As a recent Philadelphian, I love that I live in a city teeming with diversity. As a result, many local businesses dabble in cultural marketing to appeal to as many residents as possible and show how inclusive their products and services are.
As a recent Philadelphian, I love that I live in a city teeming with diversity. As a result, many local businesses dabble in cultural marketing to appeal to as many residents as possible and show how inclusive their products and services are.
Whether coffee shops like The Monkey & The Elephant host various Black history-themed events or Center City restaurants celebrate the Lunar New Year, Philly has cultural marketing down to a science.
And if small mom-and-pop shops in the City of Brotherly Love can do it, so can you! I’ll explain.
Table of Contents
- What is cultural marketing?
- Why Culture Marketing Matters
- Traits of Effective Culture Marketing
- Dos and Don’ts of a Cultural Marketing Campaign
- What is Cultural Competence in Business?
- How to Develop Cultural Competence at Your Company
For example, The Monkey & The Elephant is one of my favorite coffee shops in the city. It is committed to creating an inclusive environment that celebrates Philadelphia’s vibrant and creative culture.
To do this, the shop often hosts small art exhibitions promoting the work of local artists and displaying their work throughout the shop.
Patrons can enjoy the art between sips of their latte and even purchase their favorite pieces. Featured artists are often from underrepresented communities, such as Black and LGBTQ+.
I became a loyal customer because their inclusive art displays and lovely events make me feel welcomed (plus their matcha lattes are amazing!).
Furthermore, the shop uses its revenue to provide residents aging out of the foster care system with extra support and opportunities, furthering its message of community, inclusivity, and togetherness.
Why Culture Marketing Matters
Culture marketing humanizes your brand and fosters a deep connection with your target consumers. It shows that you’re not just a business out for their money; you also respect their culture and share their values.
Many of my friends grew up in the foster care system or came from difficult backgrounds, so Monkey & the Elephant‘s values align with mine.
I’m also a proud Black and Puerto Rican woman with diverse friends and family, so I love the coffee shop’s dedication to uplifting minority voices in the city.
Research shows that 82% of shoppers prefer to buy from brands whose values align with their own, and 75% say they‘ve parted ways with a brand when their values didn’t align.
Moreover, cultural marketing can keep your brand relevant by staying on top of current trends, discussions, and events pertaining to your audience. For example, leading toy brand Fantasy World posted the following ad celebrating Eid.
The image shows a toy Spider-Man hugging his nemesis, Lizard. The ad‘s text reads, “We’re all one for Eid.”
The ad shows the brand is aware of this important time of year for the Muslim community, and it understands the themes of community, compassion, gratitude, and unity while tastefully connecting the celebration to its brand
Traits of Effective Culture Marketing
Remember the infamous 2017 Kendell Jenner / Pepsi ad? The ad shows Kendell Jenner seemingly calming a confrontation between protesters and police by offering a can of Pepsi.
The ad was released at a time when many activists were marching in support of Black Lives Matter, and the ad received backlash as many believed it trivialized the BLM movement and was culturally insensitive.
Pepsi pulled the ad and later issued an apology. The ad is an excellent example of how a cultural marketing strategy can go wrong if executed poorly.
To avoid a similar blunder, you must make sure your approach to culture marketing includes:
Respect
People hold their culture close to their hearts because of its connection to history, community, resilience, tradition, and much more.
So, it’s crucial to ensure your approach to culture marketing is respectful by avoiding stereotypes, outdated or offensive language, or the conflating cultures with incorrect traditions.
Authenticity
You don‘t want your marketing to come off as a cheap imitation or shallow interpretation of anyone’s culture. To ensure authenticity, consult with members of said culture who can help you achieve accurate, appropriate representation that comes from a genuine place.
Inclusivity
Your cultural marketing strategy should feel inclusive to both your target audience and people belonging to the culture you‘re using in your marketing. Let’s go back to the Fantasy World example.
The toys featured in the ads are available under the Fantasy World brand and appeal to the company’s target audience of toy fans. It also features Spider-Man and one of his iconic villains for comic accuracy.
This ad gets the attention of comic book fans, who are also known to spend money on action figures, and it is a positive representation of Eid’s values, which are respectful and inclusive of Muslim consumers.
Timeliness
The biggest issue that plagued the Kendall / Pepsi debacle was how ill-timed it was. Serious discussions about the relationship between police, protesters, and the Black community were happening on and offline.
To have an ad that seemed to suggest everyone should calm down and drink a Pepsi together seemed trivializing and disrespectful, even if that wasn‘t the intention. So, be aware of your consumers’ current conversations around specific cultural topics.
Be aware of current events and ask yourself, “Is this idea appropriate for the times we’re in?”
Dos and Don’ts of a Cultural Marketing Campaign
Cultural marketing campaigns can be a bit of a tightrope walk. If done right, your brand will come out the other side, having built strong connections with its audience.
Your brand will become humanized and likely put out thought-provoking, unique, sentimental, and touching content that stays at the top of your consumers’ minds.
However, if done wrong, your brand‘s image could suffer, and the campaign could sour your relationship with consumers because you didn’t do your due diligence in connecting something as sensitive as culture to marketing.
So, make sure your campaign is rooted in respect for the culture you are referencing. Avoid cultural taboos like misusing phrases and imagery or spreading misinformation. Do extensive research to ensure your marketing content is accurate.
Seek involvement from those familiar with the culture or community members you are referencing.
Finally, be consistent. Uphold the values referenced in your cultural marketing campaign all year long, not just during special occasions like holidays.
Avoid cultural appropriation, i.e., adopting the culture of a community without any understanding or respect for its history. Don’t use offensive and outdated stereotypes or language.
Before embarking on a cultural marketing strategy, make sure your company has a strong sense of cultural competency.
Cultural competence is not about hitting a diversity quota. It‘s about open and honest communication in a diverse setting. If you aren’t culturally competent, you might not attract the best talent for your employee base.
On the consumer side, cultural competence is important because customers might not support your company if they don‘t think you’re inclusive.
So, what does cultural competence really mean?
According to Martin Tettey, former co-chair of diversity and inclusion at PRSA-NY, “To be culturally competent in business, an organization must be fully aware of its surroundings to ensure that the contributions being shared are from a diverse group of people—differences in race, gender, or sexual identity.”
Being a culturally competent company means your organization actively and vocally invests in continued learning, listening, and change (when needed).
Your business should benefit all your customers and your employees so people from all backgrounds and experiences can find success.
Additionally, Melissa Obleada, a previous diversity, inclusion, and belonging team member at HubSpot, says, “Cultural competency positively impacts your company culture, which we know has a multitude of benefits for your employees as well as your bottom line.”
Being aware of the space you take up and exist within will allow you to navigate those differences with empathy and understanding.
Cultural competence should impact all areas of your business, from hiring practices to company culture to cultural marketing.
1. Provide workplace bias training.
To develop cultural competence, Tettey suggests providing workplace bias training.
With bias training that’s focused on empathy through academic and experiential learning, you can create a more inclusive workplace.
The training strategy should help initiate a conversation about implicit bias and how to minimize workplace bias through education and discussion.
Remember, this shouldn’t be the only thing your company is doing to become culturally competent. Rather, this is a good first step to lay the foundation.
Additionally, it’s important to remember that implicit bias training should include conversations on systemic and structural issues at your company. This means that you might discuss company practices and hold the leadership team accountable for enacting change on a structural level.
Tettey says, “Companies shouldn’t do these things just to avoid lawsuits or fulfill a quota, but make it a part of the backbone that fuels the company and keeps it standing.”
2. Have an ethical hiring process that ensures opportunities are readily available to all.
Another suggestion from Tettey is to implement an ethical hiring process that ensures opportunities are readily available to everybody.
Think about it like this: How can you become culturally competent if your employee base isn’t very diverse?
To attract a diverse pool of candidates, you should advertise jobs through diverse channels, like diverse job boards. Plus, your recruiters should proactively recruit from a diverse talent pool.
3. Invest in meaningful cross-cultural relationships.
Cultural competence is really all about knowing your customers and developing cultural competence outside of work. That means that your leadership team should invest in cultivating meaningful cross-cultural relationships.
Additionally, you should encourage your employees to do this as well.
4. Prioritize cultural competence learning and work on your leadership team.
Continued education in diversity, inclusion, and belonging is imperative to truly develop cultural competence.
Obleada says, “Your organization — particularly leadership — needs to make it clear to everybody internally that you prioritize this type of learning and work. Look into resources – blogs, podcasts, consultants, workshops, etc — that focus on building this particular muscle, and make sure that you’re making it possible for your colleagues to share their feedback (both positive and constructive) with those leading these initiatives.”
Essentially, this means that you should implement cultural learning into the fabric of your company culture. You could invest in resources to help cultivate culturally competent teams and practices.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day, so it’s not like you can flip a switch (or attend one training) and magically be culturally competent,” Obleada says. “It’s a process that involves being more open as individuals and bringing our learnings and empathy into each workplace interaction we have. Have patience with yourselves and one another as you work on developing your cultural competence.”
5. Be willing to listen.
A major part of cultural competence learning is listening. In fact, most cultural competence education is about listening to other people about their experiences.
Gabrielle Thomas, a previous program manager on HubSpot‘s diversity, inclusion, and belonging team, says, “Listen to those inside and outside of your organization and make sure those voices create a diverse group. You can’t build that awareness if you aren’t willing to listen. It means you have to truly be okay with hearing feedback that may not always be positive, and to make progress, you have to be okay with doing things differently.”
6. Evaluate where you stand.
Lucy Alexander, a team manager at HubSpot, says, “Look critically at who gets opportunities to lead in your company (not just in official leadership positions, but who gets to lead projects? Lead meetings? Own initiatives?).
Survey your employees anonymously and regularly solicit feedback, and create tangible action plans to address inequities. Then, revisit those plans to create accountability and ask where you could’ve done better and what needs to change.”
You can only get better when you know where you‘re starting from and what needs to be done. It’s time to make space for this type of work in your business strategies.
7. Create a psychologically safe environment.
Psychological safety is essential in the workplace. This means that employees have the option to be included and feel safe to have conversations with their coworkers or managers when they don’t feel included.
Richard Ng, a coordinator of a HubSpot discussion group focused on diversity and inclusion, says, “To become culturally competent, you need to invest in psychological safety to enable day-to-day communication between employees.”
Creating psychological safety can help build true allyship among your employees. With allyship, the burden of speaking up is fairly distributed across everyone on your team.
Solid guidelines and training for conflict and de-escalation are important to create a psychologically safe environment.
The Bottom Line
When your brand is dedicated to cultural competency and inclusivity, you’re likely to execute a compelling cultural marketing strategy that will encourage consumers to support your business.
