Marketing To Hispanics Online…Que Buena Idea!

There has been a lot of attention lately on Hispanic-targeted online marketing. Most of the articles I’ve read are about the Hispanic market being an overlooked niche market with tremendous growth potential. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Hispanic community in the U.S. will reach 47.8 million by 2010, accounting for 15% of the total United States population. And this growth is happening fast, at a rate nearly three times that of the rest of the population. Perhaps more importantly than population growth, though, is growth in earning power and therefore spending power. The Conference Board, a nonprofit economic research organization, predicts that consumer spending power among Hispanics will reach $670 billion by 2010.

Some marketers may feel that they are not prepared to develop marketing efforts directed to the Hispanic community because they lack cultural understanding, don’t know enough about Hispanic consumer behavior or because they do not speak the language. It is important to keep in mind that marketing to Hispanics in the United States is different than marketing to Hispanics in their native countries. Around 60% of Hispanics were born in the U.S. and while they most likely still speak Spanish at home and prefer a different cuisine than your typical Anglo-American (or, Gringo, some might say) it is likely that they speak English, went to American schools and grew up around American pop culture. And just like Americans, they shop…online. In fact, Hispanics are known to be heavy users of digital media and are very accepting of new technology.

So what should you do if you believe the Hispanic population might be part of your target market? There are several strategies you can implement into your existing online advertising campaigns. For example, detailed geographic information on Hispanics in the U.S. is made available to the general public by the Census Bureau. This information could be used to develop a geo-targeted campaign. And, since your target market probably speaks English, you don’t necessarily have to write your ads in Spanish. Instead, why not translate some of your current keywords into Spanish so you ads will appear when someone searches for you product in Spanish. If you see that your ads are generating a lot of clicks, then you may want to consider writing ads in Spanish and possibly developing new landing pages written in Spanish. If you believe there is potential for you in the Hispanic market, it might be worth a shot to test a Hispanic-targeted campaign. What have you got to lose? Nada!