California Media & Marketing Consultant

The population of consumers in the United States today is very dense, making it more important than ever to be aware of group distinctions and learn how to streamline your marketing strategies to better your company’s efforts at appealing to your target customers. A key group that marketers are learning to target specifically is the Hispanic population, the largest ethnic group in the US. Hispanics shopping preferences differ from that of the average adult US consumer. Whether concerning clothing outlets or grocery stores, both online and offline, the differences seen in Hispanic shopping trends is not something that a wise marketer will ignore.

There are some profound differences between the clothing shopping trends of Hispanics and whites in the United States. The top two retail outlets for women’s clothing—Wal-Mart and JCPenney—is the shared between Hispanics and whites, but after this initial similarity, other preferences are different. As far as online shopping, trends are different between Hispanics shopping preferences and those of all other internet users. For example, Hispanics purchase apparel online less frequently than the general online public, while Hispanics buy more than twice as many groceries online than the average internet shopper. Such trends in shopping are curious and lead to different kinds of appeals to marketing segmentations.

In the food industry, Hispanics are not only making up a large percentage of the products purchased from grocery stores, their culture and food preferences are rubbing off on the average American, causing ethnically-accurate food sales to continue to climb. Hispanics shopping preferences are especially affecting specialty food retailers. Hispanic-dense cities often feature Mexican-style specialty stores that provide imported products from Mexico to an interested consumer segment. Interestingly, Hispanic grocery shoppers tend to purchase $117 worth of groceries per week as compared to $87 per week of other US grocery shoppers. Perhaps this is related to the fact that many Hispanic households are larger than the average US family.

As Hispanics gain more financial success in the US and provide an increasing amount of sales in all kinds of retail outlets, their influence becomes more and more profound concerning the way we look at marketing. Advertising on Spanish language networks on TV can be a way to produce a significant hike in sales among Hispanic customers. Online grocery stores, based on statistics shared earlier, are enjoying significant Hispanic patronage. As you target your audience, it is important to understand Hispanics shopping preferences and trends.

Social media is now a realm of advertising and information publishing that knows absolutely no bounds. It has transformed broadcast media into a social experience rather than a monologue. People have become producers, rather than consumers, of their own media content. Social media can be art or information transferred from one person to another physically, electronically, or verbally in a direct setting, community engagement or electronic broadcast. Basically, social media is everywhere, whether you know it or not. Take a look around the internet for a moment and try to locate a different source other than social media to find entertaining news. It is nearly impossible. Blogs, social networking sites, video and picture sharing—I could go on. The point is, there are many different kinds of audience members and if you are trying to tie Hispanics and social media together, you must understand the cultural implications of this shift into the realm of social media dominance.

A recent study performed at Florida State University suggests that ethnic minorities visit social networking sites with more frequency than non-Hispanic whites. This can be fascinating information, especially for marketers targeting Hispanics and social media. In order for marketers to begin using this information to their advantage, we must determine why there is such a strong ethnic representation at social networking sites. One partial reason is that ethnic minorities are demographically younger than non-Hispanic whites in the US. Young people are more likely to embrace new ideas in technology. However, there are other factors like culture and market factors that come into play.

So how do you target your Hispanic audience effectively through social media? Understanding your audience is the key! Why are they visiting social sites? Do they want to talk about music? Keep in touch with each other? What language is your audience using? Determine what is drawing your audience in the first place to the source of your marketing and cater your advertising to that.

Too few marketers are targeting minority groups, and since a significant percentage of Hispanics and social media are connected, those that ignore them are missing out on great opportunities. A social media presence is pointless if it does not target the audience effectively. Ethnic minorities often search for a way to relate to everyone else, and if you provide them a niche where they can find meaningful information that targets them, you will swiftly generate a loyal following of customers.

The Hispanic population in the United States is a minority, which you as a marketer are well aware of as you try to find effective means of reaching out to them through your advertising. Minorities tend to have a lot of pride in their heritage and cultural traditions. As far as Hispanics and print advertising are concerned, you can create a place for yourself among minority newspapers and magazines in order to relate personally to your customers. These targeted forms of media can deliver a personal punch in news and advertising that the general media cannot for a minority group. Hispanics flock to anything that targets their needs and concerns specifically, rather than as an afterthought.

Hispanics and print advertising refers to online print in addition to physical newspapers. As with any kind of advertising focused toward the Hispanic population, it is important to make ads in Spanish. This shows your respect and understanding for the culture. Even if they are bilingual and could understand an English advertisement just as well, they are more drawn to an ad that is clearly just for them. This is a great technique for building patron loyalty and getting return customers, two things every marketer wants.

Inexperienced marketers may shy away from using the Spanish language when targeting Hispanics and print advertising for a few reasons. The first is that they feel like they are cutting out a large portion of customers that may have interest in their product by using Spanish. While this may intrinsically be the case, if you are truly trying to reach to the Hispanic market, you will be much more effective with the use of Spanish. Also, you can simply run two ads, one in English and one in Spanish, if you want to keep the non-Hispanic white demographic satisfied as well.

The other reason marketers might hesitate to run a Spanish ad is that they do not know the language. This can obviously be a profound setback, as direct translations concerning Hispanics and print advertising more often than not will fail to transition in a sensible way. This brings up the importance of transcreation, rather than simple translation. Phrases that are cliché in English will not have the same meaning in Spanish if not transcreated to fit into the context. You are not expected to accomplish this by yourself, but if you want to have the most effective advertisements, you will need to seek help with the transcreation of your ads.

Recent reports in advertising suggest that Hispanics are more open to brand suggestions and advertising messages than other groups. During this unstable economic time, this fact is something that should make marketers’ ears perk up. The media investment growth that has been seen in the Hispanic segment is significant, especially in television advertising. The internet is another realm that has relatively untapped Hispanic marketing potential. The growth of this demographic in the US is significant. In fact, Hispanics are the fastest-growing ethnic population in the country. As one of the youngest populations in the US, online marketing has great potential to reach a technologically receptive group of people. Finding the right key advertising words to target Hispanics, both online and off, is based on this fact.

Similar to targeting any market, no one way is the absolute best method. There needs to be a suitable combination of relevant content and appropriate context. When finding the key advertising words to target Hispanics, keep the environment of your advertising in mind. Contextual targeting is a way to reach your audience by placing banner texts alongside a relevant webpage It is important for marketers today to understand that a majority of Hispanics use search engines in both English and Spanish. English- and Spanish-dominant Hispanics use keywords in accordance with their preferences, but there are many that switch back and forth between languages, as well.

Content category targeting is an effective way to reach a target audience. Whether you are advertising in a magazine, on television or on an online source, you want your ads to appear in relevant places. You would advertise food in a cooking magazine, sports gear alongside a website for outdoor living, you get the picture. It is applied to the realm of TV in that commercials are aired with careful consideration as to what show is on and who will be interested in the product. Key advertising words to target Hispanics must be taken into careful consideration no matter where your ads appear.

While these different marketing strategies have the potential to provide amazing opportunities for marketers, the problem is that they generate large amounts of data, particularly when they are used in a combined effort with one another to attract customers. Agencies, publishers and technology industries that manage all this information will become established leaders. With their help, you as a marketer will be able to make smart, fast and effective marketing decisions.

Multiculturalism in the United States is swiftly becoming a motive to change US consumer definitions. Marketers today are facing a dilemma, one in which they are trying their best to target an audience that not only does not fit into the category of the “general market,” but is different from their own tastes and customs. This can be one of the most challenging aspects of marketing. The Hispanic market segmentation has a much different need than the general market of non-Hispanic whites. The demographics of the US are becoming increasingly more varied, so the knowledge of how to market to culturally diverse audiences is becoming increasingly critical to any business that wants to tap into the buying power of US Hispanics.

One big mistake marketers targeting the Hispanic market segmentation can make is grouping this culturally diverse segment into one solid block of people. The category of Hispanics is not homogeneous, a fact that many beginning Hispanic market advertisers fail to realize. Acculturation, language preference and country of origin are all factors that create several sub-levels of the Hispanic segment. With this ethnic segment leading the way as the youngest trend-setting market in the US, the current position of neglected advertising focused to them is in poor standing.

As a US marketer, it is imperative for you to begin focusing on this influential demographic now, while the shift is still unknown to some. By fronting the marketing shift trend, you will have a leg up on your competition. Since the Hispanic ethnic group is so diverse, it is important to target those within that group you are reaching out to. Really the only things that unifies this marketing segment is the Spanish language. When surveyed about the effectiveness of advertising, 38% of Hispanics said English language ads were less effective in terms of recall. When it comes to selling, 56% of Hispanic adults said they respond better to Spanish advertising.

As marketers make the switch to a greater focus on Hispanic market segmentation advertising, it is imperative that you do not simply have English ads translated into Spanish. Direct translations rarely work, especially in terms of clichés and punch lines. You could end up appearing ignorant and laughable to a Hispanic rather than an accredited source for them to do business with. Emotional and cultural relevance are the solution to marketing headaches within this demographic. The opportunity for this switch is growing and the time is now!