To Grow Your Brand, Don’t Overlook This Audience

Growth is a non-negotiable for most brands. Yet in crowded markets where everyone uses the same playbook to chase the same customers, growth can feel elusive.

There’s one source of growth that remain surprisingly underdeveloped: growth communities. These are audiences that are rapidly expanding in both population and influence, but remain overlooked in most marketing strategies.

Edgar Hernandez is the chief strategy officer at MyCode, the largest multi-cultural media agency in the country. It defines growth communities as Black, Hispanic, Asian, Pacific Islander, LGBTQ+, Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Hernandez says that more brands should be thinking about these communities from the value they add as “not only the fastest growing, but also the fastest in growing GDP, and also driving business outcomes.”

I’ve long said that marketing to underrepresented and underserved communities like these is not only the future of marketing, it’s just just good marketing.

Brands that intentionally design their products, services, and experiences for all of their ideal customers attract and retain a more diverse customer base. 

And because far too few brands focus on these communities, the ones that do, and serve them well, earn their loyalty as a result.

Why so many brands miss the opportunity 

Many brands try to take their existing playbook and simply copy-and-paste it for growth communities, expecting it to work.

One-size-fits-all clothing rarely fits everyone well, in the same way that one-size-fits-all marketing isn’t effective as marketers think it will be.

Yes, consumers come to a brand to solve a specific problem. But their identities profoundly influence how they discover a brand, build trust with it, evaluate their options, and ultimately decide whether they belong with it. These identity-based differences shape every stage of the customer journey.

To succeed with growth communities, brands must be willing to adapt their approach—acknowledging cultural, generational, and experiential and societal nuances that influence buying behavior. 

Hernandez warns brands about the dangers of using the same old approach to growth communities. “There’s ones that are taking generational playbooks and trying to apply it. The mediums have changed, the way people want to connect have changed, how people want to experience brands have changed.” He went on to add, “I would say to those brands that you’re putting yourself in an unfortunate position, where you’re not going to be relevant pretty quickly here. You constantly have to be adapting your playbook.”

The authenticity gap

Even as more brands recognize the value of growth communities, many struggle to communicate with them authentically. 

One study showed that consumers biggest frustration for brands engaging in inclusive marketing, was that their efforts came across as inauthentic. One consumer commented that they would like brands to be, “more realistic and not use so many stereotypes.” Another shared, “Their efforts come off as going through the motions.” And another felt like brands don’t do enough to get what their doing right, “I feel like a lot of time they don’t consult with actual people from underrepresented groups to make sure their portrayals are accurate.”

Many brand efforts with growth communities aren’t received well, because brands don’t equip themselves for success in the beginning. 

From my perspective, whenever I see campaigns that don’t hit the mark with the underrepresented and underserved communities brands want to reach, it is due to a lack of customer intimacy. That leads to guessing, and running off of assumptions that are often based upon stereotypes. When brands take the time to understand the identities and communities they want to serve at a deeper level, they develop a clearer roadmap for how to engage and convert them.

It’s for this reason, Hernandez and the My Code team created an intelligence center, filled with white papers that help brands get baseline knowledge of the fast growing and influential communities they want to serve.

Targeting growth communities is a really smart strategies for brands that want to grow. But turning your attention to a community and winning over a community are two different things. 

It takes intention, resources, and real effort to get it right. The reward for brands who commit to engaging these communities the right way is long-term growth, and a bigger impact for the communities you serve.