Seven tips for reaching the Hispanic market.
Given the abundance of media attention the online Hispanic market has received, there have been several conferences across the U.S. focusing on Hispanic marketing. The following are key takeaways from the Strategic Research Institute’s Successful Multicultural Marketing conference and the MFM Group’s Innovations in Hispanic Marketing conference.
Key Takeaways:
1. Organizations need to be operationally aligned to service the multicultural marketplace (there is a significant need for bilingual collateral, agents, customer support etc.).
2. Appeal to Hispanics’ “passions”, namely music and sports. Marketers’ association with those lifestyles helps propel their brand in the Hispanic market. Examples are All Access Entertainment and McDonald’s Fiesta Broadway, which is an event marketing program catering to Hispanic’s passions of music and sports.
3. Strategic planning and setting up metrics when executing a Hispanic online program are of UTMOST importance according to Lee Vann of Captura Group.
4. Marketers can now target online Hispanics in Spanish as Overture listings are syndicated on Yahoo! en Espanol.
5. To execute any Hispanic marketing program, you must plan it strategically as opposed to just jumping into it because the market is “hot”. Many companies have fallen into this trap and when the initiative fails, they blame it on the market rather than on a lack of strategic planning.
6. Marketers must realize that English is emerging as a viable language to reach out to the U.S. Hispanic market. Additionally, marketers must realize the importance of an integrated approach that includes all aspects of marketing, including Internet and event marketing, as well as internal corporate initiatives to generate ROI in the Hispanic market
7. There are commonalities between all multicultural markets, and it's important to take culture into account.
There is an upcoming event, titled U.S. Hispanic Marketing 2004, which is sponsored by the International Quality and Productivity Center. The event is in San Diego, from July 26 to 28.
Elizabeth M. Lloyd is the director of corporate marketing for Netblue, Inc., an online customer acquisition company based in Silicon Valley. Previously, Elizabeth was the director of marketing for opt-in email provider, NetCreations, in New York City. Prior to NetCreations, Elizabeth was responsible for the PR department of ValueClick, Inc.