NEW YORK – Caribbean governments and the private sector in the region is fast focusing on the vast Caribbean Diaspora market in the U.S. even as a U.S.-based company continues to increase its specialty in this niche group,
Hard Beat Communications, owned by two Caribbean nationals and an African-American, has been engaged by several Caribbean companies to date in their quest to reach the economically viable Diaspora.
`There has really been an increasing interest by the Caribbean private sector to market to the Caribbean Diaspora,` said Hard Beat CEO Felicia Persaud, who has worked with entities like Courts Caribbean, Sagicor USA, Air Jamaica Jazz and Reggae Sumfest in their quest to tap the national market. `More and more entities are realizing the wealth to be found in this community and are actively pursuing this market but most of all are looking for entities like Hard Beat that know the market like the back of their hands. We are Caribbean and are part of the Diaspora so the knowledge we offer is unbeatable.`
Hard Beat has become a leader in targeting this emerging market ever since it burst on the scene three years ago, setting trends with the launch of its minority-certified agency focused specially on the Caribbean Diaspora and Caribbean market simultaneously and as the founder of CaribPR Wire, the only PR Wire focused on the Caribbean and the only daily news service for Diaspora nationals, CaribbeanWorldNews.com.
Hard Beat recently completed a campaign for Sagicor USA as the company sought to target the Caribbean marketplace in South Florida and is working with Courts Caribbean as they make their North American debut in the U.S. later this year.
Chris Chaplin, a Jamaican-born former banker who joined Hard Beat as a vice president last year, says Hard Beat`s personalized service, knowledge of the market nationally and connections to Caribbean Diaspora organizations is what keeps clients coming back.
Service offerings include event planning, full scale marketing, both traditional and non-traditional; advertising bookings, focus group coordination and digital branding and ROI measurement through collaboration with CBeanMedia.
The Caribbean Diaspora market is rapidly expanding. Last year alone, members of this niche group sent back US$5 billion to their homelands, more than foreign direct investment combined in those countries. And according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, $19 billion in two-way trade occurred between this part of the world and the U.S. alone in one single year.
`To reach the Caribbean Diaspora marketplace today means targeting them directly, through the media and groups that serve only them and not merely as the ‘black` or Asian community,` says Persaud. `It means working with entities and individuals who have a clear knowledge of the distinct culture, customs, habits and countries that make up this melting pot.”
