Think regionally, act locally: 5 tips to multicultural marketing in Asia

Multicultural marketing used to be an afterthought to many companies’ core marketing efforts in the past. However, in today’s digital age, consumers’ needs and wants are often ephemeral, and borderless transactions continue to thrive. As the consumer market continues to grow in its diversity, brands must work towards establishing real connections with audiences across borders and cultures, if they want to remain relevant to them.This is ever so true in a region as diverse and vast as Asia. With Asian consumers hailing from a multitude of ethnic and cultural backgrounds, marketers can be hard-pressed in coordinating an effective strategy that targets consumer preferences on a local level while spreading resources efficiently. Given an increased awareness and value placed on diversity across the region, integrating multicultural marketing into the overall marketing strategy is imperative for success. Here are five tips that marketers can adopt towards their next multicultural campaign:1. Know what your customers wantBefore developing creative assets and marketing messaging, it’s key to know the features, functions and benefits that are most important to the target audience.For example, Japanese consumers value intangible qualities such as exclusive in-store service when deciding on luxury purchases, according to insights from McKinsey & Company in 2017. In comparison, Chinese consumers have quickly grown to rely on internet-based channels for efficiency and an established amount of security — viewing mobile payments as more secure than in-store purchases, according to a 2018 report by Nielsen.Leverage existing market research or invest in some to analyse which product attributes are most and least important in driving product choice for the people and communities you want to reach. To understand these differences, a report by Qualtrics said marketers should explore running a conjoint analysis to what consumers value at a cultural level.2. Properly allocate budgetBy performing marketing segmentation analyses, marketers can determine how to split their campaign budget wisely. For example, in knowing what your audience wants, marketers can then take things a step further to run a cluster analysis — a statistical approach that groups people together based on distinct similarities.For instance, a marketer looking to target consumers in Thailand should consider variables such as culture and per-capita income to guide campaign budget. In a Deloitte survey titled “The Thailand Consumer Survey”, it was found that urban Thai consumers in Bangkok and Chiang Mai were more willing to pay for a clothing product that fits over the comfort that it offers. Furthermore, the higher their purchasing power, the greater their willingness to pay for the right set of product attributes to satisfy their unique needs and desires.Identifying and group these specific consumer groups can help to effectively plan resources, and bolster campaign ROI.3. Use contextual targetingMarketers should leverage contextual targeting, which allows relevant ads to be shown alongside content that users have an interest in. Doing so aligns brand messaging with ad and consumer experiences, and is a great campaign set-up tactic.By marrying target language with keywords and interest topics relevant to a specific country within Asia, you can maximise the chances of reaching someone who is exhibiting high intent to interact with, or purchase from the brand. For example, mapping keywords related to cultural holidays such as Lunar New Year or Diwali can help seasonal campaign targeting.4. Consider behavioural nuances as part of set-upMarketers and brands should not think of Asia as one regional market, but instead as separate countries with distinct consumer markets.From the campaign’s pacing to day-parting rules, behavioural and cultural nuances come into play in optimising one’s strategy. With hundreds of ethnic holidays across Asia, consider how the use of imagery and messaging during these observed occasions will affect the way consumers perceive and experience the brand.For example, during Ramadan, Muslim consumers alter their eating and sleeping schedules. Marketers targeting these consumers should thus readjust the campaign’s pacing during the month. Marketers should also be culturally sensitive, and refrain from sending food-related content during the fasting hours.Moreover, do not simply use the same creative across markets, opting to change only the text. This will not resonate with different cultural groups, and may seem counterintuitive in engaging audiences.5. Optimise budget based on log dataOptimise the campaign and its budget further by checking the browser language data through user logs and event logs. For example, when a multicultural campaign is in two languages (say, Vietnamese and English) and the data shows that 80% of traffic is using a Vietnamese browser language setting, re-calibrate the budget to meet the skew. Drive people to the Vietnamese creative and, therefore, the Vietnamese landing page.Last, but not least, ensure that all knowledge gained, from pre-campaign through to setup and optimisation outcomes, is fed into a “lessons learned” log so that every iteration of multicultural marketing improves over the previous.By following these practical steps — brands will demonstrate cultural understanding and authentic representation as they engage with audiences, in a way that is diverse and inclusive. In turn, brand experiences will make sense for consumers and be remembered for being “real”.The writer is Elise James-Decruise, VP head of multicultural marketing and inclusion, MediaMath.