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How to Position Your Brand with Multicultural Markets with Leyanis Diaz · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  Three, two, one, zero.
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  Ignition.
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  Lift off.
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  Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with the number one small business expert, Melinda
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  Emerson.
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  Melinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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  you need to succeed and live the life you dream of.
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  Now here's your host, the small biz chat lady herself, Melinda Emerson.
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  Have you subscribed to the small biz chat podcast?
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  Well, it's time.
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  Every Wednesday, we offer listeners bite sized actionable tips to start and grow a successful
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  small business.
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  In just twenty minutes or so a week, you can get a ton of insight and resources to propel
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  your business forward.
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  Be sure to subscribe to the Small Bitch Chat podcast today.
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  Let me introduce my guest.
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  Her name is Leonis Diaz and she is a bilingual business expert and consultant and community
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  economic developer.
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  And she's the visionary founder of Major, an online platform dedicated to supporting diverse
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  entrepreneurs.
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  She has over a decade of experience empowering small business owners and professionals with
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  language and resource gaps that often hold entrepreneurs back.
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  Her work has impacted startups, nonprofits and economic development organizations alike,
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  helping them better reach and serve multicultural communities through inclusive
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  programming, training and strategy.
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  Her mission is simple, to make business education support accessible, actionable and
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  culturally relevant.
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  For more information, her website is wearemajor.com.
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  Leiannis, welcome to the Small Bridge Chat podcast.
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  Thank you so much for having me, Melinda.
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  I'm so excited to be here.
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  Yes, yes, yes.
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  So talk to me a little bit about your business and then what are the biggest mistakes that you
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  see brands make when they try to market to multicultural audiences?
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  Yeah, so I founded, well, to answer your question, to tell you a little bit about Major
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  and the biggest mistake that I see brands make.
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  So I started Major back in 2017 and I am, you know, the founder of the organization.
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  But I really started it because I saw a gap in the market, and it was also something that I
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  was, you know, living firsthand, had firsthand experience, just really understanding or seeing
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  how hard it can be to navigate a business when, you know, the the resources that are available
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  aren't necessarily built with with us in mind, with people of color in mind.
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  And so I really remember what it felt like to sit in rooms where, you know, maybe the
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  language didn't reflect my own or the content wasn't relatable or, you know, the tools
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  weren't as accessible.
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  And so that's essentially how major was started.
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  You know, back in 2017, the goal was really to create something that I wish that I had in that
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  moment.
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  And today, it's kind of blossomed into this one stop shop that helps diverse entrepreneurs in
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  starting and growing their business, but we also work with organizations to really help
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  them build inclusive programming that supports the communities that they're looking to serve.
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  So to talk about some of the biggest mistakes that I've seen brands make when trying to
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  market to multicultural audiences, I would say that one of the biggest mistakes is really
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  treating, you know, multicultural marketing as a one time campaign or, you know, as if they're
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  just kind of checking a box, especially during months like Hispanic Heritage Month or Black
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  History Month.
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  I've seen that brands will, you know, just kind of translate an ad into Spanish, or maybe
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  include like one diverse face in a commercial, and then they kind of go back to business as
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  usual.
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  But that's not real connection.
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  Right?
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  And so for me, multicultural marketing isn't just about visibility or language, it's really
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  about meaningful connection.
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  And yes, language can be a tool, but culture goes a lot deeper than that.
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  It's about values and humor and pain points and traditions and trust.
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  And if your message doesn't reflect those things, people are ultimately going to notice.
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  You know, I always say that people want to feel seen, not just sold to, right.
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  And so that means that doing that means that you have to do the work to really understand
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  who people are, what matters to them and how they experience the world.
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  It's not, you know, this like, one size fits all approach.
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  So yeah, that's really the biggest mistake that I've seen in the past that, you know, it kind
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  of feels like people are just checking a box.
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  And can you explain the difference between inclusive marketing and what we would call
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  tokenism?
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  Yeah.
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  So that is such an important question and a great question.
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  So thank you for bringing that up.
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  So the difference between inclusive marketing and tokenism really comes down to intent and
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  depth.
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  So tokenism is more performative.
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  It's when a brand is featuring a person of color or reference referencing a cultural
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  moment just for the optics, right?
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  So again, going back to what I was mentioning earlier, where it feels like someone's just
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  checking a box, right?
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  They're just kind of doing things for the optics without any real understanding or
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  connection.
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  It's very surface level.
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  And it tends to come off as like inauthentic, especially to the communities that they're
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  trying to reach.
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  Whereas inclusive marketing is more purposeful, it's more intentional, it really starts from
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  the inside.
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  It's really where, you know, you'll see that you're if if you're doing inclusive marketing
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  right, you know, your team is really going to reflect the audience that you're trying to
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  serve.
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  Your messaging is gonna be shaped by the people with those lived experiences, and your
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  commitment to equity is really going to show up beyond your marketing.
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  So you'll see, you know, that that commitment to equity and things like hiring and
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  partnerships and company values.
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  So tokenism is performative, inclusive marketing is more purposeful and intentional.
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  And I would say that it really just sort of integrates or kind of feeds the entire
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  operation, all of your strategy and so
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  Sure, sure.
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  So in this climate, in this DEI is now the devil kind of climate, you think that
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  corporations are still thinking about multicultural marketing?
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  Yeah.
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  You know, I think that things have changed, obviously.
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  You know, it's I think that things have become just very different in this in this climate.
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  And, you know, I I I've been thinking a lot about, you know, some of the brands that in the
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  past have been, like, prime examples of, like, multicultural marketing done right.
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  Right?
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  And so, you know, the the funny thing about that is that, you know, these brands that one
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  that once were idolized or once were commended and applauded for for doing multicultural
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  marketing, right, are now almost, like, under fire.
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  Right?
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  And they're very controversial.
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  And so it's really challenging to highlight brands right now that are currently excelling
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  in multicultural marketing, because all of them have had some some kind of of recent
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  controversy.
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  You know, I think that the kind of going back to what I was mentioning between intentional
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  marketing and tokenism, right, you know, I think that because a lot of organizations like
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  Target, for instance, which is currently under fire and, you know, we've also seen like issues
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  and challenges with like Coca Cola recently, right?
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  And so we're seeing that more and more organizations and corporations are kind of
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  dialing back and rolling back a lot of these initiatives.
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  And you know, this kind of goes back to this idea of tokenism, right?
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  You know, were you doing these things just for the optics or were you doing these things
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  because, you know, it is something that's really important to you and that's really core
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  to the value of not just your organization, but the value that you're offering your customers.
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  So, you know, I think that, yes, it's definitely changed.
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  A lot of organizations are rolling back, you know, a lot of these initiatives.
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  But, you know, I think that this is also a time for those that really care about these kinds of
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  initiatives and communities to really double down and really, you know, put their money
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  where their mouth is and, you know, not let the current administration or really any political
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  environment have them kind of stray away from their initial sort of inclinations.
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  So let's talk about the ones that are gonna double down, right?
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  So what are some creative ideas you can think of that makes sense that brands might be able
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  to leverage with influencers or community leaders to like kind of build that trust?
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  Yeah, yeah.
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  I mean, there's really a lot that people can do.
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  I kind of wanna talk a little bit about some of the, like, cost effective ways, right, that
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  people can, like, test multicultural messaging or marketing.
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  You know, you want to make sure that you are testing your messaging on a smaller scale
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  before you go big.
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  And, you know, you also need to kind of understand that you don't necessarily need to
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  have a huge budget to do that either.
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  I always kind of recommend starting with social media so you can run a few organic posts on
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  social media or, you know, put some money towards, like, some some ads, right, like, low
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  cost ads that are targeting specific communities so that you can really see how
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  people are gonna respond.
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  And then once you start kind of putting those that content and that messaging out there, you
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  can look at the engagement.
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  Right?
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  Are people liking it?
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  Are they sharing it?
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  Are they commenting?
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  That feedback is gonna be gold.
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  And then you can also do things like hosting focus groups or listening sessions with people
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  from the community that you're trying to reach.
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  Sometimes, you know, when I'm doing this kind of work, I'll pull together a few trusted
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  voices like customers or influencers or even community leaders and just ask, you know, if
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  this is something that really feels authentic, right?
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  Is this something that really speaks to them?
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  Because those insights are often more valuable than any analytics report.
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  And then you also want to make sure that you're not overlooking your existing audience as well.
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  So if you've already got a bilingual or if you have multicultural followers, you wanna make
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  sure that you're asking them directly, maybe pulling them in stories or through email or,
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  you know, texting, calling them.
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  You know, there's a lot of channels.
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  I think, you know, what's most important is that you're just testing the messaging, you
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  know, testing the content before you're making it accessible to the masses and sharing that
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  story or that messaging with more people.
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  But yeah, you know, these days, you know, you can connect with people in so many different
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  ways.
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  But I think that, you know, regardless of the channel that you're using, ultimately, what
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  matters is that the content is not just, representative, but that, you know, it's also
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  that you're taking into account voices, right, of the groups that you're or of the communities
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  that you're looking to reach.
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  So you wanna make sure that you're getting that feedback so that things feel more authentic.
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  Sure, now, what would you say to these marketing managers who might think that
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  multicultural marketing is just a niche, that is like, if we get to it as opposed to
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  something that should be an essential part of their strategy?
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  Yeah, so for marketing managers that say that multicultural marketing is a niche rather than
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  essential, I would say that, you know, they're still thinking of multicultural marketing as
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  niche, know, then I would say that they're already behind, right?
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  That they're really behind just because multicultural audiences aren't a side group at
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  this point.
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  You know, the multicultural audience is the audience, is the market.
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  You know, at this point, we're talking about billions of people with buying power, growing
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  communities, you know, younger generations that are more diverse than ever.
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  It's no longer a trend.
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  It's really the reality of society, of our lives, of business today.
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  And so, you know, I would I always tell brand leaders and marketing managers that inclusion
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  is not optional anymore.
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  And so if their marketing doesn't reflect the world that we live in, they're really missing
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  out on new customers, and they're also risking losing the ones that they already have.
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  Right?
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  People wanna feel seen, they wanna feel heard, they wanna feel valued.
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  And when brands ignore that, audience are audiences are ultimately going to take their
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  loyalty elsewhere.
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  And we see that more and more and more often now.
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  Right?
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  So, you know, anytime that someone or something or some brand gets canceled, right, people say,
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  okay, well, you know, I'm not going to drink this anymore.
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  I'm not going to buy here anymore.
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  I'm just going to go to, you know, X alternative.
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  And so it's really important to help people feel seen and heard and valued.
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  So, you know, I would say to marketing managers that, you know, they shouldn't just be waiting
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  for some heritage month to care about multicultural audiences.
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  They really want to make sure that they're building their multicultural marketing into
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  their strategy from day one.
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  And then they're also doing things like hiring diverse talent and investing in community
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  relationships and really creating content that reflects real people.
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  All right, Leonis.
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  And what is the best business advice you've ever been given?
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  Oh, okay.
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  That is a really good question.
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  I guess I would say that the best business advice that I've ever been given has been start
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  where you are, use what you have, and do what you can.
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  That's something that has, really stuck with me.
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  Sorry about that.
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  There's, like, a sensor in this room.
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  Okay.
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  And so yeah.
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  So that's something that's really stuck with me.
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  Start where you are, use what you have, and do what you can, you know, especially as someone
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  that's built my business from the ground up with very limited resources.
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  In the beginning, you know, I used to think that I had to wait until everything was
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  perfect.
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  I had to have the right logo, the perfect website, more money, more time, etcetera,
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  etcetera, etcetera.
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  But really, the truth is that, you know, waiting on perfect is is is gonna keep you
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  stuck.
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  And so what I've learned is that progress, you know, oftentimes, or every perfection.
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  And so you really learn by doing, by showing up and really by listening and adapting.
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  Love it, love it.
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  Thank you so much, Leonis.
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  You have given us so much incredible value.
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  And I think it's important to talk about it because I think there is what, 62,000,000
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  Latino Americans in The United States, there's 47,000,000 African Americans.
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  So if people think that this is a group of people whose dollars they don't want, I don't
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  understand it because that's basically half of The United at this point.
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  So thank you so much for this important conversation and we will certainly, if anyone
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  wants more information about you, we want them to go over to wearemajor.com.
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  And thank you all for joining me for this episode of the Small Bitch Chat podcast.
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  If you wanna learn more, head over to our website, Small Biz Lady University.
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  And if you're a woman owned business and you're looking for a confidential community to support
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  you in your business journey, please consider joining Small Biz Lady Academy.
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  We have content there in English and Spanish, and I wanna support you in your journey as your
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  coach.
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  So check out smallbizladyacademy.com.
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  And I'll leave you with this.
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  You never lose in business.
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  Either you win or you learn.
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  God bless everybody.
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  Thank you so much.
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  Thanks for listening to the Small Biz Chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
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  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and join us next Wednesday for
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  more fantastic information and interviews.
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  You can find more sources and small business success strategies by visiting Melinda's
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  website, succeedasyourownboss.com.
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  Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next week.