For Immediate Release – December 2, 2010
Community Marketing, Inc.
Contact: David Paisley; david@CommunityMarketingInc.com; 415/437-3800
Latest LGBT Market Segment, “B2B,” Discovered as Substantial Growth Opportunity for Corporate America.
Study finds personal gay brand loyalties “trickle up” at work.
Thomas Roth, President of Community Marketing, Inc., presented key findings of a breakthrough study on over 1,400 LGBT business decision-makers at the NGLCC National Business & Leadership Conference in Washington, DC.
The 1st Annual CMI-NGLCC Commerce & Enterprise Market Intelligence Study was produced by Community Marketing, Inc. (CMI), a San Francisco-based LGBT market research and communications firm, in collaboration with the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce® (NGLCC).
The hypothesis behind the study was to find out if gays and lesbians who make purchasing decisions for their employer refer to their ‘consumer’ loyalties — whether it’s their favorite gay-friendly hotel brand, bank, insurance company, or some other business — when making those choices at work. The study proved the premise. Business leaders, and especially those involved with NGLCC or their local LGBT chamber of commerce, are likely to research and buy products and services for their companies from known “gay-friendly” suppliers.
“We call this the ‘trickle up’ or multiplier effect, where a lesbian consumer might make a three-night booking at a gay-friendly hotel for her vacation, but then go and make a booking for 100 rooms at a similarly known gay-friendly hotel for a company meeting, because of that same loyalty.”
This study unfolds a new “niche market” within LGBT, according to Community Marketing. “Most research to date, including ours over the past 18 years, has been consumer-focused. Because of that, many companies that are business-to-business operations assumed there was no reason to reach out to the LGBT community,” Roth said. “But this study proves the theory that LGBT advertising and sponsoring community organizations yields an unexpected multiplier effect into business purchases.”
Business decision-makers indicated that some of the best ways to reach them and influence their purchases are through the LGBT media, and through involvement in the national and local LGBT chambers of commerce.
The full study, as well as a copy of the NGLCC presentation, are available by free download from the CMI website. Shortcut: www.LGBTb2b.com
### end ###
Study Methodology:
CMI conducted this unprecedented online survey of over 1,400 U.S.-based respondents in partnership with NGLCC. The study was supported by Hyatt Hotels, Chubb Group of Insurance Companies and Wells Fargo Bank. The goal of the study was to quantify and qualify the purchasing habits, motivations, and behaviors of LGBT-owned companies and LGBT-friendly corporations, and determine opportunities for increasing LGBT-related B2B commerce.
Respondents were drawn from a “business owner/manager” segment of CMI’s proprietary research panel of 50,000 LGBT consumers, NGLCC national members, and affiliated LGBT chambers of commerce members.
###
About NGLCC
The NGLCC [www.nglcc.org] is the business advocate and direct link between LGBT business owners, corporations, and government. The NGLCC represents the interests of more than 1.4 million LGBT-owned businesses in the United States and is the umbrella organization for 61 state, local, and international LGBT chambers of commerce and business organizations.
About Community Marketing, Inc. [www.communitymarketinginc.com]
Founded in 1992, CMI is the global leader in gay and lesbian market research, strategies and communications. CMI initiated the annual practice of collecting and analyzing data on gay and lesbian consumers in 1994 through online surveys, focus groups, field, telephone and customer satisfaction studies, as well as advisory boards. Business leaders from a variety of industries turn to CMI’s research to better understand LGBT consumers and business decision-makers. Community Marketing, Inc. is an NGLCC-Certified LGBT Owned Business Enterprise.
Community Marketing, Inc. • 584 Castro St. #834 • San Francisco, CA 94114-2512 USA
Tel 415/437-3800 • Fax 415/552-5104 • info@CommunityMarketingInc.com
