CMOs: 3 tips to engage the Hispanic market

If you are a CMO targeting the Hispanic market, I've found some tips to help you reach this often overlooked audience. As a graduate student in Northwestern-Medill’s Integrated Marketing Communications program with an interest in Hispanic/Latino marketing, I found two articles which highlight the best ways to impact and engage the Hispanic market.

Lisa Gevelber’s article Your Next Big Opportunity: The U.S. Hispanic Market emphasizes Hispanics strengths in numbers. As Vice President of Google’s Americas Marketing, Gevelber says Google is paying attention because Hispanics have buying power; $1.4 trillion to be exact. Although Fortune 500 companies are aware of the numbers, most CMOs don’t have a marketing strategy to attract consumers.

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Writer Zubair Talib tells us why marketing strategies fail with Hispanics in his article 3 Reasons Your Brand Content Won’t Connect With Hispanic Consumers. Translating content into Spanish and expecting to attract bilingual consumers won’t work. Marketing to the Hispanic population takes money, research and dedication. Companies like T-Mobile and Procter and Gamble make diversity front-and-center on their websites and advertisements. Perhaps that’s why P&Gs net profit rose by 62% in the last quarter of 2015.

As a graduate student in Northwestern-Medill’s Integrated Marketing Communications with an interest in Hispanic/Latino marketing, here are three action items I recommend you consider when approaching the Hispanic market:

• Mobile matters - Most hispanics see their phones as their “first screen.” They are more likely to purchase the latest phones, download the latest apps and stream the latest content. Advertising on popular mobile sites will yield instant results.

• Spanish? English? Spanglish? - More than a million Hispanics get connected and stay online per year. Visit Universal Latino or Mitú to understand the art of how the languages mix. Most Hispanics speak Spanish in the home, English at work and like their entertainment in both. 

• Latino lifestyles matter- Create content that speaks to Hispanics. This group sees themselves as everyday people: hardworking and successful with big dreams. If you are looking for a spokesperson for your product, consider a sitcom star or a singer who radiates positivity. Most importantly, make sure that your spokesperson’s values (on stage and off) match your company’s.

As you develop your Hispanic marketing programs remember that listening to the needs and desires of this audience may cost you money, but your strategy's authenticity will pay off.


Sarahmaria Gomez is a Medill/IMC graduate student with a background in journalism. I am a native of Santa Fe, New Mexico and I love traveling to Latin America. You can reach me on twitter @sarahmawoman.