Marketing To The Hispanic Community
Marketing To The Hispanic Community
byGillian Luce and Kimetha Hill
Todays consumers are changing the way they accept advertisements. The Hispanic community is no different. While the present economic circumstances call for more creative and innovative advertising techniques marketing to the Hispanic community proves to be an area that remains open for growth. Therefore if you havent already introduced your brand to them its time to do so.
The Hispanic demographic is the largest minority group in the US according to Jupiter Research. It is important to note that Hispanics will experience the fastest population growth through 2013. Household size is estimated to grow from 13.1 million in 2007 to 15.6 million in 20131. And Jupiter Research forecasts online retail spending within this group will grow to 21.6 billion by 2011 representing the largest increase of all online ethnic groups2.
Also important to note is that the Hispanic community is more than just one group. Within their demographic there are many smaller subdivisions that must be researched. According to a Global Information Inc. article 90 of Americanborn Hispanics describe themselves as American showing that group labels alone do not help marketing. This article goes on to describe that 34 of Hispanics prefer the term Hispanic 13 prefer Latino while 53 have no preference reinforcing the idea that labels should not be the main focus. In the Hispanic demographic there are many nonEnglish speaking Hispanics who represent a significant portion; therefore marketing strategies should include bilingual tactics. Advertisers should break down their approach in recognizing the language barrier and the many different countries of origin.
When considering a marketing strategy for this demographic it is also essential to take into account culture. While age may play a small part in that 58 of Englishpreferring Hispanics are 35 or younger and visit social networking sites; understanding the Hispanic culture is the strongest way to effectively market to them.
For Rent Media SolutionsTM offers these four tactics to toss into your marketing mix to expose your brand to the growing Hispanic community.
1. Internet amp; Online Video.
According to comScore Inc. more than 49 of the 15.7 million HispanicAmerican Internet users either prefer to speak Spanish only or a mix of Spanish and English. In other words while English language content can and does reach a large number of HispanicAmericans to fully reach the Hispanic online user marketers must also provide Spanishlanguage content.
For Rent Media Solutions offers ParaRentar.com the companion site to ForRent.com. By providing a fullytranslated Spanish apartment listing Web site For Rent Media Solutions is giving the Spanishspeaking apartment seeker the freedom to shop without language barriers. Offering more than 4000 listings ParaRentar.com is a leading resource in the multifamily housing industry for locating apartments for rent that cater to the Hispanic community. In 2008 ParaRentar.com received over 40000 views on average monthly.
In Online Video Killed the Radio Star published in Portada magazine it is clear that 15 of U.S. born and 17 of foreign born Hispanics state that they focus more on online video than television advertisements. A recent study also offers that 17 of U.S. born and 26 of foreign born Hispanics feel more engaged with online video versus television advertisements. Advertisers should use a more personable approach in marketing to the Hispanic Community.
Also on ParaRentar.com you will see that we have our Community Theater product extended to a Spanish translated video. The Community Theater product that For Rent Media Solutions offers is a professionally produced video that enhances the apartment shoppers experience by allowing users to view an apartment communitys most sought after units and amenities as well as the surrounding city it is located in.
2. Print.
Print is NOT dead! The Pew Hispanic Center and the Pew Internet amp; American Life Project found that 56 of Spanishspeakers are not on the Internet. This means that more than half of this important population is missing online.3 Therefore basic fundamentals are still needed in order to market apartments to this demographic.
Already For Rent Media Solutions offer a variety of products that appeal to this diverse audience. Apartamentos Para Rentar magazines are fully translated Spanish language apartment finding resources. With magazines in 14 metropolitan areas and over 2.4 million magazines published each year the extensive database in Para Rentars magazines offer the freedom to shop without the challenges of a language barrier along with a variety of resources to simplify the apartment search process. Something to note: word of mouth also plays an important role when advertising to the Hispanic demographic. Because 56 of Spanishspeaking Hispanics are not online they will ask their trusted friends and family for resources. Therefore maximizing your appearance online for those Hispanics using Internet and offline is the way to increase exposure of your brand.
3. Social Media.
Millions of people look to social media sites as their primary source of news opinion and entertainment including the Hispanic demographic. According to a study done by the Florida State University Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication comparing various cultural groups 36 of Englishpreferring Hispanics visited social networking sites more than two or three times a month and were twice as likely to visit MySpace regularly than nonHispanic Whites. The Englishpreferring Hispanics also chose to visit MySpace versus Facebook 44 to 18 respectively.
In order to promote an online social rapport with this community your company needs to understand why Hispanic consumers are likely to use these sites. The central importance of family in Hispanic culture is welldocumented and incisive marketers should try to reinforce this dynamic through their online activities. Apartment community managers need to brand their company as the perfect model of honesty openness and selfdisclosure to establish a safe and trustworthy environment.
In addition to our already mentioned resources ParaRentar.com is now embracing the social networking realm. There are several Para Rentar MySpace and MySpace Latino profiles such as: Para Rentar Phoenix Para Rentar Las Vegas and Para Rentar Houston that are dedicated to providing apartment searching information for the Hispanic consumers. Minorities are turning to social networks; companies must be open to engaging audiences with timely and relevant content that stimulates feedback and sharing. Joining the conversation and engaging is what fosters the sense of community necessary to build relationships.
4. Mobile Media.
Many Hispanics and other Spanishspeakers will first experience the Internet via their cell phones. According to comScore m:metrics 71 of Hispanics consume content on cell phones compared to the market average of 48. In addition Hispanics tend to notice and respond well to ads on cell phones. Nielsens recent Mobile Advertising Report highlighted that Hispanic data users are more likely to recall seeing ads on mobile phones 41 compared with 30 of nonHispanics and more likely to have responded 22 vs. 13.4 Therefore mobile marketing to the Hispanic demographic is a great way to promote your relevant content. For Rent Media Solutions is very proud of our mobile marketing initiatives.
Our text messaging product allows the apartment seeker to send a text message with the propertys unique keyword to the short code 47368 4RENT. The property keywords can be seen on leasing banners yard signs at the property and in Apartamentos Para Rentar magazines. By texting the keyword apartment seekers would receive a response text message with information about the specific property. Property managers also use the service to send customized messages promoting specials to potential renters as well as important messages and alerts to their current residents.
Your brand needs to adapt to this medium or risk suffering a disadvantage compared with thosebrands that do take full advantage of the channel.
Bottom linethe Hispanic community is too large of a consumer group to ignore. As a media company we continuously strive to improve our efforts in marketing to this demographic using the latest emerging innovations and technologies. We encourage you to take your brand to these steps and beyond in 2009.
1 US ONLINE POPULATION FORECAST2008 TO 2013 Jupiter Research Niki Scevak Vikram Sehgal and Andrew Peach2 Hispanic Shoppers Online 2007 Jupiter Research Online Behavior amp; Demographics June 12 2007.3 Avoid Subtle Stereotypes To Maintain Campaign Effectiveness Patricia Graham and Jannet Torres January 8 2009. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticleamp;art_aid=97962
4 Connecting Via Mobile: Speak Their Edioma Joseph Kutchera January 15 2009. http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticleamp;art_aid=98416
About the writer: In my current role as Interactive Marketing Coordinator I help develop execute and optimize a social media strategic plan across multiple channels. This would include blogs social networks video sharing sites and other conversational media. I also spend a great deal of time building relationships with consumers social media influencers and bloggers to generate awareness of For Rent Media Solutions brand.
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