The Hispanic Consumer
February 21, 2007

Q: I read your column about the top trends in business and want to inquire about No. 7 -- The new Hispanic consumer.  How do I reach this market?  I have a product that I think would knock their socks off, but am unsure where to begin.  Any advice would be appreciated. -- Wally

A:  While we all hear plenty these days about the rise of the Latino consumer, sometimes lost in translation is an understanding of how to tap this growing market. So today we are going to figure out how to do just that, but first, a caveat: While it is problematic to characterize any group as a monolithic whole, that is sometimes part of our job as businesspeople, is it not? What will attract my women customers? Will kids buy this? Would older men be persuaded by this ad?

When it come to ethnicity, we are on even more treacherous ground, and even I, who married into a Hispanic family, am not altogether comfortable saying what will and won't work for Latin-culture consumers. So I have turned to an expert for some elucidation, but first some facts:

So what we have here is a growing market with plenty of money to spend. Even better is that, according to George San Jose, President of The San Jose Group out of Chicago, "many of these Hispanic consumers do not yet have any strong brand loyalty because they tend to be younger than the general U.S. population." Certainly San Jose knows what he is talking about. His company is one of the top 3 Hispanic marketing companies in the U.S.

According to San Jose, there are two trends within the Hispanic population that entrepreneurs need to keep in mind as they begin to figure out how to tap the Hispanic marketplace:

First, many of these people are still very comfortable with Spanish as the language of choice. "The grandparents may still speak Spanish exclusively, while their children may be bilingual, and the 20-something generation may speak primarily English while still being fluent in Spanish," San Jose points out.

It is vital to understand this cultural phenomenon San Jose says. "If you want to reach the older generation for instance, advertise in Spanish, and Do Not Translate Your Ads!" He suggests that network TV remains a strong medium for accessing the Hispanic market (90% saturation), as are radio and newspapers; Spanish-language radio and papers especially may be a good avenue, he says.

The second factor to understand is just how much family is integral to the Hispanic lifestyle. Not only does the burgeoning younger generation tend to have more children than the general U.S. population (making baby and family products a big seller), but many also have extended families throughout Latin America, offering even more opportunities.

For example, San Jose shared the story of the Midwest airline that was unsuccessful in its efforts to sell to the Hispanic market. The problem, he points out, was that the slogan for the airline was "Use Our Airline to Get Away!" But Latino families don't want to "get away," instead, they want to meet up with their extended families and vacation together. The new slogan, "The Official Airline of Family Vacations" worked wonders.

So the takeaway here is that to sell to this mushrooming demographic you have to begin by understanding their culture. It is not merely a matter of using some Latin music in your ads, but rather, understanding the psychology of the Hispanic consumer and running with that.

Do that, and you just may have mucha buena suerte.

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Today's Tip: How do you know if your marketing plan will play in Hispanic neighborhoods? It's the same ol', same ol', mis amigos: Do some market research. Hire some Hispanic consumers to be a focus group for an afternoon. What do they think of your product, your ads, your take?