When I started writing this article, I came across a wonderful story. A woman, 101 years old, who became a US citizen with the help of a 69 year old immigration document after living on American soil for 101 years. On October 12, Eulalia Garcia Maturey had her naturalization ceremony on her 101st anniversary in Brownsville, Texas.

So, I can’t but stop and draw a parallel between her story and that of Latino marketing. She witnessed the evolution of the Hispanic population in the US. The same evolution happened to Latino Marketing. What was once a small isolated segment in the country is now the largest minority (now representing around 17% of the total population) and one of the most important growth opportunities for both marketers and advertising agencies.

But as in every evolution, paradigms and best practices shift.

Latino marketing paradigms

I don’t know how many traditional Hispanic professionals would openly admit it, but marketing to Latinos was built on some (old) paradigms that, though only partly true, were very helpful in building an entry barrier.

Spanish Language was the key driver to segment the audience and separated Latinos from mainstream population.
Latinos were targeted in isolation, like if they lived on a world of their own (food, music, passions, family, friends).
Spanish Language TV being the primary media to reach Latinos, supported by outreach/ grass-root programs.
Marketing strategies based on differences between Latino consumers and their General Market counterparts.
Hispanic agencies were the only experts capable of understanding and communicating with this target.

In a nutshell, a target with a different language, culture and behavior. Let the Hispanics deal with the Hispanics.

Paradigm shift

With 70% of Hispanic consumers self-defining themselves as Biculturals, language is playing a secondary role. Cultural relevance is the key. Bicultural Latinos live in both worlds, they switch from one culture to another, the same with language. Shouldn’t your strategy live in both worlds too?

• Latinos should be targeted inclusively. That means that your General Market communication should address and be appealing to Latinos too, and that your Hispanic strategy should treat your audience as an integrated part of overall America.
• Social Media has become key to engage with US Hispanics. It’s growing faster, providing empowerment to our segment, allowing content creation that is relevant both from a culture and a language standpoint. 40% of Latinos are creating their own content online (blogs, videos, music, experiences) and sharing it through their powerful personal networks that are stronger both in size, activation and –what’s key to social media- influence.
• Latinos should be targeted holistically. Focusing on Hispanics differences alone is as useless as focusing solely on the similarities. As with every human being, when targeting Latinos you should consider them as a whole. Both deep insights and consumer truths help uncover those triggers to create relevant and effective messages.
• Hispanics are not the exclusive expertise of Hispanic agencies anymore. General Market agencies are developing Hispanic capabilities the same way that Hispanic agencies are modifying their offering to serve a target than cannot be kept in a box anymore.

As with Eulalia, Latino marketing is becoming official too, though its naturalization may not be featured in the news.

How will the future be like for Latino Marketing now that it has also become officially a citizen?

Well, that’s an excellent question. And that’s precisely what we will be discussing in this column every two weeks.

Stay tuned!

(this post was originally published @ clickz.com as the inaugural article of the Marketing to Latinos column, Oct 25, 2010)

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Tagged as: BiCultural, clicks.com, Eulalia Garcia Maturey, Gustavo Razzetti, latino marketing, marketing to latino column, naturalization