The Black consumer audience in the U.S. is a vital pulse of culture, trendsetting, and innovation—and an important target audience for your brand. But knowing your target audience is one thing. Reaching them? That is another thing entirely.
In 2022, as advertising channels continue to multiply and become more saturated, determining the most effective strategy to reach your target audience can feel like playing pin the tail on the donkey—an endless game of trial and error.
Luckily we’ve already done all the heavy lifting for you and learned one important lesson: If reaching the Black community is your advertising goal, achieving it is easy. Local media reaches and influences your target audience. We’ll show you how.
Campaign results are built on trust.
In any marketing strategy, the key to communicating with and influencing your target audience is understanding. You need to understand their daily habits, what makes them tick, what they value, and what they’re looking for out of life. You need to understand how they want their purchases to make them feel. This drives an effective marketing strategy that breaks through the noise.
And, in our in-depth research of Black consumer audiences, we’ve learned that the shortcut to this understanding is tapping into media placements that are inherently trustworthy and influential. Our research shows that 71% of Black consumers are more likely to pay attention to ads when they reflect Black culture. Media matters, and communicates often just as much as your creative alone.
According to Refuel’s Black Explorer Study, Black consumers in the U.S. are more likely to trust Black media over general media. Additionally, Black consumers are also more likely to read newspapers and out-of-home media with a Black culture tie-in. Trust is crucial to the effectiveness of your overall campaign, and your media placements have the power to invoke trust, just by nature of where they are.
We’re taking the guesswork out of the equation so you can jump straight into driving innovative campaigns in 2022.
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Community matters—a lot.
Our research shows that Black consumers are 35% more likely to trust any Black media than any general media. That is a big difference. Brands can authentically tap into this market through trusted media sources. Our report found that top-of-mind media for Black audiences ran across print, tv and websites, but are all outlets that specifically spotlight Black voices.
Community can also be the physical area where consumers work, shop and play. We found that 65% of Black consumers visit Black-owned businesses and 77% visit any businesses that are local. In fact, our survey showed that Black consumers far outpace the general population in visits to their local stores, barber shops and restaurants. Brands that can position themselves through OOH and other marketing tactics find these local markets to have high traffic.
Community matters in any marketing, but especially with the Black consumer audience.
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Print and out-of-home media breaks through the digital noise.
In a world of digital advertising, consumers are accustomed to being inundated with ads on every platform at every hour of the day. Digital advertising is everywhere (as well as ad blockers)—and that creates a sense of fatigue.
Print media and out-of-home media have the ability to break through this digital noise and make an impact—and the research is there to prove it. According to Refuel’s Black Explorer Study, 81% of Black consumers pay attention to outdoor media such as billboards and posters, which is 35% more likely than the general population. Additionally, Black consumers are 53% more likely to read Black newspapers than the general population is to read any general market newspapers.
You can guarantee your brand’s strategic advantage by enlisting the aid of print and local media.
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Celebrate diversity and inclusion all year round
Representation year-round is a major factor when trying to authentically reach communities of color. According to a 2019 survey from Adobe, 34% of U.S. consumers stopped supporting a brand because it didn’t represent their identity (race, religion, sexual orientation, etc.) in its advertising. In order to trust and relate to your brand, consumers want to see that you care about who they are, and that your product is for them. Build relationships, don’t just sell products.
Inclusive marketing is the right thing to do for your business. And when it comes to crafting authentic campaigns that achieve your objectives, there is no substitute for getting to know your customers—their dreams, desires, fears, and frustrations at a deep level. Any group you’ve deemed as a valuable buyer persona for your brand should know that you’re cheering for them and supporting them in achieving success, whatever they’ve defined that to be.
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Launch your African American marketing campaign
At Refuel Agency, a leading multicultural marketing agency, we’ve been working with the African American community for over 30 years—investing in proprietary research to understand the market and delivering unmatched ROI for our clients looking to reach this target audience. Are you ready to deliver authentic, hyper-targeted marketing campaigns to the African American community? Contact us today to get started with your custom African American advertising plan.
