News & Insights

The Importance of Research in Multicultural Marketing

In our 32 years in business, SRB Communications has thrived as a minority and women owned advertising and marketing agency.  During that time have operated at a half-dozen different locations up and down K Street, NW. But there has been one constant – our focus on diversity and multicultural marketing. Our clients depend on our expertise – to uncover the cultural nuances and more with diverse audiences that make up the communities that we serve.

We watched as many of our competitors, large and small, missed the mark when it comes to multicultural marketing. One of the big mistakes they often make is a lack of time spent in the research phase, an area where SRB excels. We’ve spent countless hours doing qualitative and market research for our clients and the results sometimes even amaze us.

Setting up the story with our market research

Whether the research is for customer insights on a company’s perception, consumer feedback on a brand, personal stances on sensitive societal topics, we have witnessed some of the most fulfilling insights when conducting these types of analyses.

One of the SRB team’s preferred methods of research is, by far, focus groups whether in person at a high-tech focus group facility. And before you ask…yes, the see-through mirrored walls are in fact as cool as they appear on TV, or a virtual focus group held on a secure zoom platform. We enjoy them all the same.

SRB Communications facilitates focus groups and stakeholder interviews for clients in various industries i.e., transportation, government, higher education, public health, energy and utilities, and non-profit organizations. Our process includes:

• Developing the plan
• Creating the screener tool and executing recruitment
• Preparing the discussion guide
• Selecting and briefing the moderator(s)
• Securing facilities (virtual and on-site), audio/video recording and transcription
• Coding the data and identifying unifying themes
• Writing comprehensive reports on results
• Presenting analysis and findings to the client

Attitudes, preferences and opinions are socially formed; focus groups will provide your customers with an environment to articulate them in an unbiased way.

A perfect case study is with one of our clients, the Prince George’s County Health Department
 
The pandemic exposed a great deal of stigma, miscommunication and areas of opportunity for health departments worldwide, especially when it comes to connecting with their historically marginalized and vulnerable communities. Discrepancies in health literacy were one of the biggest pain points of the Prince George’s County Health Department. Once the need was identified, SRB Communications was brought into the partnership to provide qualitative research, marketing and branding work over a two-year period.  

The goal of the market research for the Health Department to reconnect with the diverse audiences that make up Prince George’s County, Maryland and redefine the way forward, leading with inclusive health literacy and health support, for residents.

As the lead on the research phase of this comprehensive initiative, SRB Communications planned, scheduled, recruited for and coordinated 18 virtual focus groups with nine diverse populations in Prince George’s County, Maryland. 

The initial project period included five months of community conversations through focus groups, compiling research and data translation, starting September 2021 and ending February 2022. Each sub-population was exceptionally open in their focus group settings, which revealed rich data and insights that will help improve marketing, communications and outreach tactics, as well as the messaging and channels of dissemination.

The focus group focused on health literacy, impacts of COVID-19, barriers to public health support and healthcare and ways the Health Department can improve moving forward. SRB Communications wrote comprehensive reports for each of the focus group populations, which served as the framework for moving forward with the projects upcoming marketing deliverables.