Marketing to the Hispanic Market
By Liesl Leary

In the localization industry—or at least in the rhetoric of articles discussing best practices—the perspective and focus is typically that of a domestic company or product entering international markets. As an industry, we are saturated with associations and highly technical standards that primarily focus on the implications of entering foreign markets. However in doing so, we’ve overlooked a significant marketing and localization trend in our own domestic market: marketing to Hispanic communities.

Recently, I came across an advertisement in Brandweek magazine that poetically captured the significant influence of this market and the opportunity afforded by effectively marketing to it. Representing the Univision television network, the ad portrayed a simple, yet elegant, Hispanic female who appeared to be in her thirties. The headline read: “They grow up so fast. Before you know it, they’ve gone all the way to #1.” The supporting copy continued:

“On fifty two nights last season, Univision was the #1 network in any language among 18-34 year olds. And on the majority of other nights, we beat at least one of the Big Four networks for this same audience. When you consider the fact that 74% of these Spanish-language viewers are more likely to buy a product advertised on Spanish-language TV, the choice for advertisers is clear.”

What is the Hispanic Market?
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, Hispanics are the largest minority, representing 13.4% of the population. That's an increase of 60% over the previous U.S. Census of 1990. With larger households of 4.2 persons (US average 2.5) and a younger population (24 years versus U.S. average 36 years), the buying power of the Hispanic market is growing at three times the rate of inflation.

There is no single "Hispanic market", but rather a group of Hispanic segments. The single most important segmentation factor is the country of national origin. The largest segment comes from Mexico, representing 70% of the Hispanic population. Mexican-Americans live primarily in the southwestern states of California and Texas, but since the 1980's, many have migrated to the northeastern states of New York and Massachusetts. Completing the Hispanic market cultural constituency: Central and South American 14.3%, Puerto Rican 8.6%, and Cuban 3.7%.

Marketing to the Hispanic Community
Although the overall strategy for marketing to the Hispanic community can be standardized, the advertising and marketing communications are not as simple. The cultural values and consumer behaviors of Mexican-Americans, Cuban-Americans, Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Salvadorans, and other Hispanics are not identical. Even among immigrant groups from the same country, there are significant cultural variations arising from differences in education, socioeconomic status, and degree of assimilation. Immigrants from large countries, such as Mexico, may exhibit cultural differences based on the region of the country from which they come. In Cuba however, they may differ by the role they played in the county's instable political history. For example, there is a cultural gap between the wealthy landowners and professionals who fled from Fidel Castro's Cuba in the late 1950's and the poorer Marielitos who migrated to the United States in the 1980's.

There are many core-marketing factors that unify the Hispanic market. Hispanics have migrated to the United States for the same economic and social opportunities that have persuaded other minorities. As a culture, they place a high importance on family and children. They are devoted to religion, and preserving their ethnicity and cultural traditions.

Translating the Language
The United States has the fifth largest Spanish-speaking population in the world. Although 79% of Hispanics speak Spanish at home, the language varies across the United States; it can be a “very common” language and at the same time “very local.” As previously discussed, the language a person speaks is part of the culture in which they were raised. Therefore, the language used in all marketing communications—including advertising, packaging, and public relations—should reflect the unique cultural expressions and values of the specific Hispanic target locale. For example, Spanish marketing communications targeting markets in Florida must recognize and address the heavily influenced Cuban-Spanish of that locale. Cuban-Spanish is significantly closer to Iberian-Spanish (Spain) than Mexican-Spanish. To ensure total quality, translations must be performed by language specialists who understand how to write marketing/ad copy for the various Hispanic sub-segments. Writing in a particular language requires the writer to think in terms of that language and the related culture.

Conclusion
The Hispanic market segment should challenge marketing professionals to make adjustments not only to their global marketing strategies, but to their domestic strategies as well. Before you know it, unique markets of multicultural consumers mature into enormous sub-segments that can easily determine the long-term success of a brand. Just as with any global customer base, the Hispanic consumer prefers products and communications that identify with their culture, not just their language. Thus, it is important not to over-generalize the market segment simply by the Spanish language itself, but rather, to analyze the collective as a union of micro-segmented populations with similar, albeit not entirely identical values. Without a doubt, the buying power that the lucrative Hispanic market represents will hold domestic marketing professionals to a higher standard of target marketing and quality localization.

ENLASO's "Spanish" Translation Services
For more information on how ENLASO can assist you with all of your Spanish localization needs, please contact Liesl Leary at lleary@translate.com or 650 610 8844 or Chris Raulf at craulf@translate.com or 303 516 0857 x103.