There are over 300 million people in the United States, and they all have different stories and origins. If you’re a small business owner, you should be doing absolutely everything possible to appeal to as many cultural backgrounds as possible. After all, you want to stay in business and have people patronizing your workplace as often as possible, right? Here are four tips for businesses in the USA today.
Travel
You can only learn so much about other cultures from the comfort of your own home. In order to really understand what appeals to people with different backgrounds, you need to experience their background first-hand. Consider any markets that your business hasn’t reached, and then go travel to those areas. You’re bound to come across at least a few ideas you hadn’t previously considered.
Ask Questions
You need to know what people are thinking in order to properly serve them. Since you’re not psychic, you’ll have to use your powers of asking intelligent questions. Consult with people from a variety of backgrounds, whether it’s through a focus group or point blank questions. Make sure that your questions are nuanced and be open to the possibility of having to make radical changes in order to satisfy more demographics than you are currently.
Have a Universal Focus
The best-selling products are the ones that don’t restrict their audience, be it based on gender, age or anything else. If you are marketing products for your business that just about anyone would want to purchase, then you have a huge leg up on your competition. You will need to discern what items would not have such a wide appeal and consider downplaying them. However, if you find the right items to promote, you could be looking at a financial boon.
Use Translation Services
While English is the most spoken language in the United States, it’s by no means the only one. There are 37 million Spanish speakers and nearly 3 million Chinese speakers, among others. Therefore, you should make your products friendly to as many as non-native English speakers as possible. You don’t need to become fluent in every language, but having multi-lingual labels and instructions is a great idea. Working with a service like the Executive Linguist Agency or a similar translation firm is an easy way to make this change.
The multicultural nature of America is one of its greatest quality. As a business owner, you would be wise to embrace this opportunity to grow your business. There is so much to be appreciated about multiculturalism, and we hope this article has given you good advice.
