A call to action to include Asians and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. in your marketing plans.

I took a stroll down memory lane and remembered that the first article I ever wrote for iMediaConnection was almost a year ago. The article was titled “No Habla Espanol” and it encouraged marketers to target the U.S. Hispanic demographic. If I remember precisely, my call to action to marketers and advertisers alike was “Hispanics control 8 percent of U.S. spending and 14 million are online -- why aren't you spending to reach them?”

So here I am one year later focusing on online marketing strategies in the Asia Pacific. Obviously, there is a lot of opportunity there, ranging from Hong Kong’s Digital Potential, to China’s land of online opportunity, to Yahoo!’s successful expansion strategy in this region.

However, one domestic call to action I give you again is to include Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States in your online marketing plans.

Recently, the U.S. Census Bureau released a comprehensive summary report titled, "We the People: Asians in the United States," containing a portrait of the Asian population. Based off of the current findings, it would be wise to target this fast growing demographic as the median annual income of Asian families is almost $10,000 higher than the median income for all families in the country.

If you are considering including this demographic in your online media plans, here are some data points:

• Asians are more likely than the total population to be in management, professional and related occupations.
• Five specific ethnic groups among the 12.5 million Asians and Pacific Islanders in the country each number one million or more: Chinese, Filipinos, Asian Indians, Vietnamese and Koreans.
• Fifty-one percent of the Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States live in the West, 19 percent live in the South, 12 percent in the Midwest, and 19 percent in the Northeast. In comparison, 194.8 million (69 percent) of the United States population is non-Hispanic White.
• Ninety-five percent of all Asians and Pacific Islanders live in metropolitan areas, a much greater proportion than of non-Hispanic Whites (78 percent).
• Twenty-six percent of Asians and Pacific Islanders are under 18, compared with 23 percent of non-Hispanic Whites. Seven percent of Asians and Pacific Islanders were 65 and over, compared with 14 percent of non-Hispanic Whites.
• Of the 9.8 million Asians and Pacific Islanders and 158.3 million non-Hispanic Whites 15 and older in 2002, 57 percent of each population was married, but the percentage of divorced Asians and Pacific Islanders was one-half that of non-Hispanic Whites.
• Eighty-seven percent of the 7.9 million Asians and Pacific Islanders and 89 percent of the 133.4 million non-Hispanic Whites aged 25 and older have earned at least a high school diploma.
• Asian and Pacific Islander men are much more likely than non-Hispanic White men to have earned at least a bachelor's degree. Similarly, Asian and Pacific Islander women are more likely than non-Hispanic White women to have earned at least a bachelor's degree.

In a summary by Kang & Lee Advertising, Saul Gitlin, EVP-Strategic Services, said: "This new Census summary of the Asian population is an excellent resource for the multicultural marketing industry. This Report will be especially useful for companies and brands that have no prior experience in Asian American marketing, yet are seeking to build their knowledge to develop new marketing and communications plans to reach this fast-growing, and affluent segment of consumers."

Additional Resources:

Visit the Census Bureau site

Elizabeth M. Lloyd is the Director of Corporate Marketing for Netblue, Inc., an online direct marketing company based in Silicon Valley. Previously, Lloyd was the director of marketing for opt-in email provider, NetCreations, in New York City. Prior to NetCreations, Lloyd was responsible for the PR department of ValueClick, Inc.