Question

Topic: Strategy

Diversity: How To Market Correctly?

Posted by Anonymous on 6/14/2005 at 4:14 PM ET 125 Points
Our university has a diverse international population, but not a highly diverse domestic population (both students and employees), especially African-Americans in proportion to the state's percentage. Our president has clearly stated that diversity is a strong metric in our strategic plan.

Our dilemma as a marketing arm of the university is:

We need to portray our institution as one that is and has been increasing diversity intitiatives. I believe that as a whole our university truly supports and believes in diversity BUT in reality the campus climate is still very "vanilla."

We are struggling with painting a picture for this demographic audience that is realistic and "inviting." Our campus clients want us to us photos with ALL African-Americans in them. But in my mind, this isn't reality and doesn't show true diversity.

Does anyone have any insights on how marketing materials are perceived by ethnic groups? In this instance, will they identify better with an all African-American group in a photo or will it be seen as a "them vs. us" with just one group represented?

I would greatly appreciate some professional opinions.

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RESPONSES

  • Posted by michael on 6/14/2005 at 5:20 PM Member
    Mary,
    I believe you go with what your "customer" says AFTER you've taken the time to explain the potential outcome of misrepresentation.

    One way around this is to use actual pictures of events as opposed to setting them up. This way your question hinges not on who is in the photos, but which events to shoot.

    In addition you can also shift some of the focus on to the community as a whole. If your college is not as diverse as you'd like, talk about the community and what it offers to the African-American student. If you have a diversity initiative, some very outgoing African-American student is going to come to the college with an idea on how to make things better for all students and THAT is just the kind of students you want...regardless of race.

    Bottom line is that you should show an accurate representation of the situation.

    Hope this helps.

    Michael
  • Posted on 6/14/2005 at 5:22 PM Member
    This most likely will not fly with your organization or the university, but my suggestion is to portray who they (the university) really are. Forget about being politically correct and represent the school for what it is. Is the school really trying to change its demographics or is it simply going through the motions?

    If the school is truly open to all races, religions and any other categories people throw about, the students, faculty and staff will best portray the true image. Why do students select a particular school over another? Is it the curriculum, the prestige or reputation, the history, the athletic teams, the cost, the ability to offer scholarships or other funding, the location, the admission standards (high and low), the mix of women to men or vise-versa, the social life, or the recommendation of someone else? Surely, it is some combination of a number of these plus a several other reasons.

    Don’t try to trick or convince prospective students and their families to pick your school. Lay out who you are, be honest and let them make informed decisions. If you provide the right information and use actual photos shot on campus, you should be able to come up with a great combination, which will truly represent the school.

    Within your materials, be sure to include a document, which features all of the features of the school. Next to each feature, provide a list of the benefits and another list of the detriments to that feature. Also put a sheet with just the above three headers in your materials to let the prospective student complete. It’s a great exercise which in the long run will lead to much more loyal students.

    Good luck
  • Posted by mgoodman on 6/14/2005 at 9:30 PM Member
    I am not a diversity expert, but I have seen very compelling evidence that a diverse group makes better decisions and solves problems more easily than a homogeneous group. Net, I'm a believer, and not for PC reasons.

    I think your marketing needs to lean in the direction of overstating (slightly) your commitment to diversity, until you achieve a better balance that you can market as "real." Otherwise you're just mouthing the words, and the pictures don't match.

    I would not go so far as to make African-Americans look like they're in the majority, but to portray the campus as being, say, 25% minority when it's only 15% now isn't so terrible. And it will be noticed (positively) by your target audience. You'd probably lose credibility if you exaggerate too much, so it's a delicate balancing act. By the way, you can include Asians and Hispanics too, as the real message is DIVERSITY, not African-American dominance.

    That's my take. I'll be interested to see what others have to say.
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 6/14/2005 at 10:51 PM Member
    I want to step out of line here and suggest your University President is asking you to make it look like you are winning the game, but is suggesting you do that by fiddling with the scoreboard rather than changing your game-plan.

    Remember the six "Whys".

    Why is the perception of diversity more significant that the reality?

    Why does the reality differ from the benchmark? (Is your establishment different from other Universities in it's diversity and population make-up anyway?)

    Why is there a lower number of African-Americans in the university than in the state's population? (And is that the real factor, or the benchmark to other universities?)

    I expect it's to do with program/course components, geographic placement, cost or a composite of many factors... Do the research, find out why people come, and why some people don't come...

    Changing who stands in shot while someone takes a picture doesn't change anything. It's shuffling deckchairs on the Titanic when really you needed to avoid icebergs.

    Hope this helps.

    ChrisB
  • Posted by telemoxie on 6/16/2005 at 8:43 AM Member
    Maybe I'm just a dumb telemarketing guy, but it seems to me the real problem isn't who is in which picture, it is that you don't have enough minority students...

    ... and if it were me I would develop a plan to increase marketing and recruitment efforts in minority areas, such as largely black high schools.

  • Posted by Deremiah *CPE on 6/16/2005 at 8:34 PM Accepted
    Mking,

    Remember just because I'm black it doesn't make me an expert at marketing to African Americans but I am worth listening to! Here are

    4 STEPS TO MARKETING TO BLACKS FOR YOUR SCHOOL...

    #1 BRAND BLACKS IN THE MARKETING...
    As an African American (or more contemporary Black) I have found that I enjoy seeing Blacks integrated in the photo branding brochures of an organization. And we don't have to dominate the visual images either. It should communicate a truthful depiction and it should be communicated simply.

    #2 DON'T PUT BLACKS AS A DOMINATE IMAGE...
    in your brochures. This will definitely make them very dissappointed when they get to your school and they are no where to be found. This is what I call trying to market to a racial group using overkill...please don't do this.

    #3 COMMUNICATE WITH BLACKS ABOUT...
    the things that make them motivated to attend an integrated school. Go out and ask Black's at integrated schools why they attend and what they look for and hundreds of other questions that make sense.

    #4 HIRE ME OR SOMEONE BLACK WHO ...
    can offer you a real life perspective. When Blacks see other Blacks among your planning communities and among your board members and among your strategist they feel more comfortable. So make Blacks comfortable and do this.

    Also keep this person in the wings in order to contact later for problem areas that may develop that you may not understand. A decade back Blacks had a popular phrase they used to communicate a clear message of "You don't know me"....when they said "It's A Black Thang You Just Wouldn't Understand". This is a reflection of some deeper inner thought patterns that have emerged as a result of feeling displaced. Those thought patterns can not be removed they can only be over-ridden.

    I'd love to help you as I have been involved in the field of education, diversity, motivational speaking and I have a long history of valuable information that only experience can bring you. I've lived in 13 cities here in the United States in the North, South, East and West hemispheres of our great country and I've also spent 5 years in Europe. How does this benefit you? I'm adaptable and because of this I am able to teach both Blacks and Whites (or hispanics or Asians how to adjust). Again this does not make me an expert but I have a lot of experience in Black & White Conflicts and how true integration can be created, built, thwarted and ignored.

    Is there anything else I can do for you?

    Your Servant, Deremiah, *CPE (Customer Passion Evangelist)

    or

    C-reating P-ositive E-thnicity

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