diAs far as technology adoption is concerned, the Hispanic market is booming. Businesses vie for this target audience’s attention because of their unique purchasing influences. The spending power of the Hispanics is at its peak for the first time in history. That’s why companies need to understand multicultural marketing to spread their message to all segments of the population. And they can do this while still maintaining the company’s original message and brand.
Strangely, Hispanics are among the most underrated technology consumers. So, why is that, and how should marketers tailor their ad strategies to accommodate this demographic? An in-depth look at the target audience will help us gain insights.
Hispanic Cultural Characteristics
To understand Hispanic people better, one has to familiarize themselves with their culture. In the right hands, Hispanic people’s culture and values make entry points for effective marketing strategies.
Some basic cultural characteristics include:
Language
The primary language spoken by Hispanic people is the Spanish language. It is prominent in Hispanic homes as they keep it alive irrespective of how far away from Spain they live. From a young age, Hispanic parents teach their children Spanish. According to them, this helps to preserve their culture and heritage. Also, the great importance of their language remains a technical advantage to companies that have been paying attention to the Hispanic market.
Cornerstone Cultural Values
Most Hispanics fall under a collectivist umbrella. They believe in interdependence over independence. Some of the pillars of their values include the following aspects:
⦁ Family: Hispanics maintain strong ties with their families.
⦁ Religion/ Spirituality: They base several of their beliefs on Catholicism.
⦁ Positivity: Hispanics have a positive outlook on life.
⦁ Respeto: Their interpersonal relationships are guided by “respeto.” It is a concept that involves deferential treatment of people based on age, gender, social, political status, etc.
⦁ Simpatia: Simpatia is a diplomatic concept. Hispanics believe in peace-making, so they generally avoid conflicts.
⦁ Heritage/ tradition: Hispanics believe in maintaining their cultural practices. This belief is reflected in their passions, including holidays, food, music, dance, etc.
How Are Hispanic Cultural Characteristics Relevant To Marketing?
Progress in business is mainly dependent on how businesses relate to opportunities. That is why entire departments are tasked with scouting gaps in users’ needs that require filling. To the untrained eye, these opportunities are rarely evident. For example, they may hide in plain sight in the form of untapped ethnic groups. Hence, developing marketing plans for specific cultural groups can open up new opportunities for any company.
Diversification and growth of a company may depend on the new products it brings to market as well as how global its products or services are. Breaking into a new market is never easy, so to properly spread a product to a new community like that of Hispanics, you must understand its cultural influences. These influences are critical determinants of how well the target market will receive your business and services.
The Distinctive Features of Hispanic Marketing Strategies
Tailored Content And Language
Selling to the Hispanic market goes beyond paying for adverts on a Spanish TV or radio program. To develop a good marketing strategy, brands need to understand the cultural norms that drive the target audience. These influences will most likely drive their purchasing decisions. If one analyzes Hispanics marketing, it’ll be clear that their strategies focus on mirroring integrity and promoting family values.
For fine-tuned results, companies can also research Hispanic families to determine who influences the household’s financial decisions – not necessarily who makes them. To create adverts that speak to Hispanic people, companies may hire a native copywriter. If they do not have an in-house writer, they could contact essay writing service companies to step in. The goal of all these steps is to ensure that ad copies resonate with the audience.
Adequate Knowledge of the Audience
How well brand strategists know their target markets determines how efficient their marketing strategies are. When dealing with the Hispanic market, a proper marketing strategy should take two facets of the audience into account. These are Hispanic traditionalists and second-generation Hispanics.
Hispanic traditionalists include elderly Hispanics and Latinos who just moved to the US. They try to integrate their tradition into the US culture while communicating primarily in Spanish. Therefore, ideal Hispanic advertisement copies for this group will either be in Spanish or have Spanish translations.
Hispanics from the second, third and fourth generation are typically much younger. They have adopted most of the Western culture but still want to maintain their cultural heritage. Both American and Spanish marketing techniques can reel in this group. Marketers can also aim for the right balance between both methods. For example, they can hire a Hispanic person to run an English advert.
Hispanic Groups Targeting
Mexican Hispanics, Argentinian Hispanics and European Hispanics are not the same. Similar values may connect them, but they are still distinct. While it may not be easy to target each of them specifically, successful Hispanic marketing strategies are organized to take these differences into account.
If a business prefers to reach out to the general Hispanic market, marketers should craft the message so that it doesn’t focus on one group’s experiences at the expense of others. A suitable method is to research and discover similarities that all Hispanic groups share. Sending out short surveys or holding face-to-face discussions with individuals from the groups is another effective solution.
Stereotype-free Marketing
Sometimes, business copywriters are oblivious to some stereotypes about Hispanic people. This ignorance is likelier if a copywriter has no ties with the Spanish-speaking community. Copywriters may hear some ‘witty’ remarks about Hispanic people and include them in ads without proper diligence.
Stereotypes can adversely affect marketing effectiveness. Many times, they can be perceived as insensitive and could backfire. These unfortunate situations indicate that the cancel culture is prevalent. The best Hispanic marketing plans accommodate Hispanic people’s values and needs without throwing in back-handed compliments or sly digs.
Brand Awareness
Hispanics are known to be loyal to brands they love and support. Marketing strategists take this into account. If these people do not know anything about a brand, its marketing and PR team will need to create awareness. They can do this by appealing to the emotions of their audience. Creating recognizable brand elements like a logo, name and tone will also keep them fresh in the public’s mind.
Businesses can also create awareness by supporting a Hispanic community project. While this is first-line thinking, it actually works. This strategy aims to make people perceive the brand as friendly and empathic to the Hispanic community’s struggles. In a world where inclusivity is the right way to go, engaging in social projects relevant to your customers is highly recommended.
Mobile-friendly Campaigns
No matter the kind of service a company renders, it has to leverage mobile technology to reach the Hispanic market. Compared to the average American, Hispanic people were 8% more likely to access the internet solely from smartphones in 2019. They also spent more time on their phones on average than in previous years. These trends point to a market that is heavily dependent on smartphones.
Companies should therefore optimize their Hispanic marketing strategies by encouraging customers to interact with them using smartphones. They should also prioritize mobile-friendly campaigns over other types. The presence of a competent digital marketing team will also be invaluable for any company hoping to unlock this market.
Integration of Hispanic Culture Into Online Ads
At the Google Hispanic forum in 2015, it was concluded that 88% of Hispanics are more likely to pay attention to ads that contain some aspects of their culture. These people are passionate about their culture no matter the generation they belong to. Smart marketing strategists use that cultural inclination to get to their audience.
Consistency
If a brand decides that the copy on its web page will be in Spanish, its landing page must also be written in Spanish. The same applies to customer support. The goal here is to create a uniform feeling of mutual trust when customers contact the brand.
Consistency applies to all aspects of the brand, from brand and marketing strategy to online and offline presence. The aim is to make the customer journey seamless. Besides, consistency also helps with customer retention and brand recognition.
Social Variety
Sometimes, it can all come down to monitoring social variety inside any country that accommodates people from diverse nationalities and their vernaculars. There is also an incentive to investigate and understand different semantics, social contrasts, and spending designs. Overall, this approach should be considered from numerous points of view.
A good strategy involves recruiting neighborhood representatives that are aware of different societal contrasts, the recent purchasing patterns, web-based media patterns, etc. If you are trying to market to Spanish speakers, give them the option to interact with your advert in the same way that they would interact with an actual person.
Unique Brand’s Story Retelling
At times organizations assume that due to their longevity, everybody (including Hispanics) knows their identity. This oversight is where many miss the mark. It is easy to become myopic when a brand puts legacy before everything else.
The right marketing strategies for the Hispanic audience will help marketers see a bigger picture. These strategies will also provide the right environment for them to retell or update their brand story. Marketers can also include how far the company has come and where it is headed. The key is to intelligently tie the brand’s story with that of the Hispanic community it hopes to win over.
Why Target the Hispanic Market?
A Growing Audience
The number of Hispanic consumers currently living in the US is around 50 million. The US census bureau has predicted that by 2050, that number will grow to 133 million. The new generation of Hispanic consumers will grow up being exposed to American brands. These numbers point at how potentially lucrative it would be to sell to this target audience.
Strong Purchasing Power
Currently, Hispanics play a crucial role in food and agricultural services and technical jobs. According to data from the Selig Center of Economic Growth, Hispanics have a purchasing power of $1.2 trillion, which is increasing faster than markets of African Americans, Native Americans, and Asians. Smart businesses are picking up on these facts and trying to grab a piece of the pie for themselves.
Loyalty
Hispanics are known to be loyal to their friends, families, and their passions. They appreciate brands that demonstrate a commitment to them. Smartly-developed programs with contextual value will go a long way in building trust within the Hispanic community.
Businesses should be patient in their approach, though. Learning the differences between Hispanic people who just moved to the US and those who have been around for longer won’t be easy. However, with consistency comes recognition.
Emotional Drivers
It is easy to get to Hispanic people because of how emotional and passionate they are. In fact, understanding what these people are into is a sure way to connect with them. Some of their passion points are beauty, sports, family, music, and dance. Strategists are already figuring out how to tie these emotional drivers to their brands to improve sales.
Ubiquity
Hispanics have always dominated areas like the Southwest, South Florida, New York City, and Chicago. However, there has also been significant population growth in non-traditional places like Colorado, Nebraska, New Jersey, North and South Carolina. As of 2019, twelve states had at least a million Hispanics living there. This growth sums up to more opportunities for marketing brands and Hispanic consumers.
Strategic Marketing for Hispanic People
The spending power of the Hispanic people is at an all-time peak. This fact is not unrelated to their forerunners when it comes to adopting technological products. Apart from that, they are known to be very loyal customers once they believe in a brand. Their loyalty is prevalent because emotional and cultural influences drive their purchasing decisions. Companies can leverage these insights into what drives Hispanic people’s spending and marketing strategies to refine their plans.
Lorenzo Gutierrez Digital Marketing is a full service hispanic digital marketing agency. Contact us to see how we can help you with your digital marketing.
