The Dos and Don'ts for Expanding Into the Hispanic Market

For nearly three decades, much has been written, talked about, lectured upon and researched about what has materialized as the fastest growing consumer segment in America, the Hispanic consumer market.

With the release of the 2000 Census, the discussions escalated to the point where many major marketers considered reaching this market a corporate priority. Any and all projections of growth of the Hispanic market have been exceeded since then: Population nears 50 million, with almost $1 trillion in spending power.

But nearly a decade later, there are still few companies on the Fortune 100 who have what any expert on the matter would consider a best-in-class, optimized program which is designed to properly measure and optimize the opportunity, let alone spend to the opportunity adequately.

If your company is among those who wonder why sales and growth have stalled, if your customer base no longer looks like the individuals your agency's storyboards and casting calls reflect, and if there are more Ramirezes than Robinsons on your customer database, well, the time may just have arrived for you to take Hispanic marketing seriously. Very seriously.

The following is a list of some basic do's and don'ts for those companies and marketing executives who have awakened to the aroma of the freshly brewed opportunity that marketing to Latinos represents. Hopefully, this list, as basic as it may seem, will help them avoid some commonly found pitfalls, as well as aid them in making the right decisions and finding the right partner.

Next Page: DO's of Hispanic Marketing