriented, benefits-based marketing campaign.

How the 77-Million-Strong Millennials Will Reshape Marketplaces in the Decades to Come

Now it's the turn of the Baby Boom's children to shape American society, says Melissa S. Bristow, Kiplinger Managing Editor. The older half of Generation Y — also called the Millennials — are young adults, participating in the workforce, voting in elections, establishing households and in myriad ways making their presence felt in the workplaces and markets of the U.S.

About 77 million American Gen Yers were born over an 18-year span — 1981 through 1999. That's about the size of the Baby Boom, though Gen Y is a smaller share of the population. In 1970, for example, Baby Boomers accounted for nearly half of the total U.S. population, while today only about a fourth of Americans are part of Generation Y.

The single most important difference between Gen Y and earlier generations: The Millennials' familiarity with technology. Gen Y cut its teeth on computers and digital media. More than any other population segment, Gen Yers see technology as enhancing the quality of their lives — making work easier, allowing them to manage time better and bringing family and friends closer. 90% of Gen Yers over the age of 18 use the Internet. 75% use social networking — Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. 60% of them access the Web wirelessly while on the go. 83% keep their cell phones nearby, day and night, awake or sleeping. Two-fifths don't even have a land line.

Gradual racial and ethnic shifts in the population as a whole are more concentrated in younger generations because most immigrants are young adults and because Hispanic families in the U.S. tend to have more than the average number of children. So, only about 60% of Gen Yers over the age of 18 are white, compared with 65% of everyone in the U.S. About 20% of young adult Millennials are Hispanic. About 13% of them are black. In contrast, only 10% of Baby Boomers are Latino, and 11% are black. For now, Generation X — the small cohort between the Baby Boom and Gen Y and now aged 30-45 — has the highest share of foreign-born Americans, largely because they are the same age as most new immigrants. As Gen Y moves into that age bracket, its share of nonnatives will swell.

In addition to possessing a technological savvy that can't be beat, Gen Yers are well-schooled. One in five Millennials over the age of 18 have already graduated from college; one fourth of them are working on graduate degrees. Another fourth are in college and about 30%, though not now in school expect to earn a degree. They're on track to beat all previous generations. Gen Yers are also well traveled. About a quarter of a million Gen Yers study abroad each year. They're culturally aware thanks in part to their foreign studies and to the diversity of their peer groups. And Millennials are used to working in groups. From preschool on, they've been taught to work cooperatively, with stronger team members helping out others.

When it comes to money, Gen Yers are different from their elders, but may come to resemble previous generations more as they pass through the life stages of marriage, family, retirement and so on. For now, they're less acquisitive than their Baby Boomer parents, steering away from what they see as conspicuous consumption. When they do spend, Gen Yers are value conscious — maybe because technology makes finding the best buy a no-brainer. Traditional advertising doesn't have much street creed. Millennials are more likely to buy based on peer recommendations. And they're a bit more willing than older shoppers to pay higher prices to protect the environment.

The Young Urban Consumer: How Hip-Hop Culture Affects the Lifestyle and Buying Decisions of 12- to 34- Year Olds

Hip-hop culture continues to influence the lifestyle and buying decisions of Young Urban Consumers as young as 12 and as old as 34. Thirty seven million Young Urban Consumers live in all parts of the country and have an urban mindset, regardless of whether they live in a city, a suburb or a small town. Young Urban Consumers enjoy an aggregate income of $600 billion, and they love to shop and spend. These trendsetters and influencers who affiliate with hip-hop culture exercise a powerful impact on the direction of the fashion, media, entertainment and other key consumer-focused industries.

Hip-hop is a huge lifestyle segment that stretches from urban areas to suburban areas and involves an active lifestyle. More than half, or 57%, of Urban Youth, age 12 to 34, are white, although the proportion of African Americans and Hispanics who are Young Urban Consumers is greater within their own ethnic segments than is the case for non-Hispanic Whites.

Young Urban Consumers have a more favorable economic profile compared to other consumers their age. They are spenders, not savers -they prefer to enjoy their money now. Core Urban males in particular are consumers who prefer to discover the undiscovered. This group is important to the U.S. economy because the aggregate income of these 37 million young urbanites will grow from $594 billion in 2007 to $684 billion in 2012, much of which will be spent on luxury items. At the core of the trendsetting power of Young Urban Consumers is their ability to influence the consumer choices of their friends. This demographic is among the first to try new things and spend their income on favorite product brands.

Urban Youth shoppers put a high priority on brand loyalty, and brands achieving the greatest success have formed a connection with hip-hop artists. Significant sales can be attributed to products prominently featured in lyrics, spontaneously embraced by the hip-hop world and products that appear to be genuinely used by an artist prior to the relationship.

Behavioral Targeting Classifications Read Between The Lines

Understanding consumer intent and knowing how to meet consumer needs seem like the perfect combination to determine the type of ad to serve up in any given scenario. It could become the key that unlocks nirvana for companies tapping behavioral targeting.
A new technology not only provides information on Web site visitors based on how they might think and feel about any given topic, but also their intention, whether or not they will buy or sell, and when. OpenAmplify recently launched Ampliverse, which allows companies to create taxonomies that classify Web content based on their requirements. Knowing who, when, where and why help answer questions on what ads to serve where. While it might be easy to determine the person with a positive view about BMWs should see an ad, it's more complicated to assign a classification and respond to the request for an ad position somewhere on the publisher's site -- which could offer about 600 spaces suitable to run an ad for a car.
Making a classification is just as important as understanding the content. It helps to increase the accuracy of behavioral targeting decisions. Different classification opinions for products and services make it more difficult.
Another technology is the Georgia Tech search engine created by a doctoral student which relies, in part, on machines helping Web sites learn dialect and other vernacular to improve search experiences and performance when language for queries might become unclear or unorthodox.
So, what about integrating the technology in Ampliverse? Let’s say you wanted to determine what type of car a salesperson might sell someone based on what medical articles he reads online. Using taxonomies not only tells the API the content to serve up, but it describes the type of convertible to sell him. Both the understanding and classification provides the flexibility to define a universe. This technology is still young but it has a lot of promise.

Demographics and Psychographics: Target Tactics

Demographics are the average or typical characteristics of the people who buy your products or services. Such characteristics include age, income, education, status, type of occupation, region of country, or household size. Demographics can also include the age of children, the status of home ownership, one's home value, and whether one's home is located in an urban or a rural location.

Psychographics take this idea a step further: These include people's lifestyles and behaviors — where they like to vacation, the kinds of interests they have, the values they hold, and how they behave. Even though you may have determined your demographic group, people within that group still have very different perceptions about the benefits or value of your product and will be motivated for different reasons. These differences are known as psychographics. To further target your efforts, you've got to determine not only who buys (or will buy) your product, but what makes them want to buy it. Include as much psychographic information as you can dig up, such as what their spending patterns are, whether they are brand conscious when it comes to your product type, what influences their buying behavior, what promotional efforts they respond to most often, etc. You also want to know how they go about buying it and what you can do to encourage them to buy more. You need this information so you can, in effect, clone your best customers. It is important to really pick apart what motivates them to buy.

The information you glean from a journey into your target audience's brain is often key to your marketing efforts, particularly the positioning of your product. It includes the audience's activities, interests, and opinions. You have to work through behavioral factors, economic factors, and even interpersonal factors to get to the root of purchasing behavior.

To hone this information to fit your marketing needs, you will need to conduct research — survey people who have bought your products or those who use similar ones.

You need to know both demographics and psychographics in order to advertise and sell your product effectively. You'll need to match the audience's characteristics of the media you choose with the characteristics of your desired purchasers. In that way, you won't lose precious dollars on wasted advertising and marketing. Moreover, you need information about your customers so that you can meet their needs better than the competition does.

There are many new and exciting ways of collecting that makes marketing demographics and consumer profiling sound easy. You can have your website set “cookies” and track your customers’ web-browsing habits. You can get information from price clubs at grocery stores where customer cards are scanned along with their groceries. Computerized information from the local phone company or cellular service provider can tell you a person’s habits on the phone.

With so many technical options for collecting demographic data from and about consumers, how do you decide which options to employ and how to use the information you get? You need to have your eyes “on the street” and to make sure you’re in touch with changes in demographics, buying habits, wants and needs. First, you need to decide what information is important to you. Then you need to figure out how to get it. Many people do this in the wrong order- they do their research on what information they can get, then try to figure out how to use it! Although you should take advantage of windfalls when they happen, don’t let the “tail wag the dog” by determining your needs based on what appears to be available at the moment.

10 Things Retailers Should Know

1. U.S. Hispanic spending power growth has significantly outpaced non-Hispanic with an average of $5 more per basket.
On average, Hispanics spend 13% more than GM consumer in the CPG category. As food plays an important role in Latino culture and they tend to have higher monthly food expenditures than non-Hispanics.
Hispanics also spend more than the GM on clothing because of their higher proportion of children and their younger demographic more prone to keep up with the latest trends. The average Latina has 11 pairs of jeans, while the average Caucasian female has nine.

2. Hispanics are quickly becoming the savviest of shoppers.
Hispanic women are significantly more aware (by a 48% to 36% margin) of "sales" before going to the store than GM shoppers.
Hispanics have always been savvy consumers and yet, the economic downfall has forced Latina moms to add new tactics to their repertoire like usage of coupons and in-store communications.
Although the current crisis hasn't affected Hispanics shopping patterns as drastically as the GM, Latinos are looking for partners that will help them navigate their current reality. Going forward, the key challenge for merchants is to redefine the consumer's value equation from "value = price" to "value = price + something else" (e.g., customer service, product's healthy attributes, designer exclusives).

3. Hispanic research and plan for each trip.
Hispanics plan their trips well -- more so than the GM population -- not only for what's needed, but also for the value that can be attained.
For Hispanics, the planning phase is important in organizing the shopping trip and controlling impulse purchases and budgets, not eliminating additional fill-in shopping (the general market's primary motivation is limiting the number of trips in a given time frame).

4. Hispanics are macro shopping.
Hispanic consumers are almost four times more likely than GM consumers to make their grocery shopping at mass merchandisers and mega stores.
Hispanic consumers travel significant distances to shop in these channels and spend considerable time and money in each visit, thus making large purchases and family-sized items a top priority for those shopping trips. Also, these mass merchandisers allow the consumers to shop for multiple-product categories.

5. Hispanics are not one-stop shoppers.
Hispanics significantly outpace the national spending averages across nearly every channel in CPG spending. The shopping experience plays a far more important role in their lives than for their non-Hispanic peers, making them a highly attractive segment for retailers. Hispanics are not only shopping to fulfill a list, but to fulfill different needs and experiences as well.

6. Hispanics enjoy the shopping experience.
37% of Hispanics "enjoy any kind of shopping" vs. 25% of non-Hispanics. No matter where, Hispanics report that shopping is a "feel good" experience. 53% of Hispanics evaluate their trip satisfaction on being "a fun place to shop," while, 43% of Hispanics "enjoy shopping even when they are not buying," vs. 37% of non-Hispanics. For retailers it is important to embrace the market by making store investments to become a FUN-shopping destination for Hispanics.

7. Shopping is not a chore.
"The store is a place where I can spend time with friends and family." Department - 50% Hisp. vs. 28% GM; Grocery - Hisp. 48% vs. 19% GM; Mass - Hisp. 46% vs. 24% GM; Drugstore - Hisp. 41% vs. 25% GM.
For Hispanics, shopping is a destination for meeting with friends and family, an opportunity to catch up and spend time together. Offering a more interactive environment allows retailers to become a preferred destination.

8. Advertising impacts and attracts Hispanics.
36% of Hispanics say that they remember advertised products while shopping. 31% say that ads help them pick products for their kids.
Hispanics tend to be more receptive to advertising and marketing efforts than GM. Another important aspect of advertising is retail promotions that in most cases will influence their decision to visit a particular store.
They are actively seeking choices that allow them to increase their brand selection with new and better products and advertising plays an important role in getting brands noticed and differentiated.

9. It is a myth that Hispanics, overall, are more loyal.
Only those Hispanics who are recent arrivals (fewer than four years in the US) display above average brand loyalty.
There is no conclusive proof to say, in general, that Hispanics are more loyal shoppers. Retailer loyalty is strong among Hispanics but it pertains mainly to the store of choice, based on the need. Continued loyalty relies on value offer, product quality, and experience consistency.

10. Hispanics are quickly adopting online shopping.
Nearly two-thirds (62%) of Hispanic Internet users are buying online. Retail initiatives for Hispanics have been primarily focused on brick and mortar, but the time has come to expand initiatives to the virtual shopping world. In 2007, Hispanic online purchases accounted for $12.8 billion, 11% of all online retail spending. Furthermore, Hispanics are more likely to provide online feedback: 34% vs. 27% of non-Hispanics.

Now it is imperative that brands and retailers offer the opportunity for online purchases. Additionally, this will open up a whole new avenue for building a brand relationship through online activations and promotions. It also multiplies the impact through digital word of mouth via consumer feedback.

The Latina Demographic: Not What You Think They Are

It is not unusual -- to put it mildly -- to see Hispanic-market advertising focused on families and moms. But Chicago-based global market research firm Mintel says that doesn't reflect the Latina population in the U.S., either demographically or culturally. 

Leylha Ahuile, Mintel's senior analyst of multicultural reports, said that Hispanic women are more sophisticated, English-dominant, bi-cultural and also retro-cultural than they have ever been. And they are also much more likely to respond to marketers who understand them and speak to them as Latinas. There are 23.6 million Latinas in the U.S. now, which will increase to around 24.5 million by 2014. There are also more U.S.-born Latinas than non-Latina, and that trend will increase with a tightening immigration policy. 

Latinas spend more time on social media than non-Latinas, they are younger than non-Latinas, almost half are not married, and the majority is under 45 years of age. A full 52% is yet to enter their peak earning years so their purchasing power is on the rise; and with Hispanics constituting 25% of children being born in the U.S., most Latinas are now between 5 and 14, so children's' products are important.

"Most advertising to Latinas depicts them as married with two children. But the majority are unmarried, and the educational attainment of Latinas is higher than that of Latinos," said Ahuile. "That means she will have a higher-paying job and discretionary income." 

Between 1997 and 2006, the number of Latinas earning bachelor’s degrees increased by 222% and the number of Latinas earning masters degrees increased by 307%. Advertising messages need to speak to this more sophisticated consumer, according to Ahuile, who added that the notion that all Latinas like spending time with family is a myth. "Foreign-born actually want to spend even less," she said.

As for products, Latinas over-index with beauty and personal care products, which represent power and upward mobility. Latinas with household income of between $50,000 and $75,000 have the highest rate of makeup usage. And Hispanics don't consume less makeup when they get older, as is the case with other ethnic groups. "Those between 50 and 60 actually use more," says Ahuie, "But are beauty advertisers targeting older Latinas?" 

Media consumption among Latinas reflects, paradoxically, acculturation and "retroculturation," -a desire to connect with one's heritage. When it comes to consumption of print, there is an increase in preference for English-language media and decrease in Spanish, but we need to keep in mind that most consume print in both English and Spanish. Ahuile says the preference will tip toward English as U.S. Hispanic births continue to outpace immigration. When it comes to language preferred for TV it's a slightly different story with one-third watching English-language TV and some Spanish, reflecting the popularity of telenovelas. Latinas spend more hours per week in about every type of Internet activity except online games. They spend an hour more per week on social networking than non-Latinas, and they are also much more likely to access the Internet on mobile.

The Gay and Lesbian Demographic

The visibility of gay and lesbian consumers along with accurate research on their households and economic behavior, have grown dramatically in the past few years. Increased competition among companies for this market has also transformed a cultural trend into solid marketing and partnering opportunities. Without question, the gay and lesbian market offers brand loyalty and a consumer demographic whose value makes this segment too promising to overlook or mishandle. The gay market has more disposable income, and has a propensity for travel. There is a trend toward more diversified travel experiences, and this combined with discretionary income and a greater variety of options, puts the "gay market" in a league of its own.
Based on national population figures, the American gay and lesbian community represents a US $47.3 billion travel market, or about 10% of the U.S. travel industry. But it represents an even larger percentage of the overall travel market in terms of actual gay and lesbian dollars invested in travel.

The CVBs of Miami Beach, Key West, West Hollywood and San Francisco are reaching out to the gay market for groups and conventions. Perhaps this could be expected, but so are Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and Minneapolis. The British Tourist Authority and the Australia Tourism Commission have participated in the advertising efforts of gay tour operators. The government tourism boards of France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Canada, Puerto Rico and California exhibit at the International Gay & Lesbian World Travel Expo.

Tourism Québec has stepped forth to sponsor an ongoing "Visit Gay-Friendly Quebec" campaign to increase gay and lesbian arrivals to the province. This comprehensive promotion also involves the sponsorship of Air Canada and VIA Rail, as well as the participation of the tourist offices of Montréal and Québec City.

Why would all of these destinations encourage gay tourism? Because of the economically strong demographic profile of the gay community, but also because these governments want to encourage the rising popularity of their destinations among gay travelers recognizing the potential of increasing gay tourism market share through the implementation of effective promotional efforts. A recent focus group of leading travel agents serving the gay community agreed that the involvement of government tourism entities definitely helps support their sales efforts to reach the gay market, and makes a difference when a client is considering destination options.

When considering whether to market to the gay community, some mainstream tour operators have said "but we don't have a gay tour product..." However, gay and lesbian travel represents every 'shade of gray,' in terms of preference. Indeed, many gay travelers do prefer to travel only in large gay groups, or on gay-chartered cruise ships. Others prefer smaller group travel, identifying a desired destination and class of service first, and then seeking out a group tour operator. But the vast majority is traveling alone or with a partner or friends, looking for a "gay-friendly" environment and gay-friendly carriers, operators and accommodations. This is where mainstream suppliers will identify the greatest opportunity.

Many businesses serving the gay and lesbian market have ongoing community involvement programs. These businesses almost universally report that "being involved" leads to bigger profits and better morale among employees. Ultimately, profit comes from increased business. But business grows through increased customer loyalty and new clients, both of which result from an effective Community Involvement Program.

Demographics of Facebook and My Space Users

comScore, Inc. a leader in measuring the digital world, released a study revealing the MySpace demographic getting younger over the last year whereas Facebook's 24 & under crowd decreased and its 25-34 year segment increased. An analysis of demographic composition of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter users revealed important differences that reflect their appeal to various audiences. MySpace saw its user composition shift toward younger audience segments in 2009, with people age 24 and younger now comprising 44.4 percent of the site’s audience, up more than 7 percentage points from the previous year. Facebook’s audience, by contrast, was evenly split between those younger and older than 35 years of age. The most noticeable demographic shift on Facebook during the year occurred with 25-34 year olds, who now account for 23 percent of the audience, up from 18.8 percent last year. Social networking continued to gain momentum in 2009 with nearly 4 out of 5 Internet users visiting a social networking site on a monthly basis and Facebook and Twitter propelling much of the growth in the category. Six out of seven U.S. Internet users now view online video content in a month, with YouTube and Hulu continuing to experience rapid increase in viewership. More than 170 million U.S. Internet users watched online video during the month of November, 2009 alone. Google Sites continued to rank as the top U.S. video property in November as it delivered 12.2 billion videos viewed with YouTube.com accounting for nearly 99 percent of all videos viewed at the property. Hulu ranked second with 924 million videos viewed (3.0 percent) followed by Viacom Digital with 500 million (1.6 percent) and Microsoft Sites with 480 million (1.5 percent). Consumers’ use of digital media climbed to new heights in 2009 as the Internet continued to evolve as an integral component of Americans’ personal and professional lives.

Social Comes Naturally to Hispanics

Social Media. The venue once viewed as "teens only" has by all accounts turned the corner to adult and corporate embrace. Millions of people now turn to blogs, social networks, and video as their primary source of news, opinion, and entertainment. Traditionally, Hispanics have relied on the original concept of "social networks" to gain trusted information. This draw to family and friends for sharing information and seeking guidance makes Hispanics natural players in the new consumer-driven social media arena. Hispanics influence, and are influenced, through peers more than their general market counterparts. Social networks also offer a means to communicate with family and friends with whom they are geographically separated. The web offers few cultural or in-language options for ethnic minorities. This has fueled the trend for tapping social networks to generate original content. For businesses to connect on this level, they must be mindful of the audience's desire to connect on a personal and cultural level. Companies such as Honda have long understood, embraced and ultimately been rewarded by their long-term loyalty of this market. When the automobile giant adopted a Hispanic effort in 1989, they saw a Hispanic Honda sales increase of 270% over the next 10 years. Even through the last recession of the early 90's, Honda's sales continuously increased when general market sales slowed (Ward Dealer Business). These active efforts have continued through a multitude of efforts that have included online campaigns to target Latino consumers. Ads promoting targeted models directed consumers to the Honda website, where they were then able to research all models in English or Spanish. Savvy marketers understand that the term "Hispanic" refers more to a related group of cultures rather than simply to those who speak the Spanish language. The Hispanic market is 60% bilingual, while about 20% are dependent on either English or Spanish. Hispanics originate from over 20 countries; each bringing distinct language use and culture. When you then consider standard marketing targeting such as income, housing, psychographics and lifestyles, "Hispanic market" is clearly a term that requires a bit of homework and target definition.

Baby Boomers: Defining Their Own Status Quo

The Baby Boomers —those born between 1946 and 1964— number seventy-six million and account for over 28 percent of the population. As they retire, their sheer numbers and wealth will have an enormous impact on the world’s rich countries. A look at the American advertising landscape shows that Boomers are virtually ignored. A review of numerous commercials finds that, excluding financial firms and pharmaceuticals/OTC products, most companies are doing little in the way of courting Boomers. Older faces are virtually non-existent in commercials and on websites for products and services used by Boomers, including campaigns for leading restaurants, travel companies, home improvement, and clothing. A few statistics, though, show that Boomers are a tremendously important and lucrative demographic. Some 79 million Americans are Baby Boomers, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Additionally, Mintel’s proprietary research shows Baby Boomers have higher average household incomes ($76.5K) than all adults. Younger Boomers are driving that with an even higher average annual household income of $80.4K. They also are more likely to have children in the house, more automobiles, and more wage earners than any other demographic, showing their purchasing power. Most of the Baby Boom’s 76 million members are in their peak earning years, and they still spend more than any other generation on most products and services. At the same time, the economic downturn has driven home the fact that Boomers may have to endure an old age with inadequate health care and meager incomes. This generation continues to redefine how aging consumers live, shop and use products. As the eldest Baby Boomer turned 60 in 2006, health concerns brought on by their aging bear new economic and cultural resonance that cannot be ignored by tomorrow's competitive food and beverage manufacturers, marketers and retailers. Given that boomers' changing relationship with food and beverages, and health and wellness are occurring in an ever-complicating labyrinth of dining, product and retail options, now may be the best time to sell your product or service to this demographic.

Characteristics of Hispanic Millennials

In terms of population size, Millennials are already reshaping the ethnic makeup of the Unites States, says Claudia Goffan of TargetLatino. According to recent figures from the 2008 Current Population Survey, 44 percent of those born since the beginning of the 80’s belong to some racial or ethnic category other than “non-Hispanic white”. Millennials are revealing themselves to be the demographic precursor to Census Bureau projections showing whites as a minority by 2050 and the younger the group, the higher the proportion of “ethnic” populations. Hispanics are at the forefront of this Millennial diversity: - over 20 percent of Millennials are Hispanics - approximately 86 percent of Hispanics under the age of 18 are born in the U.S. (95 percent of Millennials are U.S. born) - many Hispanic Millennials are the offspring of immigrants - unlike their immigrant parents, this group strongly exhibits a preference for English as their primary mode of communication – this poses an interesting challenge when targeting this group because of the importance of family opinions - 88 percent of second generation Hispanics and 94 percent of third generation Hispanics are highly English fluent (speak “very well”). Many second generation Hispanics tend to be bilingual, but English dominates by the third generation. (Source: Pew Hispanic Center) A distinguishing characteristic of multi-ethnic Millennials is their heavily “second generation” orientation (nearly 30 percent are children of immigrants). Since they are more likely children of immigrants than immigrants themselves, the proportion of foreign born Millennials is relatively small when compared to Generation Xers and Baby Boomers. Foreign-born persons comprise 13 percent of all Millennials (includes all those born since the 80s), but they make up 22 percent of the Generation X cohort (born between 1965 to 1979) and 16 percent of Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964). Hispanics born in the U.S. can be grouped into two distinct marketing segments: The Young “Millennial” Latinos- children, teens, and young adults born to immigrant parents “Traditional Latinos”- or those born to Latino families that have been U.S. citizens for two or more generations The first ones know how to live in both cultures and enjoy doing so. For the second segment, and depending on the market, the levels of value orientation and acculturation vary drastically. They may be far removed from the Latino culture or their identity as Hispanics can be much more traditional and stronger than expected. Perhaps more astounding is the casual mix-and-match cultural sensibilities of Millennials. Not content to cleave to any single ethnic or cultural influence, they are free to engage in the variety with no restrictions. One example is “Mashups”—entire compositions reconfigured from samples drawn from disparate musical genres—so popular on mp3 players. Millennial choices in popular culture are drawn from a broad pool of influences, and anything can be customized and suited to one’s personal preferences—just as easily as an iPod playlist. Likewise, the aesthetics of Millennial fashion, movies, and video games increasingly reflect a broad range of influences—from Japanese anime to East L.A. graffiti art. Today’s young consumer shun direct overtures aimed at appealing to their ethnic background and they tend to discard traditional cultural labels in favor of their own self-created monikers like “Mexipino”, “Blaxican”, “China Latina”. As a market segment, Millennials are shaking the foundations of advertising and media. Enabled by technology, their lifestyle is characterized by instant text messaging, mobile media, and virtual social networking. Millennials Hispanics are 211% more likely to download content from the Internet than the general population. Over 60% of Hispanic Millennials are online. Downloads just might be the manner in which Hispanics are attaining and interacting with certain brands for the first time. For example, downloading may be a preferred method to receive media content including local and national news. This is exemplary of a larger phenomena occurring across the youth culture, as people in younger age brackets go online for content typically associated with more ‘traditional’ media, such as movies or television. Media content providers have an opportunity to leverage downloading habits and create content that engages Hispanic Millennials and other Hispanics online.

Affluent Consumers in the New Economy

The economic turmoil that reached crisis level in the fall of 2008 has been a bull in the china shop of American consumer behavior, even for a market as fundamental as food. Food spending, fueled by price increases but dampened by consumer cutbacks, took on a volatility that matched the chaotic economic trajectories of American consumers. Even within the affluent cohort of upscale-to-affluent U.S. adults ($75K+ individuals; $100K+ households), as of first quarter 2009, nearly a fifth described themselves as significantly worse off than they were a year ago, and nearly a fourth described themselves as somewhat worse off. Focusing on this upscale-to-affluent U.S. cohort, Affluent Consumers in the New Economy: Food and Food Service study examines how responses to economic turmoil are affecting consumer demand for food products and chain restaurant services. Notably, for example, affluent consumers who have taken a financial hit are more likely to shop for organic and natural foods, and are more sensitized to ethical consumerism issues. In addition, affluent consumers whose financial situation has recently worsened or improved show higher levels of health and nutrition consciousness, as well as a keener taste for food adventure. In an era of widespread economic turmoil, such psychographic responses to financial setback and financial recovery will shape and transform consumer spending on food. The effects of economic turmoil are being seen not only in which types of food products consumers are buying, but in which retail channels and chains they are flocking to. Although affluent consumers remain less likely than the rest of the population to shop at Walmart supercenters, they are shifting to Walmart at above-average rates, making supercenters an ever-bigger part of the equation for marketers of affluent foods. At the same time, shopping patterns for Trader Joe’s and warehouse clubs show the heightened potential for adventurous but value-priced store brands among the affluent cohort. The effects of economic turmoil are also presenting broadly felt and widely reported challenges to the food service industry. Even within the current environment, however, specific segments of affluent consumers are more receptive to healthy fast food and more likely to find that fast food fits their current lifestyles. Therefore, the true task for restaurants is to match supply to demand, rather than to create or maintain it. Successful food service strategies must accommodate generationally and regionally inflected economic contexts, food landscapes, nutritional psychographics, and consumer lifestyles. Overall, consumers who have been set back or thrust forward financially are more likely to be thinking and rethinking about what they need, what they want, and how and where best to find it. For marketing and customer communications, more is now more.

The Green Target Demographic

As the environmental culture permeates all walks of life, it becomes nearly impossible to find and define a “green” target demographic group. The once small cluster of “environmentalists” is now part of a larger population, spilling over into a wide range of age groups as well as educational and socioeconomic levels. Sure there are still a group of dedicated environmentalists. However they are now a highly informed, savvy niche segment that needs little, if any, marketing to draw them to greener products and services. The remaining green market is so vast that there is no actual green target demographic group. The other problem that has arisen for marketers is that “the environment” is a very broad term, encompassing greenhouse effects, global warming, disappearing rain forests, sustainability, renewable energy, air and water pollution, and much more. While the vast majority of the buying public is certainly concerned about most if not all of these areas, they are as a group overwhelmed. In fact, while a number of surveys show that 70 percent to 75 percent of buyers will choose greener products if they are available, only 15 percent of those buyers truly consider themselves knowledgeable about most environmental issues. The new green marketing, particularly for small business owners, needs to focus on the same marketing principles that draw customers to buy your products or services now. That remains your core demographic group. They are not necessarily “green” per se but will include that same 70 percent to 75 percent of green-minded customers. It is therefore up to you to find the common denominator that puts “green” into their world. What this means to you is that if you sell clothing, you’ll want to have part of your inventory consisting of organic cotton fabrics and fashions from sustainable products, allowing you to market the benefits of natural fibers and healthy materials to your niche market of clothing buyers. Likewise, if you are in the car industry, selling hybrids and biodiesel-powered vehicles, you will be marketing these specific fuel benefits to car buyers and enthusiasts. Green marketing to a niche audience means not only meeting consumers on common ground but educating them in the benefits of buying green as it pertains to their lifestyles. It is at this point you may be able to extend your marketing into other peripheral products and services again through specific green benefits that pertain to your target market. Your Web site is the perfect place to explain your little piece of the green world, whether it is why you sell natural wood products or what Forest Stewardship Council certification is all about. Green marketing to a niche audience is becoming more effective than trying to teach the car buyer about the rain forests. Going green can be as good for business as it is for the environment, especially if you spread the word about it. The key to successful green marketing campaigns is not to be too forceful; instead simply make potential customers aware of the tangible benefits of thinking environmentally, which they can do by frequenting your business. After all, the consumers your message will resonate with are the same ones who will want to buy from you because your beliefs mirror theirs. For the rest, your green marketing campaign will help them better understand the environmental issues at hand and how they apply to everybody.

The Adults of Generation Y in the U.S.

The most ethnically diverse and technologically savvy generation in U.S. history, the adults of Generation Y, born from 1979 to 1990, number about 40 million. Also known as Echo Boomers, Millennials and a host of other catchy titles, Gen Y adults tend to be self-confident, team-spirited, politically liberal and more digitally literate than their elders. They take for granted the quick convenience and seemingly infinite options afforded by cell phones, the Internet, indulgent parents and a marketplace eager to meet their mercurial tastes. Gen Y adults also stay single longer, remain more emotionally and financially attached to their parents, and delay their own parental responsibilities longer, while indulging their inner child more vigorously, than the generations before them. Despite their shaky finances and breezy approach to workplace demands, the cohort’s strong affinity for personal fame and wealth are likely to translate into serious financial clout over time, to the tune of some $3.5 trillion by middle age. A penchant for instant gratification and customizable products, along with demand for socially responsible corporate policies and a wariness of inauthentic advertising, means that marketers must launch ever more creative, multilayered and inclusive campaigns to reach their target Gen Y segment—a daunting task considering the constant trade-offs between Gen Y adults’ frequent homogeneity in mindset and wild diversity in individual preferences. Drawing on uniquely cross-tabulated Simmons Market Research Bureau -winter 2008 survey data, BIGresearch’s monthly Consumer Intentions & Actions surveys, and government and private sector data sources, Gen Y Report examines common attitudes and motivations among the Gen Y adult cohort, particularly their tendency to trust friends and celebrity endorsements in their purchasing choices, their insistence on influencing product offerings and advertising, and an accompanying blurring in their analytical boundaries between “retail” and “real life.” The report gives special attention to green and other social concerns within the cohort and their use of a wide range of social networking media to pursue their goals. Attitudes and spending trends of Gen Y adults introduce five lifestyle markers: • Demographics: Millennials are very ethnically and culturally diverse, with a multicultural outlook and a left-leaning political orientation. The younger cohort, age 18-24, account for 59% and Hispanics a powerful 22% of the adult Echo Boom. • Finances: Gen Y’s love-hate relationship with credit cards, education expenses and high APRs, combined with a desire for luxury products and a seeming inability to save money, means they tend to be cash-crunched. • Technology, Media and Marketing: Media saturated and digitally dependent for their sense of self, Millennials experience media, technology, socialization, advertising, community and personal consciousness as almost seamlessly integrated. • Eating In, Dining Out: With a developing preference for organic, functional and sustainably farmed produce, Gen Y adults embrace healthy, well-balanced meals as long as they come in snazzy recyclable containers, don’t require cooking and don’t interfere with snacking. • Wellness, Work and Leisure: Not so much about anti-aging and physical fitness, Gen Y wellness means that leisure and work should be personally fulfilling; that community and environmental health are a team effort, preferably supported by one’s employer; and that relationships are the key to personal well-being.