Understanding Culture when Marketing to the Hispanic and Latino Community

Did you know that the buying power of Hispanic consumers has increased  by 212%, to $1.5 trillian this decade (2010 -2020)?

Hispanic now account for 1/6 of American consumers, making this community a valuable prospect.

However, understanding the culture and potential cultural differences of these communities can make or break your marketing campaign.

To succeed in these communities, marketers need to appreciate cultural differences.

When people think of a community, they usually think of a group of people who share one and the same culture. However, this is not always the case. Some communities can be subdivided into different cultures, for example the Hispanic and Latin community in the United States.

This subdivision poses difficulties for companies who want to enter the community’s market as general marketing strategies could fail to achieve their goals.

What then, are the conditions for effective marketing? This three-step guide will give you the answer.

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3 Steps to Marketing Effectively to Hispanic Consumers

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1. Regional Differences

Companies that want to reach out to the Hispanic and Latin communities cannot use one general marketing strategy due to multiculturalism and diversity. Whereas in the southwest of the United States is inhabited by Mexicans, most Hispanics and Latinos living in the southeast of the country are of Cuban or Caribbean descent.

This influences the culture of the target audience and should be understood and considered when preparing to market a product/service. To sell even more products, it's recommended that companies break their campaigns down even further and focus on individual neighbourhoods and communities. 

2. Build Trust

Raymond Arrogo, Head of Alternative Distribution at Aetna and a Member of the Board of Directors at the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, stresses the fact that companies should take their time when approaching the Hispanic and Latin market.

Due to the cultural value placed on relationship building, the people in this community want to get to know a company before they will buy its products. This means companies must not expect fast results, but should approach the market very slowly. This might be more expensive, but as the Hispanic and Latin market is very large, it will probably prove to yield a larger profit than a fast approach.

3. Use technology

This year, the Hispanic and Latin community has spent 17.6 billion USD on mobile phones and more than 500 million on mobile applications. It would thus be silly to ignore social media as a means to market new products.

The internet can even aid companies with the previously mentioned strategies: it can be used to send specific messages to certain regions or neighbourhoods and can provide potential customers with background information about products.

The Hispanic and Latin market is quite a challenging one to enter. However, if companies keep their future customers in mind, they might be rewarded greatly.

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Some Facts About Hispanics in the USA

Of the estimated 50.7 million Hispanics in the United States, nearly two-thirds (65%) identify themselves as being of Mexican origin. No other Hispanic subgroup rivals the size of the Mexican-origin population.

Puerto Ricans, the nation’s second largest Hispanic origin group, make up just 9% of the total Hispanic population in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The 10 largest Hispanic origin groups—Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Salvadorans, Dominicans, Guatemalans, Colombians, Hondurans, Ecuadorians and Peruvians—make up 92% of the U.S. Hispanic population.

For more information on the community visit Pew Research

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Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash