Canada is a country known for its multicultural diversity, consisting of many visible minority communities. Due to this kind of demographics, marketing in Canada can be a bit tricky. But worry no more, for this article will offer a key solution to your questions, and that is multicultural marketing.

If you’ve been researching markets in Canada. Multicultural marketing is a type of marketing specifically tailored to a target audience containing many different cultural roots and backgrounds. Canada also has many multicultural marketing agencies, especially in large cities like Toronto and Montreal. 

As you can see, multicultural marketing is a hot topic in marketing in Canada. This is because multicultural marketing is a highly effective strategy to target a culturally diverse target audience, to the point that it is a much needed strategy for brands to have.

Let’s take a deep dive into how that is. 

Counting the Visible Minority Communities

The majority of the Canadian population are still of British and French origins, but the population size of visible minority communities are rapidly increasing thanks to immigration. For many years, immigration has been a major source of Canada’s population growth. Ever since as early as 2011, about one in five Canadians at that time were born in a foreign country. 

The most recently released census results are from the 2016 census, which saw the foreign born population reach 7.67 million people. This is 21.9% of the entire Canadian population, a 2.8% jump compared to 5 years ago (19.1% in the 2011 census). 

And this growth is very likely to speed up more in the future. Based on the 2016 census results, if immigration rates continued at this rate, foreign-born immigrants would represent 24.5% to 30% of the total Canadian population in 2036. This is something that Canada is certainly on board with in the near future. 

Where Is The Immigration Coming From?

From 2011 to 2021, Canada has seen immigrants from many countries around the world. Countries such as India, China, Philippines, Nigeria, France, USA, Iran, Syria, and Pakistan are all predominant sources of immigration throughout the past decade. In 2021, Canada welcomed a whopping 405,000 new permanent residents, the most welcomed within a year’s span in Canada’s history. Here were the sources of immigration:

As you can see, the Canadian population is a multicultural mosaic, and this trend of demographics will likely continue, if not intensify in the future. 

Where Do the Immigrants Arrive?

Foreign born newcomers arrive in major cities and provinces, such as British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta. In 2021, Ontario saw a whopping 107,865 new immigrants, followed by British Columbia seeing 34,385, and Quebec seeing 33,665.

What Does This Mean?

As you can see, the visible minorities take up a very sizable proportion of the Canadian population, and a lot of them reside in the large provinces and cities. Essentially, this means that visible minority communities offer large markets containing many different target audiences with various cultural backgrounds, and these markets are located in cities and provinces already blooming with business activities.

That being said, despite the large market sizes and accessibility, and despite many multicultural marketing agencies and experts repeatedly advising otherwise, many brands and companies overlook or completely ignore these visible minority audiences. According to a study, only 25% of those who identify as a visible minority feel that brands speak to the people of their cultural backgrounds directly.

So, do you have any idea as to how many marketing opportunities are available? Visible minority communities are jam packed with untapped potential for marketing and business success. And, don’t forget that these opportunities will only increase as demographics trends continue!

Why The Opportunities Are Worth It

Why do so many multicultural marketing agencies and experts want brands to pursue these opportunities? What’s in it for the brands?

If the size and accessibility of the markets and the sheer amount of available opportunities aren’t enough to convince you, perhaps an introspect of the visible minority communities will allow you to add multicultural marketing strategy into your business playbook.

Visible minority communities live in Canada to feel like home. They want to purchase, live life and enjoy it just like any other Canadian resident. So the communities welcome brands, products, and services that can offer this. They are eager to deal with brands and corporations who put their needs, desires and cultural values into consideration. Or better yet, brands that consider them a priority. 

This is especially the case of newcomers. Many multicultural marketing agencies and experts believe that newcomers to Canada who plan to permanently reside in Canada are a particularly easy yet important audience to market to. They’ve just arrived in a country that they are relatively unfamiliar with. Because they’re starting a new life in a new country, they must make purchases, yet they don’t know which brands to choose. According to a study done on multicultural marketing, many newcomers feel a need to settle in Canada, thus they have a strong desire to purchase mobile phones, buy or lease a car, get home or auto insurance, set up a bank account and buy or rent a house. 

Therefore, this is an excellent opportunity for brands to raise brand awareness and develop a positive public image towards visible minority communities by showing them you’ll be there for them. Remember, in a landscape where minorities are often overlooked or underrepresented, capitalizing on such opportunities offer high rewards with relatively low risk and low difficulty compared to many other marketing tactics.

Of course, newcomers are not the only people who appreciate multicultural marketing. Remember, as many multicultural marketing agencies and experts say, multicultural marketing is something for everyone. 

Conclusion

Remember: the magic of multicultural marketing lies in the sheer size and availability of the marketing opportunities in Canada. 21% of the entire Canadian population is far from a small number, and this proportion is still growing by the day. 

But multicultural marketing is also easy. All you need to do at a basic level is to be more considerate towards the visible minority communities, their needs, and their cultures. This can be as simple as understanding a traditional holiday, or translating your ads into a language to “speak their tongue”. 

Of course, multicultural marketing must be handled with care and sensitivity. Fortunately, you’re in Canada, the home of many multicultural marketing agencies! If you need help or assistance, the multicultural marketing agencies will be your best place for consultancy and services to help you. 

So, capitalize on these opportunities before your competitors do! When it comes to multicultural marketing, there’s no better agency to look at than DV8 Communication. DV8 Communication provides expertise on multicultural marketing, and offers many top-quality services to construct the campaign you need!