Everyone knows that Hispanics are a fast growing, key group of consumers in the marketplace, but do advertisers’ investments reflect that? In a recent Media Post article, Jose Villa writes about the visible trend of marketers increasing investments in the Hispanic Market as a defensive move. Advertisers are experiencing decreases in sales among their General Market target, so they then decide to invest money behind strategies that would specifically target Hispanics. Is leaving advertising to the Hispanic consumer as a “last resort” the right move to make? Probably not.
Villa details how various elements, such as demographic, technological, and consumer preference shifts are creating headwinds for bigger brands in the marketplace and how these brands are responding by extending their advertising reach to Hispanics. Although it is good practice to create ads that specifically speak to the Hispanic consumer, it’s also known that Hispanics are engaging with your General Market targeted tactics as well. Which raises the question—why not try and target both markets from the very start? If marketers start their campaign with synergistic ads that employ slight differences in order to better reach General Market consumers versus Hispanics, there is a better chance that Hispanic consumers will engage with multiple touch points and, thus, a greater chance for persuasion.
Lesson to be learned: don’t wait until your brand begins to take a downturn before you target Hispanics. If you know that engaging Hispanics is something you’re eventually going to do, reach out to this particular consumer group from the start in order to avoid having to execute defensive tactics to reverse declining sales.
