The Bay Area is home to an incredibly diverse population. Ten years ago, the 2010 census revealed that more than half of all people who live in the region represent diverse cultural groups. For example, Hispanics represented 23.8% of the population, Asians came in at 23.9%, and African Americans made up 6.7%. 

While many marketers recognize that diversity exists, they tend to ignore the impact that diversity has on marketing efforts. Below, we will dive into what diversity reach is and give some examples of how it impacts radio ad campaigns. 

What is Diversity Reach?

Ordinary reach, which refers to the number of people who see or hear your marketing content, comes with the underlying assumption that the same message will impact different cultures in the same way. It assumes that you can put out one message and get a similar response from everyone it touches, and that your reach will be equal in number among all ethnic or cultural groups.

Diversity reach accepts the fact that different cultures and demographics may perceive the same message in very different ways. Increasing diversity reach means that your messaging goes beyond basic demographics like age, income, and education. Simply put, diversity reach is a measure that takes into account the need to tailor messaging toward different cultural groups. 

Why is Diversity Reach Important?

People from different cultures experience the world in different ways, including the way they experience your ads. If you want to tailor your ads to a specific demographic, you must consider cultural nuances during the process. Pay attention to the demographics of listeners where you advertise. On KBLX, for example, 44.1% of listeners are Black and 23.1% are Hispanic. An average 3.2% are Asian. Radio ads on KBLX targeted toward Whites will not be as effective as radio ads targeted toward African Americans.

On the other hand, on KMVQ, where 8.3% of listeners are Black, 18.9% are Hispanic, and 27.3% are Asian, your ads will need a diverse approach to reach the largest overall percentage of your target market.

Consider a target audience that includes homeowners and people with a household income of over $100,000 per year. If you aren't including minorities as part of your target audience, you're missing out on a major segment of your market. 

Take a look, for example, at KBLX listeners:

• 165,145 own their homes
• 90,253 have incomes of $100,000 to $249,999
• 271,524 attended college
• 103,096 graduated from college

If you aren't targeting these listeners with your ads, you may be missing immense opportunities in your target market. 

Keep in mind that just because African American and Caucasian audience members have the same income and level of education, it doesn't necessarily mean that they will respond to the same message. If messages across the Bay Area are targeted at one group alone, you may find that your overall ROI is less than if you create messages tailored toward diverse groups across the Bay Area. 

Pay attention to who is delivering your radio endorsements. An endorsement from an influencer on KBLX may have a dramatically different impact than one from a host on KOIT. Work carefully with your media partner to learn more about how you can target your ads toward the diverse population in the Bay Area. 

Key Factors to Remember

The Bay Area is not racially or culturally homogeneous. It doesn't have the same ethnic composition in all areas. Ethnicity is not a good predictor of socioeconomic status. Likewise, socioeconomic status is not a good predictor of how your audience will respond to specific types of ads. ROI optimization requires your business to reach new markets. If you aren't putting in the effort, you may find your ROI decreasing or even note that your competitors can more easily move into specific arenas.

Increasing diversity reach is a highly effective way to increase ROI without raising your marketing spend. Make sure that you create marketing materials that will allow you to reach diverse members of your target audience and include them in your thinking as you plan your campaign. 

A team experienced in developing multicultural ad campaigns can be a valuable media partner as you determine ways to reach a diverse market. Work closely with your media partner to get a better idea of the type of messaging that will most likely reach your target demographic, as well as how and where you should deliver it.