Mobile Marketing for Reaching Consumers of Color

Mobile internet accessible devices like smartphones have been key to bridging the digital divide whereby people of color had less access to the internet when desktop/laptop computers were the primary means of access.  More affordable internet access through mobile phones has closed the digital divide for the most part with whites, blacks and Hispanics having similar online access and usage levels.

Given this trend, brands are now leveraging mobile marketing to reach ethnic minorities.   According to analyst Tracy Bains, "Marketers ought to get granular and design a mobile marketing plan that reflects the nuances of how different ethnic groups are adopting and adapting to smartphones."

Nuances include:

• Hispanics are more likely than the average user to have cell phones with Internet and video capabilities
• African-Americans tend to use more mobile voice than other groups
• Asians and Pacific Islanders prefer Apple’s iPhone to all others, and mores than other groups

Knowing information like this means that brands can craft digital campaigns that are optimized for their target multicultural markets, which can mean greater penetration, response and ROI.