Business / Marketing Hall Of Fame Recipient Sharifa Khan Shares The 4 Biggest Misconceptions Companies Have When They Are Trying To Get Our Attention

Marketing Hall Of Fame Recipient Sharifa Khan Shares The 4 Biggest Misconceptions Companies Have When They Are Trying To Get Our Attention

Business May 27, 2021

by Sharifa Khan

Sharifa Khan, founder and CEO of Balmoral Multicultural Marketing, just made history by breaking a glass ceiling as Canada’s first multicultural marketer to be inducted into the coveted Canadian Marketing Hall of Legends, the industry’s highest honour. Sharifa shares a few critical insights that every marketer should know when reaching out to our South Asian community.

Thirty-one years ago, when I launched my agency, Balmoral Multicultural Marketing, I wanted to prove to Canadian companies that we as immigrants mattered. So many of us were contributing to the economy and gaining consumer buying power, but brands were not speaking to us at all.

Even in my first Canadian job at a PR and marketing firm, I experienced bias against my Asian and South Asian background. My co-workers’ comments routinely included the term “China man.” Well-meaning colleagues told me they were surprised by my English considering how I was new to Canada. Yet, they knew I had come from British Hong Kong!

**Marketing Hall Of Fame Recipient Sharifa Khan Shares The 4 Biggest Misconceptions Companies Have When They Are Trying To Get Our Attention: Sharifa Khan in her office.** Photo Credit: Balmoral Multicultural Marketing

A lack of understanding about us as immigrants, our language, our culture, and our economic and cultural contributions to Canada, fuelled me to push for change.

I started my company with just $6,000 CAD and a dream. That dream was to be a bridge – that creates deeper connections between mainstream marketers and our thriving immigrant communities.

Though multicultural marketing wasn’t a thing yet, I was knocking on doors, building my case as to why brands needed to pay attention to us.

My first client was the Bank of Canada, a conservative organization not known for charting into uncharted marketing territory.

My team and I shared our research with them, that showed new immigrants would be keenly interested in buying Canada Savings Bonds. It was a guaranteed investment, by a stable government in a stable country, backed by a strong banking system. It was a stark contrast to the instability some immigrants experienced before.

That campaign produced amazing results, and it became a foundational moment in my multicultural marketing career.

Today, we have close to 2 million South Asians in Canada, but many marketers are still learning the art of marketing to our richly-diverse group. To this end, here are 4 of the biggest misunderstandings that I still see in the marketplace:

1. Does everything have to be translated “in-language”? This is a common question from clients and it’s where a lot of them get intimidated. They read studies that say language matters when it comes to connecting with South Asians. Then, they find out through Google that there are 7,099 living languages across the South Asian diaspora! And that doesn’t even include Hinglish (the popular practice of translanguaging between Hindi and English used by more than 350 million people).

**Marketing Hall Of Fame Recipient Sharifa Khan Shares The 4 Biggest Misconceptions Companies Have When They Are Trying To Get Our Attention: We love our Hinglish.** Photo Credit: www.scroll.in

Marketers need to recognize that we have a great mastery of English. It is often our main language used in business back home. Deciding on whether to use in-language communication, Hinglish or English is a matter of understanding the deep diversity within our South Asian diversity. When speaking to a wider audience that shares certain commonalities and values, Hinglish resonates with us. But original, insights-based creative, produced through a cultural lens, connects best with us (and other ethnic communities too). It’s a direct pathway to our hearts.

2. Viewing our inter-play of dual cultures through a monocultural lens: Okay, that sounds a bit academic, but it’s true, we immigrants live a dual life! We keep a lot of our traditions, cultural celebrations and values, and we pass it on to our second-generations born in Canada. At the same time, we are fiercely proud to be Canadian. We won’t hesitate for a moment to gather the whole family with all of the aunties and uncles and trek out in a cold Canadian winter to try a beaver tail for fun. We may follow the hottest shows on CTV, but we may also say we can’t live without Zee TV. This intricate balancing act is a learned practice for marketers who’ve grown up exclusively in one culture.

Marketing Hall Of Fame Recipient Sharifa Khan Shares The 4 Biggest Misconceptions Companies Have When They Are Trying To Get Our Attention: Marketers need to understand that we are blend of both cultures when it comes to lifestyle and entertainment. Photo Credit: www.unsplash.com

3. Developing country or the next Superpower? The impression of South Asian countries like India as being a third world country is not an accurate reflection of our communities in Canada. A recent study by Vivintel, for example, found that South Asian immigrants are more than twice as likely to hold degrees above a Bachelor’s degree compared to the national average (46 per cent versus 20 per cent). We’re a well-to-do, tech-savvy group with deep digital roots. We bring global knowledge to Canada, and we need to be marketed to, accordingly.

4. Mastering culturally-relevant, insights-based creative: We take great pride in our heritage and values. Family is paramount, and recent research found that 73.75% of us define being successful as having a happy family. Advertising must therefore be trans-created so it reflects our cultural context. Many marketers make mistakes by relying on translation only. Consider for example, pre-planning funerals and final arrangements – this is not a common practice in our communities. For some, it’s considered a taboo. Our agency set out to de-mystify this by appealing to parents, helping them understand that by planning ahead, they can take away this burden from their children, and that these decisions can be made collectively as a family.

There is a saying: “To know me is to love me.” This is the secret sauce of successful multicultural marketing. My advice to marketers across Canada is, first: Research, research, research, so you can know more about our rich South Asian diaspora. Then, collect data and mine them for culturally-relevant, values-driven insights. Finally, create relationship-building strategies that invest for the long term to support our community.

As my creative director Donovan D’Souza says: “South Asians are very loyal. Know us and love us, and we’ll love you back.”

Main Image Photo Credit: Balmoral Multicultural Marketing (Sharifa Khan); www.unsplash.com (icons and mother and daughter),

Sharifa Khan

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Marketing Hall Of Fame Recipient Sharifa Khan Shares The 4 Biggest Misconceptions Companies Have When They Are Trying To Get Our Attention

by Sharifa Khan

Sharifa Khan

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