Successfully Marketing to Minorities: As done at Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo was founded in the mid-19th century to serve the American frontier, so it is appropriate that this most American of all banks is at the forefront of another frontier involving changing American demographics: minority marketing.
Minority Marketing at Wells Fargo
The bank's seriousness about marketing to minorities in the United States can be gauged from the fact that its ATM machines can be used in more than one Asian language, apart from other minority languages like Spanish. This is just the most obvious example of Wells Fargo's push to reach out to more minorities. In a recent interview, Nancy Wong, Integrated Marketing Manager and Senior Vice President at Wells Fargo, had more to say about their commitment to their minority customers.
According to her, since immigrants are much more entrepreneurial than the average person, it makes a lot of sense for a bank like Wells Fargo to work with minorities and immigrant Americans. In that respect, minority, and specifically Asian customers, are the customers the bank wants to serve. So by marketing specifically to them, the bank is able to reach more of them.
Marketing Strategies for Minority Marketing
Apart from offering a number of Asian and other languages in its ATM machines, the bank also creates its marketing and other brochures in languages other than English. The bank is aware that a number of immigrant and other Americans may prefer to use languages other than English, so it does not want to disappoint them.
Another marketing method used by the bank to reach its minority customers is to do special promotions on festivals and holidays celebrated by minorities. This way the bank is able to reach the people when they are relaxed, and when they are with their families and communities. Indeed, according to Nancy Wong, respecting the culture, and involving yourself in a community is very important if you want to market to minorities.
Since the bank has a diverse employee base, the bank uses the diversity in its rolls to its advantage. According to Nancy Wong, the bank encourages its Asian and other minority employees to connect with other people from their communities, and reach out to inform them about financial literacy. The bank has formed a Asian Connection, a group of employees who connect with Asian customers of the bank.
Why Market to Minorities
Wells Fargo has recognized a fact that has been common knowledge among demographers for some time now: that the minority population of the United States will continue to grow at a rate that is much higher than the rest of the population. Further, the cultural and linguistic uniqueness of these communities requires marketers to use different mediums to reach these communities. Wells Fargo has reaped a lot of benefits from following this model, not least of them is getting a loyal client base which feels attracted to Wells Fargo because of its inclusive culture. If you are a business keen on expanding their client base, you cannot ignore minority marketing. Especially when you want to do business in the United States of the future, which will be even more heavily influenced by demographic minorities.