Marketing to Arab consumers requires three major steps:

1. learning about them through secondary research,
2. getting important characteristics that apply to them through market segmentation,
3. applying this information to a marketing campaign.

In this series of posts on Marketing to Arab Consumers, I’ll demonstrate each of the above steps in a post. This first post provides demographic, psychographic, and sociographic characteristics of Arab consumers revealed through secondary research.*

For the next post in this series, I’ll use my matrix market segmentation process to discover even more characteristics and determine the best ones to use in a marketing plan. Then in the third post on Marketing to Arab consumers, I’ll build a sample marketing plan.

So let’s get started with the Arab consumers demographic, psychographic, and sociographic characteristics revealed through secondary research.

You can get more characteristics for Arab consumers at the link in this sentence.

Marketing To Arab Consumers:
Demographics

Arab Americans are primarily in the 20-44 age group with 47 percent under the age of 25. Only six percent are 65 years or older. They are younger than other major ethnic groups as well as the US population in general.

Most (66%) are employed with 77 percent working in the private sector and 12 percent working in government. They are more likely to be self-employed and in managerial and professional occupations than Americans in general.

Marketing To Arab Consumers:
Education

Arab Americans value education:

• 82 percent have a high school diploma,
• 36 percent have a college degree, and
• 15 percent have graduate degrees.

Those born in the USA mostly have just high school diplomas while those born in Arab countries are more likely to have college degrees.

They also support educational political issues:

• 69 percent support vouchers,
• 59 percent oppose teaching of evolution, and
• 75 percent are against racial preferences in hiring and admissions.

Marketing To Arab Consumers:
Political Activity

Arab Americans are the most politically active of all American minorities for three important political activities: visiting a presidential candidate’s Web site (13%), donating money to a presidential candidate (16%), and watching a presidential debate (82%).

Marketing To Arab Consumers:
Middle East Perspective

Marketing to Arab consumers successfully consider their views on the Middle East and doesn’t take public positions opposing their views.

Marketing To Arab Consumers:
Social Issues

Arab Americans are conservative on most social issues. I provide a few examples of their conservativeness below:

Abortion

• 52 percent are pro-life as opposed to 45 percent who are pro-choice,
• 54 percent agree that all abortions should be banned, and
• 79 percent agree that parents should be notified when minors seek abortions.

Health Care

• 92 percent want to strengthen Social Security and Medicaid,
• 89 percent believe patients should be allowed to sue HMOs, and
• 86 percent agree that the government should use surpluses to provide health care for working poor families.

Crime

• 83 percent support prosecuting as adults 14 to 16 year olds who commit crimes with guns,
• 76 percent favor gun control, and
• 72 percent support the death penalty for heinous crimes.

Did you find this information interesting, but can’t imagine how it helps in marketing to Arab consumers? You’ll start to see what my matrix market segmentation process reveals about a target market in the next post on marketing to Arab consumers. You can access it below:

Marketing To Arab Consumers: Segmentation

*Information for this post was excerpted from Know ‘em Sell ‘em: How to Discover The Best Appeals for Your Target Market. Documentation for secondary research is provided there.

Posted 6-22-09:
Marketing To Arab Consumers:
Characteristics

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