How to Market to Asians (2024)

As a whole, Asian Americans tend to be an affluent group who love to shop and engage with brands. The 2010 census revealed that Asians are the fastest-growing race group in the United States, growing more than 45 percent during the previous decade. Since much of the group's growth has come from immigration, savvy marketers create targeted marketing campaigns specifically designed to resonate with an Asian-American audience.

Know Your Audience

Before you can create an effective marketing campaign, learn who your audience is. The Asian community is very fragmented in the United States, consisting of many distinct nationalities that speak different languages. The Chinese dominate in New York and Los Angeles; Asian Indians in Chicago and Atlanta; and Filipinos in San Diego and Phoenix. Use census data or talk to your local Chamber of Commerce to learn the nuances of your local Asian community and then execute marketing campaigns that are targeted to them. Radio station KBIF in Fresno became the first media outlet in California's Central Valley to successfully target the area's growing Hmong population. In addition to offering relevant news, information and traditional music, it sponsored contests that offered pigs and chickens as prizes, as these animals make up the bulk of the protein in the Hmong diet and also play a role in some cultural rituals.

Choose the Right Media

At the 2012 Asian American Advertising Federation's 3AF Asian Marketing Summit, participants raised several points about the media habits of the Asian-American community. Asians feel under-represented in mainstream media, and have turned to the Internet to find the information they want. Asians are, in fact, the most active group online, spending an average of 80 hours on the Internet each month. Compared to Caucasians, African Americans and Hispanics, they watch the least amount of television, opting for online video content instead. As you put together your marketing campaigns, plan to have a strong online presence if you want your company to be noticed by Asian community.

Craft the Right Messages

Tailor your marketing so that it is culturally relevant to the Asian community. The Pew Research Center describes Asian Americans generally as an affluent, highly educated group that values family, career success and strong work ethics. Because of their affluence, they are avid shoppers, but take pride in finding the best deals. The Association for National Advertisers recommends always keeping a positive tone, keep humor to a minimum and go into detail about your product's features when tailoring your marketing messages for the Asian community.

Engage Experts

Unless you are a member of the Asian community, use experts to help craft your marketing messages so that they are culturally relevant and not offensive to any of the ethnic groups. A major ice cream manufacturer learned this lesson the hard way. It created a new ice cream flavor that included pieces of fortune cookies and dubbed it "Lin-Sanity" in homage to basketball sensation Jeremy Lin. The backlash was immediate. Although fortune cookies are served in most Chinese restaurants in the United States, they were actually created by Japanese immigrants and are viewed by the Chinese as stereotypical. To add insult to injury, Lin's family is from Taiwan and he was raised in California.

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