According to a recent study, a majority of LGBT business leaders who buy products and services for their companies base their purchasing decisions on whether or not their vendors are gay-friendly.
Results of the first annual NGLCC-Community Marketing, Inc. (CMI)- Commerce & Enterprise Market Intelligence Study reveal what the study called a "trickle up" or multiplier effect—a tendency for business leaders, especially those involved with the NGLCC or their local LGBT chambers of commerce, to research and buy products and services for their companies from suppliers they know to be gay-friendly.
"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," said Thomas Roth, president of Community Marketing, Inc.
While CMI has done consumer-focused LGBT market research in the past, this study is the first one to hone in on the behaviors of LGBT business-to-business purchasers, and suggests that marketing to the LGBT community not only has an effect on consumers but also on how business executives make purchasing decisions.
"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."
Roth presented key findings of the study during the NGLCC's Business and Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. Nov. 18-20.
"There is a lot of powerful and useful information that resulted from this study. I encourage our affiliate chambers and corporate partners to download the survey and utilize the information to continue to grow partnerships and opportunities between the LGBT business community and corporate America," said Justin Nelson, co-founder and president of the NGLCC.
For the full study and a copy of the presentation to the NGLCC conference, visit www.LGBTb2b.com.
