According a the study conducted 2 years ago by De La Riva, a Mexican international market research company, the pink market was worth about 660 billion USD in United States and in Mexico represented more than 400 billion.
Although Mexico is still a new player on the pink market, gradually manufacturers of cars, electronics, communications and beauty producers are beginning to understand the business benefit of targeting this segment. These are some recommendations specialists advise when marketing to the LGBT market:
1. Consumers do not want to be differentiated or blatantly targeted with stereotypical gay messaging in advertising, such as an overt use of pink. LGBT consumers prefer that brands promote their messages with a more subtle detail that only the community can interpret.
2. You need to identify your target customer. In the LGBT segment generalizations cannot be made within the group because there are lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people within the community, all with different needs to be filled.
3. Gay-friendly goes beyond saying 'I am friendly'. Get to know the LGBT community on more than just a surface level.
4. The best tool for positioning your product or business in the gay market is to advertise online.
5. Understand the preferred products in the LGBT community including items like personal care items and technology such as computers, phones and televisions.
With little or no support from authorities, Puerto Vallarta has been able to serve the LGBT community and benefit from the economic activity that this segment of visitors creates every year in our resort destination.
Although there is much discussion about plans for other major destinations in Mexico to create LGBT tourism marketing plans, there is still a long way to go before getting service providers to fully understand and welcome the benefit to their businesses.
Jorge Chávez is Senior Editor at Mijo! Brands in Mexico.
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