The recession has hit the buying power of virtually all consumers in Virginia.

But according to information from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia and from the U.S. Census Bureau, Asians and Asian-Americans in the state have seen a smaller drop in disposable income – the money available to consumers after paying taxes and basic necessities. If your business isn’t taking specific steps to market to minority communities, a group of experts said at a meeting Tuesday, it could be missing out on a new revenue stream.

People who identified themselves as Asian or of Asian descent in the 2010 Census had a median household income of about $85,700, compared to just over $60,000 for the median household income for all of Virginia.

My Lan Tran, executive director of the Virginia Asian Chamber of Commerce, said total buying power in the United States is forecast to grow by 27 percent between 2011 and 2015, a modest rate compared to the early 2000s or the 1990s.

“But Asian buying power is expected to grow at an exceptional rate,” she said. “The Asian population in Virginia and the U.S. is young and has higher educational attainment than the overall population, and it is growing faster than the overall population.

Tran said that Virginia is the ninth-largest market for Asian-American spending, with $17 billion in annual purchasing power concentrated in Asian-American households.

And Virginia’s other minority populations are also forecast to see a large growth in spending power, she said. The state is the ninth-largest market in terms of spending by African-Americans, Tran said, citing the Terry business school report.

“African-Americans were hit very hard by the recession, in part because it is a lower-age population,” she said. “But there is a bright outlook, because younger members of the population are seeing an increase in educational attainment, and there is a high rate of business formation in the community. That equals an increase in buying power.”

Haeran Jae, an assistant professor of marketing at Virginia Commonwealth University, said businesses must remember that many minorities are recent immigrants and may not be engaged by traditional marketing strategies. This is especially true if they lack large amounts of formal education.

“Many of these people are low-literate consumers and are neglected in today’s marketing strategies,” she said. “And it’s important to note that many of them are low-literate in both English and their native language.”

Jae said these consumers focus heavily on packaging and images. Because of this focus, it is important to ensure that a brand’s image choices match up with the product’s actual uses. One example of a bad match, she said, was putting a picture of a baby on fabric softener, even though there is a written warning that the softener shouldn’t be used on children’s clothing.

Though reaching the immigrant market can be difficult for businesses, Jae said it could carry long-term rewards.

“There is buying power, even among lower-income people, and this group also tends to be very brand loyal,” she said.

Tran said the importance of reaching diverse markets is borne out in statistics on business formation in the past decade. The number of businesses in Virginia climbed 21 percent during that period. But the number of businesses owned by Asians or Asian-Americans grew by 46 percent, and the trend appears set to continue.