Marketing to Minorities

America's Hispanic population is poised to become the single largest minority in the nation. "...there are 41.3 million Hispanics in the United States - or one in every seven people. In all, the U.S. gained 2.9 million people from 2003 to 2004, and half of them were Hispanic"(Herrera 1). Far removed from the image of illegal immigrants one often reads about in newspapers, there is an emerging Hispanic population both with dollars to spend and a cultural identity to maintain. "Retailers who embrace Hispanic shoppers now are poised to reap tremendous benefits in the ensuing years, a Target Corp. executive said....One important misconception that retailers have yet to remedy is the relative wealth of Hispanics today... statistics show that as a group, all Latinos spent $690 billion in 2004 and had an average household income of $44,300. Individual earnings hovered near $40,000, he added" (Vosburgh 38).

In marketing, it is not a cliché to assert that money talks. "The $4 billion Hispanic advertising industry is outpacing all other sectors of advertising, according to the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies" (Herrera 1).

Some companies, especially beer companies like Anheuser-Busch, have already spent millions aiming at Hispanic customers. And now there are two major Spanish-language television networks, Telemundo and Televisa. Metropolitan areas with large Spanish-language populations such as Miami, Los Angeles and New York now have a number of local television and radio stations aiming at the Hispanic market.

Marketers also need to understand there are many Americans of Hispanic heritage that are English speakers and prefer to think of English as their native language because they may have been born here and grew up speaking English, except at home. For these Hispanic-Americans a marketing effort must be made to include Hispanic models in print and television advertising to provide continuity as well as to target to their tastes. There is an enormous amount of pride in a Latino heritage, and to overlook Hispanics in visual marketing and advertising would be to overlook a growing segment of the consumer market and spending.

While there is a certain marketing effort at the Hispanics who still prefer to both speak Spanish and buy products with which they are familiar (especially when it comes to certain tastes in fresh and processed foods) it should be the focus of marketing executives to find the means of attracting the interest and encouraging the buying habits of second- and third-generation Hispanics.

Marketing to any minority, especially the growing Hispanic population, should be precise and not a scattergun approach. That means marketing both to Spanish-speaking consumers as well as fully assimilated Latino-Americans. Know your market and you can be successful.

REFERENCES:

Herrera, Tilde: "Marketing to Hispanics"

Bradenton, Florida: The Bradenton Herald (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News), June 19, 2005 p. NA

Vosburgh, Robert: "TARGET: MARKETING TO HISPANICS WORTH EFFORT"

Supermarket News, August 8, 2005 p38

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