A New Audience: Marketing to Hispanics on the Internet

Paul Epstein

Marketers who choose not to devote significant time and effort to the Hispanic population are missing out on a vital consumer segment that is growing faster than any other minority group in the United States. Perhaps the most effective way to reach this evolving market is through the Internet.

Research conducted by Brand Strategy Journal shows that Hispanics are currently the largest minority group in America. By 2012, Hispanics are projected to count for nearly one out of every five American residents.

Buying power among the Hispanic population in the U.S. is also increasing at a rapid pace. The median income of Hispanic households rose by 20 percent between 1996 and 2001, while the median for all American households increased just 6 percent. In this day and age, the Hispanic audience carries significant purchasing power and simply cannot be ignored in a company's marketing strategy.

As their household incomes increase, Hispanics are entering cyberspace more quickly than any other ethnic group in the U.S. Their Internet usage jumped 7.4 percent in 2004, after an 8 percent spurt in 2003, according to the market research firm eMarketer. New York-based eMarketer also projected that 13.3 million Hispanics will be surfing the Net by the end of 2004, up from 8.7 million in 2000.

Marketers must also be aware of the typical Hispanic-American Internet user. According to a study conducted by the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies, here are a few interesting facts about the Hispanic Internet user:

* Average age of 28 years old, slightly more likely to be male, and unmarried.
* Approximately half of all Hispanic-American Internet users are Spanish-language dominant, meaning that they speak Spanish at home more than English.
* Spends almost 5 hours per week online, and for 71 percent of these users, primary usage is from a computer at home.
* In addition to their time on the Net, typical Hispanic Internet users watch 18 hours of television per week (approximately 50 percent of it in Spanish) and listen to 15 hours of radio (also half of it in Spanish) per week.
* More than three-quarters of respondents are using the Internet for e-mail, 60 percent to get news, 54 percent to listen to music and 43 percent to chat.

According to the 2002 Nielsen Media Research study, Univision.com was revealed to be the top Spanish-language destination for U.S. Hispanic users for the second year in a row. Rounding out the top five Spanish-language Web destinations for U.S. Hispanic users were: Yahoo! En Espanol, Terra, Yupi and StarMedia.

There is abundant evidence that Hispanics are a crucial part of the American customer base and that a significant amount of them are using the Internet.

With that said, marketers should use the aforementioned data to find out the most effective ways to get through to this demographic via the Internet.

Marketers must first realize that there are two groups of Hispanics in the U.S.: Native-born Hispanics who have lived exclusively in the U.S.; and immigrants. These two groups are usually very different in their consumer behavior.

U.S. Native Hispanics or Immigrants?
Those who speak English fluently tend to be familiar with mainstream American culture and demonstrate similar buying habits to Caucasian, African Americans and other non-Hispanics who have spent most of their lives in the U.S. Meanwhile, the immigrant population often has shopping habits that reflect its natural heritage. They are more likely to use Spanish-language media and would prefer to shop where employees speak Spanish. Marketers must be aware of which group of Hispanics they are trying to target—fluent English-speaking Hispanics or immigrants—and plan their marketing campaigns accordingly.

Second-generation Hispanic-Americans have been deeply affected by American culture and are very different in their consumer behavior than foreign-born Hispanics, who usually view themselves as completely Hispanic and have minimal contact with or interest in mainstream U.S. culture.

Second-generation Hispanic-Americans have become much more acculturated and want to replace, or have already replaced, their Hispanic identity with a mainstream American identity.

An article in Hispanic Business entitled "A Melting Pot With Flavor" explains this phenomenon. Upon arriving in the U.S., foreign-born Hispanics are culturally isolated. However, their children and grandchildren complete the journey to assimilation or acculturation. These days, the Hispanic market can be divided with foreign-born and third-generation Hispanics at the poles of the cultural spectrum, and much of the market moving between them.

Corporate Outreach
Some U.S. companies are already catering to the Hispanic immigrant population and it is paying off. H&R Block, in its first major Hispanic project, installed 4,100 bilingual tax preparers in 2002 and aired amusing Spanish-language commercials. This initiative helped Hispanic traffic grow by double digits. Lincoln Mercury featured actress Salma Hayek in its first Spanish-language ad campaign with a celebrity. The National Football League is rushing to promote itself to Hispanics, a group that has traditionally preferred soccer and baseball, by having its web site, NFL.com, available in Spanish and by featuring preseason games such as the 2001 American Bowl preseason match between the Dallas Cowboys and Oakland Raiders at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.

Online en Espanol
It is estimated that the world-wide online Spanish-speaking population is 50 million people. By not making its web site available in Spanish, a firm may be missing 20 percent of all Internet users. Now that the Internet is reaching relatively un-acculturated Hispanics who are frustrated by the lack of Spanish-language content on the web, it is important for marketers to construct Spanish-language web sites. A Terra Lycos study showed that in 2002, Hispanics spent 55 percent of their online time connected to Spanish language sites compared with only 39 percent in 2001.

Internet companies like Trusted Translations and Translations.com can expand a firm's market to millions of visitors around the globe by translating its web site, or by creating bilingual web pages. On its web site, Trusted Translations says it can translate to Spanish from a single Spanish web page (for example, your home page) to your whole Spanish web site, without losing any functionality at all.

A Vibrant Culture
Though Hispanics tend to identify by nationality more closely than by a general "Hispanic" or "Latino" category, many Hispanic cultures, from Mexican to Puerto Rican to South American, share some commonalities. For example, many Hispanic families and communities take joy in group celebrations and interactions, including soccer games, street fairs and festivals. One must not rely solely on the Internet or television to reach the Hispanic consumer. Outdoor ads with simple messages generate the biggest reach and frequency numbers at low cost.

Hispanics are also extremely family oriented, so any marketing strategies with family values-oriented themes will carry strong appeal. Hispanics often have strong and close bonds that extend outside the nuclear family to include grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and other non-family members. For example, when Honda targets Hispanic consumers in advertisements for its Accord, it usually pitches the sedan version instead of the sportier coupe. Honda employs this strategy because its market research finds strong family orientation among Latinos. When Ford advertises its Ford Focus to Hispanics, it emphasizes the small car's attributes as a family vehicle. But the carmaker pitches it to other groups as a fun-to-drive vehicle for the young.

Hispanic families are very likely to be three-generational, with grandparents an integral part of the unit. Casting a Hispanic family in advertisements, complete with grandparents in the home, might be a wise marketing strategy for firms hoping to expand their marketing messages to Latinos.

Humor and laughter are also great ways to connect with the Hispanic consumer. Latin humor is often playful, boisterous and even mischievous. Marketers should be aware of this and other cultural preferences when using humor in their advertising campaigns.

Hispanic Internet users are too large a consumer segment to ignore. A firm that figures out a way to reach this group will reap the benefits.

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A New Audience: Marketing to Hispanics on the Internet

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