About 1.4 million Indians, 1.17 million Pakistanis and 700,000 Poles live in the UK today. The next generations are growing up here, which are a mixture of two cultures – British and the native country. The role of minority communities is growing not only in the UK, but also in other Western countries, such as Germany (with 4 million people of Turkish origin) or the USA (with about 60 million people of Hispanic origin). And just like the native British, German and American, minorities are an essential part of the consumer ecosystem. How to use it? PR and ethnic marketing come in handy.

While minority communities are, theoretically, extremely profitable market segments, the success of marketing strategies is by no means a foregone conclusion. From the experience of running a Polish PR agency in Great Britain, I can venture to say that most brands burn up their budgets on ineffective PR. This is due to three reasons:

The first is not recognising the differences of minorities. Yes, brands do not exclude them from their PR activities, but they also do not create messages dedicated to them. Let us take the example of Poles. Many immigrants of Polish origin spend several years in the UK. So they do not feel like “typical” Poles, but at the same time they are not the same as our British clients. They belong to the host’s culture, but they retain some distinctiveness. They need different communication and different PR tools. And sometimes even other products (eg new, “Polish” flavours of food products).

The second mistake is targeting the wrong immigrants. PR targeted at minority communities requires segmentation. Let us return to the example of Poles in the UK. In terms of communication, immigrants should be divided into the following categories:

• Assimilators – they do not preserve Polish culture, they mainly use British media and use British products.
• Marginals – they don’t feel that they belong to either of the cultures and neither of them influences their purchasing decisions.
• Ethnic affirmers – stick to Polish communities, buy mainly Polish products and browse only the press dedicated to the Polish diaspora.
• Bi-culturals – respect belonging to the Polish culture, but are open to what is British.

A good public relations specialist with an understanding of different ethnic and minority groups focuses activities on the latter group (bi-culturals are not only most open to this type of communication, but statistically also have a higher economic and social status). Then, it examines in more detail who the people are, whom it wants to reach with the messages of a given brand. Misunderstanding of the audience is the third serious mistake of ethnic PR.

The Polish diaspora in the UK are mainly representatives of the X and Y generations (1966-1994). They often have secondary or university education and do physical work, but more and more of them run their own businesses here. They are conscious, demanding and easily discouraged consumers. However, they are happy to shop at discounters like Poundland and love promotions or the opportunity to test products or services for free. This is the opposite of the British who are not that interested in free goods. Poles also tend to be very negative in social media. They are not afraid of criticising brands or undertaking discussions. Sometimes brands need an investment in crisis PR.

A characteristic feature of minorities is their attachment to their individuality. For example, Americans who come from the Dominican Republic are much more likely to use Dominican spices. Poles living in the UK believe that Polish bread or cold cuts are much tastier. This is one of the reasons why they are so eager to buy products with the “made in Poland” label. So if you want to reach the Polish community in the UK (and your product is of Polish origin) be sure to mark it on the packaging. We can see, however, that combined PR also works quite well. 

Media relations should be the lion’s share of ethnic PR. With which journalists to build contacts, to which magazines to send press releases? From the British-Polish backyard, we can see that it is better to focus on the Polish media. Only 15% of Poles use the British media; the rest go to websites such as Emito, MojaWyspa, Goniec Polski and Polish Express magazines or portals for foreigners in the UK. It is also worth being active in the industry media. Do you run a brand dedicated to black women? You must be in magazines such as Pride or Black Beauty & Hair (Asian Woman is for North Asian women). The power of sponsored articles or even a short mention in these media is enormous. Indian TV stations, such as Zee TV or B4U, are also well developed in the UK. Unfortunately, without perfect knowledge of the media market for expats, the brand will only lose money, and in the worst case – also a good image.

Brand awareness can also be built on local events targeted at a given minority. Sponsoring immigrant events, exhibiting at local events, and organising contests are phenomenal PR tools that were at the fore in ethnic PR before the outbreak of the pandemic. It is also worth investing in bottom-up marketing, i.e. the power of recommendation. minority communities are often clustered in smaller communities, so a referral from a friend or reputable public figure will be more effective than an expensive sponsored article.

When it comes to public relations with Poles in Great Britain, but also with other minority communities in different countries, it is worth being open to changes. Analysing, listening to customers and drawing conclusions – these are the three ironclad rules. 

Matylda is a Polish PR, social media and ethnic marketing communications expert.

• Is the owner and Managing Director of All 4 Comms (www.all4comms.com), a PR, social media and influencer marketing agency specialising in communications campaigns for international brands in Poland.
• During more than 15 years of presence on the market, Matylda has planned and with the help of her team and implemented over 600 campaigns for over 150 clients, including many international brands, such as Tesco, Codemasters, Cooking Fever, DFDS, MoneyGram, Lebara Mobile, British Heart Foundation Foundation and Ryanair.
• She carried out campaigns worth up to £100,000 a year.
• Repeatedly a consultant in campaigns implemented for British government departments or carried out such campaigns jointly with her team, including for BERR, NHS, the UK Ministry of Transport, and Ministry of Education.
• Matylda is indisputably the biggest expert in the field of communication with British Polonia (ethnic marketing to Poles in the UK) and Poles living abroad.
• Several times she trained British marketers in communication with Polish community (GLA, Lloyds).
• Frequently comments on issues related to the Polish community in the British (The Times, BBC) and Polish media (Polsat News, Proto, Onet), as well as marketing comms, Polish Diaspora, business and social issues.
• In 2015, Matylda was nominated in the “Outstanding Pole” competition in England. In 2017, she was submitted to the “BusinessWoman of the Year” competition. At the same time, she received a statuette in the plebiscite “Lioness of Business 2017” in the category of Own Business, organised by Law Business Quality magazine. In the same year she was also nominated for the title of “Businesswoman of the Year” in the category ‘Idea for business’, in a competition organised by Sukces Pisany Lipstick and Deloitte. An interview with Matilda Setlak on marketing communications appeared in the book by Anna Ewa Suska entitled “Effective Business” (2018).
• Matylda is a graduate of journalism and social communication with a specialisation in advertising and public relations and history from the renowned Jagiellonian University in Krakow.
• Specialties: public relations in Poland, social media in Polish and  ethnic marketing to Polish community in the UK and worldwide.