Best Practices: What to take into Account When Direct Marketing to Hispanics

Portada talked to Karen Habib, Hispanic Marketing Director, at Eclipse Marketing Services about best practices in direct marketing to the Hispanic population.The Objective (Hispanic or not)…."Ultimately, marketing campaigns – Hispanic or not – are intended to appeal to the consumer, presumably with a value proposition that will make him or her buy your product. In that sense, a Hispanic and a GM campaign aren’t that different.” says Habib.
…and yet, there are Worlds apart….

According to Habib, on the creative front, the Hispanic campaign must speak to the cultural sensibilities of the Latino audience and not just be about the offer. “By customizing our message to their set of values, we will be more successful, and marketing budgets can be more efficiently spent’, she adds.

Another major difference between the Hispanic and the General Market campaign lies in the segmentation process. There are many additional demographic and psychographic criteria that must be considered when doing Hispanic marketing: acculturation level, language preference, multigenerational household, for instance. “As the Hispanic market becomes more complex, direct marketing becomes that much more relevant – vital even to the marketing mix”, says Habib.

Advice to Marketers
Advertisers need to recognize that cultural relevance, demonstration of product value, and language sensitivities playa higher role in marketing to Latinos. Campaigns that focus on offer alone to drive the response may not be as effective, nor create the brand loyalty the marketer is hoping to achieve. Good direct response campaigns (TV, direct mail, radio) will elicit an emotional response, regardless of target. “However, we must remember that although Hispanics can trend to be more emotional culturally, they tend to over-index on researching products online than their GM counterparts. Hispanics want to make sure they are getting value for their purchases and if the purchase experience and product use is positive, they will become loyal”, Habib concludes.