Univision is an oft overlooked marketing channel for targeting the Hispanic market.
In 2010, it’s hard to think that there are still companies that aren’t embracing minority cultures into their marketing and sales target audience. The Hispanic audience in particular is growing every year, and thankfully, marketers and advertisers are taking notice. The buying power of this additional market is great, but there has to be education around speaking to these consumers. There are many agencies and consultants that specialize in the Hispanic market; it’s more than just repackaging your existing messaging in the most “universal” Spanish dialect or throwing an Hispanic looking model/actor into your imagery. There are cultural nuances that need to be understood and referenced when you are trying to include another culture into your target. And, of course, there’s the understanding, and effective selection, of channels, tools, and tactics to make this incorporation truly effective. People are paying attention, and we’re beginning to see our businesses affected all the more.
After the decline in Hispanic ad spending in 2009, we are now starting to see growth. According to Ad Age, spending on Spanish-language TV rose 7.2% in the first quarter and Spanish-language newspapers saw spend increase by 4.5%. In fact, even with the decline of spend in 2009, the Hispanic market outperformed the general U.S. Market by almost 2%. Of course media and marketing budgets are the first to go in a down economy, but even with the recession, 22 of the top 50 Hispanic advertisers increased their media budgets last year. With this population growing and becoming targeted consumers in the general market, there’s no time like the present to begin building or solidifying that brand loyalty, recession be damned. And with this increased focus and spend, our measurement tools are finally jumping on board. ComScore started Hispanic Focus this Spring, to aggregate and measure data for sites that target Hispanics specifically. Before, everything was measured by reach, so the big guys (like Google and Facebook) were always given top billing, even though their Hispanic audience was a fraction of these more targeted properties. The budgets and visibility is there to make this audience a much larger, and well-deserved, focus in the coming months and years.
So how do the advertisers and agencies that aren’t already included in the stats above get on board the right way? Choose the right outlets for your focus. This seems like a no brainer, but it’s amazing how often Univision and Que Pasa are ignored for other media and social sites, like Yahoo! and Facebook. Ensure your messaging is culturally relevant and makes sense. Things don’t always translate from English perfectly as-is. Outsource to an agency or consultant that know what they are doing. Geography can play a huge part in this – not every Spanish speaker in the country speaks the same “language.” And I think most importantly, if this audience is added to your target focus, be sure to create a seamless and continuous user experience for them, from start to finish. It’s a betrayal to say you speak their language and want them as a customer in your ad, then send them to a form or employee that presents a contradictory interface.
The industry has taken huge steps forward in addressing this audience, though there is of course tons more progress to be made. What steps has your business taken to improve its communication to the Hispanic market? What do you think are the biggest hurdles in integrating this audience into your existing marketing plan?
