Thursday, July 13, 2006
BusinessWeek: How To Tap the Hispanic Market
BusinessWeek carries a story entitled, "How To Tap the Hispanic Market," that features a Q&A with Felipe Korzenny, director of the Center for the Study of Hispanic Marketing Communications at Florida State University.
Here's a summary of his main points:
On the misstep companies are making: "... they do not realize that understanding the culture is part of making a difference in the way in which you can connect with the consumer ... they are missing the opportunity to establish a closer relationship and making their brand more desirable or more wanted by Hispanic consumers by addressing them from a cultural perspective."
On the biggest mistake companies are making: Companies fall into two extremes, "being stereotypical" the ones "that just don't make an effort." "In between, there are categories like the ones who just take an ad and translate it ... that's the most primitive approach."
On what makes a successful approach: " ... the ones that either launch a new product or position it in the Hispanic market by talking to many consumers and finding out how to make the product relevant to them."
On how Hispanic businesses market to themselves: "Being Hispanic can help you, but it is no guarantee. Just by being Hispanic, you do not necessarily know how to market to Hispanics."
On the importance of bilingual marketing: "Bilingual marketing is the way of the future. I think in the past years there was an emphasis on using the Spanish language ... being bilingual is more effective and it is a way to emphasize culture."
Here's a summary of his main points:
On the misstep companies are making: "... they do not realize that understanding the culture is part of making a difference in the way in which you can connect with the consumer ... they are missing the opportunity to establish a closer relationship and making their brand more desirable or more wanted by Hispanic consumers by addressing them from a cultural perspective."
On the biggest mistake companies are making: Companies fall into two extremes, "being stereotypical" the ones "that just don't make an effort." "In between, there are categories like the ones who just take an ad and translate it ... that's the most primitive approach."
On what makes a successful approach: " ... the ones that either launch a new product or position it in the Hispanic market by talking to many consumers and finding out how to make the product relevant to them."
On how Hispanic businesses market to themselves: "Being Hispanic can help you, but it is no guarantee. Just by being Hispanic, you do not necessarily know how to market to Hispanics."
On the importance of bilingual marketing: "Bilingual marketing is the way of the future. I think in the past years there was an emphasis on using the Spanish language ... being bilingual is more effective and it is a way to emphasize culture."
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
Online Marketing Campaign Pitfalls
DM News, a direct marketing media outlet, has an article about a session entitle, "The Opportunity: Tapping into U.S. Hispanics and Latin Americans via Search" that took place July 10 in Miami at the Search Engine Strategies Conference and Expo Latino '06.
The article outlines the millions of Latinos that use the Internet for searches. It states that Mexico, Argentina and Brazil account for 72% of search users in Latin America.
It also outlines the potential growth of the U.S. market as searching is the #2 reason that Hispanics in the United States and in Latin America use the Internet. The #1 reason was to check e-mail, the article says.
What it doesn't outline is that Hispanic Internet users in the U.S. are largely young. This is important because it affects the types of campaigns for which online marketing should be considered (though SEO is something that should always be considered). It also affects the type of onlincampaignng tactics that should be employed (i.e. mobile marketing).
Hispanics account for approximately 14% of the U.S. population, but only account for 7.1% of web users, according to the Pew Internet Project. The annual growth rate is estimated at 6.8%, according to e-Marketer. So, the potential today and in the future is certainly there. Proof positive is that 2005 online expenditures aimed at Hispanics were $100 million. This is a 33% increase from 2004, according to IAB.
The article also doesn't outline the major pitfall made with many U.S.-based online campaigns: the lack of follow through. By this I mean companies spend lots of money to get Hispanic to their websites or to a campaign micro-site, yet fail to offer relevant content. Worse, they sometimes lead you to Spanish landing page for essentially an English website, or to a translated website. (See my posting about the new Johnnie Walker campaign to see what I'm talking about)
So, certainly go forward and consider online marketing as a key discipline. However, know the demographic of your intended audience and their purchasing decision-making thought process, as well as make sure you follow through by providing them something relevant once they get there.
The article outlines the millions of Latinos that use the Internet for searches. It states that Mexico, Argentina and Brazil account for 72% of search users in Latin America.
It also outlines the potential growth of the U.S. market as searching is the #2 reason that Hispanics in the United States and in Latin America use the Internet. The #1 reason was to check e-mail, the article says.
What it doesn't outline is that Hispanic Internet users in the U.S. are largely young. This is important because it affects the types of campaigns for which online marketing should be considered (though SEO is something that should always be considered). It also affects the type of onlincampaignng tactics that should be employed (i.e. mobile marketing).
Hispanics account for approximately 14% of the U.S. population, but only account for 7.1% of web users, according to the Pew Internet Project. The annual growth rate is estimated at 6.8%, according to e-Marketer. So, the potential today and in the future is certainly there. Proof positive is that 2005 online expenditures aimed at Hispanics were $100 million. This is a 33% increase from 2004, according to IAB.
The article also doesn't outline the major pitfall made with many U.S.-based online campaigns: the lack of follow through. By this I mean companies spend lots of money to get Hispanic to their websites or to a campaign micro-site, yet fail to offer relevant content. Worse, they sometimes lead you to Spanish landing page for essentially an English website, or to a translated website. (See my posting about the new Johnnie Walker campaign to see what I'm talking about)
So, certainly go forward and consider online marketing as a key discipline. However, know the demographic of your intended audience and their purchasing decision-making thought process, as well as make sure you follow through by providing them something relevant once they get there.
