4 Reasons Why Your Business Needs LGBT-Marketing

With trust in large corporations, the government and the press fading, consumers are increasingly looking to brands to take a progressive stand on the issues they care about. Millennials, in particular, want to put their money where their mouth is and deal with companies that represent their values. Key among those values is inclusiveness and equality for women, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and the LGBT community.

Here are 4 reasons why your business needs LGBT-marketing:

1. 90% of consumers are willing to boycott a brand if they feel it doesn’t have the right principles. Research from Cone Communications and Ebiquity also shows that 88% of consumers are more loyal to companies that support diversity and social issues. Famously, the LGBT community has boycotted the American fast-food chain Chick Fil A over reports about their six-figure donations to anti-LGBT-organizations. Consequently, different public institutions, including several airports, have banned Chick Fil A from operating on their premises.

2. LGBT consumers want to see more community representation in advertising. YouGov’s 2017 LGBT brand rankings study not only provides an overview of the best-perceived corporations among LGBT consumers but also found that, in the US, for instance, 66% of LGBT individuals say they don’t see enough LGBT-representation in ads, compared to 51% of the general public. The data shows similar results in the UK and Germany, where the differences are 57% to 44% and 40% to 33% respectively.

3. LGBT Consumers are more likely to act after seeing an advertisement. The same YouGov study also asked consumers if they search advertised products and services on their phone after seeing them. 43% of LGBT consumers in the US say they do, compared to 33% of Americans in general. They found the same phenomenon in the UK and Germany.

4. Sheer numbers: In Switzerland alone, between 470’000 and 610’000 adults identify as LGBT. While there are no exact figures showing their purchasing power in Switzerland, the LGBT segment is financially strong, has a high propensity to spend. The LGBT community one of the fastest-growing consumer segments around the world. According to Mannschaft (german), a leading Swiss magazine for gay and bisexual men, a majority of same-sex couples in Switzerland are DINKs (Double Income, No Kids) and spend 30% more for lifestyle products than other consumers. 82% of them travel several times per year and 70% value LGBT-friendly corporations over others. LGBT consumers also spend more time-consuming media – on social and traditional channels. LGBT consumers are also among the most interconnected segments in the market.

LGBT Community in Switzerland (Mannschaft)

In conclusion, going into LGBT-marketing has many benefits. This quickly growing segment with a high disposable income and higher than average propensity to spend is hungry for representation, so let’s make it happen!

What are your questions regarding LGBT-marketing? Let me know in the comments below!

Next week we’ll talk about the Dos and Don’ts of LGBT marketing.

In the meantime, please share my blog post with your peers!

Do you want to know more about LGBT-Marketing? Read my other posts, too!

🌈 The Dos and Don’ts of LGBT-Marketing
🌈 LGBT-Marketing: Worst Practices
🌈 LGBT-Marketing: Best Practices
🌈 How to Deal With Anti-LGBT Backlash
🌈 Rainbow-Washing: Explained

Olivier della Valle

Hi, I'm Olivier - student and marketing professional in the auto industry. I'm passionate about future mobility, marketing, and pop culture. I also happen to be a proud gay man. The Queer Marketing Blog is about all that and more. It shines a light on how a gay Millennial sees the marketing world around him. It should be an informative, helpful and fun way to show marketers why they should care about LGBT-marketing. Since the Stonewall riots in New York in 1969, many governments across the globe have realized, that people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) should be offered the same rights and privileges as their fellow straight and cis-gendered citizens. You may ask now, if LGBT people seek full equality, though, why should you market to them differently from everyone else? Apart from the fact that in many countries, including Switzerland, equality is still far away from reality, from a marketing standpoint, the answer lies in the ability of brands to create an emotional bond with every single one of their consumers. This of course leads to higher conversion rates, and more sales. With socio- and geo-demographic mapping of the LGBT community and analyses on their propensity to spend across varied markets, we have been able to learn that the LGBT community collectively over-indexes in many categories. The 2015 Nielsen LGBT consumer report shows that when compared to the general population, LGBT people spend 35% more online, are 25% more likely to see a movie on opening weekend and are 26% more likely to subscribe to an entertainment streaming service. A 2017 GLAAD study showed that 20% of Millennials – consumers who are building considerable earning potential in their 20s, 30s and 40s – identify as LGBT. In addition, LGBT consumers are over twice as likely to buy from companies they trust. Marketers need to find ways to authentically engage with this growing segment. To find out how to make LGBT-marketing work for your brand, read on!

View all posts by Olivier della Valle →

5 thoughts on “4 Reasons Why Your Business Needs LGBT-Marketing

  1. Great article, Olivier! Do you have any examples of successful LGBT marketing campaigns?

    1. Thank you so much for your feedback, Katharina! And yes, actually, that article is coming up soon!

  2. About a year ago I added a rainbow flag and an equality sign sticker to the door of our restaurant. I was so surprised how well people responded to it. As there are so many other stickers and so much info on that door I didn’t expect anyone to notice. So a couple weeks ago I also added a little info-sheet to our regular menu that tells people that we are lgbt inclusive, anti-sexism and so on.

    The client base and the general vibe of our restaurant genuinely changed to the better and I can 100% confirm that our business needed lgbt marketing.

    Thank you for providing me with your amazing articles and insights that I feel were never before summarized in one place. And also: thank you for teaching the children!

    1. Thank you so much for your encouraging comment, Toni! I’m happy to hear you’re inclusifying your business. Keep on doing the good work! 🙂

  3. Hi Oli, so great how you highlight the relevance of LGBT marketing in this article. Really interesting topic, can’t wait to learn more about it in the upcoming posts 🙂

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