Why should we advertise to the Hispanic Market? Well, let’s start by simply stating the facts.
“Hispanics have provided the fastest growing population segment in the U.S. and Nielsen expects this group to represent 60 percent of the U.S. population growth in the next three years”.
In other words, Hispanics are no longer a minority. Although we’ve known this for quite a while, many companies still continue to miss out on this opportunity of immense growth for their business. Hispanics have become the majority and whether we like it or not, we should definitely be targeting and spending money on them when it comes to business.
They are the largest purchasers and trendsetters. They no longer fit the stereotype of being uneducated, low-income and Spanish speaking. Hispanics are affluent, bilingual, bicultural, educated and great leaders. We can’t go on running marketing campaigns as if Hispanics were still an “extra” or “add on” to our advertising budgets -they should be THE budget.
If we want our businesses to succeed we need to set our old beliefs and outdated ways aside and focus on growing our businesses by correctly targeting, reaching and connecting with the Hispanic consumer.
Hispanic consumers are not only the fastest-growing demographic in the U.S., they’re also trendsetters in digital, leading the growth in device ownership and online usage.
The way we connect with Hispanics has revolutionized as much as the way we target them. We can no longer assume that they are all bicultural or speak a certain language. The Hispanic market is made up of so many niches-niches that you have to target correctly in order to build meaningful connections.
They are smart and expect us to step it up. When it comes to marketing, they can be the biggest criticizers if you get it wrong or the biggest cheerleaders if you get it right. All that Hispanic consumers really want is to connect with “brands that embrace their culture.”
For them, it’s not about the language -it’s about a brand being able to understand how culture defines their behaviors and who they are as a person. If you cannot understand their cultural characteristics you will not be able to understand the way they think and the reasons why they are loyal to certain brands.
The average Hispanic spends more than eight hours watching online video each month—over 90 minutes longer than the U.S. average, according to a Nielsen report.
So, it’s about time that we truly pay attention to the Hispanic market. Let’s stop pretending we are targeting and reaching them and actually start doing it correctly. So much time and money has gone to waste by either slightly advertising to them, translating General Market campaigns or by completely ignoring them.
How should we advertise to the Hispanic market? First of all, we need to get to know them. It all starts with a well-developed strategy. We need to truly understand their behaviors in order to connect with them at higher and deeper level. Once we have a strategy down, we need to develop a creative campaign that not only adopts the right strategy, but also delivers it in the correct emotional and humoristic tone. Hispanics live and interact in a whole different emotional and humorous level. What may connect with others or make them laugh, might not strike a chord with others.
When we develop a creative campaign we must make sure we are talking to them in the correct tone and style. As advertisers, we need to the take time to think how they think, feel how they feel, laugh how they laugh and behave the way they behave in order to truly connect with them.