Why Market To LGBT Community
The buying power of the LGBT community in the United States alone represents more than $830 billion dollars. The LGBT community is extremely diverse in terms of ethnicity and socioeconomic status and we are an extremely loyal buying group, who in most instances are willing to pay more for a product or service that supports the LGBT community.
Should you and your company be actively marketing to the LGBT community and courting LGBT dollars?
There are many advantages to doing just that…even if you’re subtle in the ways you go about doing it.
Did You Know This About The LGBT Spending?
- Median Household Income is23% higher
- Have 24% More Equity In Their Homes
- 26% of Gay Men Say They Will Pay More For Top Quality Brands
- 30% Have Taken A Major Vacation In The Past Year
- 40% Bought A New Smart Phone In The Past Year
- Make 16% More Shopping Trips Than The Average U.S. Household
- Total Spending Equates To About 25% More For Same-Sex Households
- Gay Men Shopping Nearly 30% More Often Than The Average Household (that’s about $2,045.00 more per year spent on packaged goods)
- 64% Will Tell A Friend When They Find A Brand They Like
A Few Things To Understand About The LGBT Consumer
Marketing to the LGBT consumer is about more than just advertising that includes same-sex images and rainbow flags. Building a loyal following of LGBT consumers who buy your product or service over and over again is about creating an entire culture in your business.
LGBT consumers aren’t taken in by just advertising. Really getting a foothold in the LGBT market has to do with marketing as well as other factors in your company. LGBT consumers want to know that inclusion is a part of your companies culture and that isn’t not just marketing to get our LGBT dollars, but because you’re interested in the LGBT community.
A LGBT consumer will look much deeper than just your marketing before they decide the invest with you and become a loyal client who tells their friends and family about you.
Just Because You’re LGBT Doesn’t Mean You Know How To Market
To The LGBT Community
Marketing is everything you do in your company, and everything you do in your company is marketing.
Each segment of our community is different. To be most effective, you must market a bit differently to each of those market segments. It takes research and study to understand the subtle (and not so subtle) differences in how you market to a gay man versus a lesbian.
Just like it makes sense that you would use different language and images when you gear your marketing to men as opposed to when it’s geared toward women, the same in true in the LGBT community.
Being LGBT doesn’t necessarily give you insight into marketing to the community as a whole. You need to know the specifics of each demographic…as well as the psychographic differences.
