Today we meet Todd Schwartz, director of multicultural marketing at 21st Century Marketing. Schwartz is riding the growing wave of Spanish-language direct marketing.
Schwartz started at the company his father founded, working part-time during summers and while attending college. “I kind of grew up in this business.”
He took a five-year detour working as stockbroker, before returning full time to help expand 21st Century’s list brokerage business. “I’ve been here now three and half years,” Schwartz said.
Most but not all his work involves companies and fundraisers sending out Spanish-language direct mail. “I’m really the only one here who deals with Hispanic brokerage clients,” he said.
Probably the biggest growth area for Spanish-language direct mail is fundraising, especially organizations targeting appeals to Catholics, according to Schwartz. Demand for lists targeting Spanish speaking consumers is also growing for offers related to health or education, he added.
Schwartz handles list brokerage for Indiana Botanic Gardens, Oblate Missions, Covenant House, Black Enterprise and Siempre Mujeres magazines, among other clients.
He juggles list brokerage with pursuing a law degree at Hofstra University. Schwartz considered going for an MBA or masters degree in direct marketing, but decided a law degree would give him a broader set of skills. “I hope to run this business one day.”
Schwartz is single. He plays golf and tennis, and enjoys going to movies, eating out and traveling. “Last summer I went to Italy, a good choice for me because I’m definitely fond of Italian food,” he said. Schwartz wants to take his next trip to Paris. “But right now I don’t have a lot of free time.”
What do mailers need to know about lists for targeting Hispanic consumers?
Hundreds of lists for targeting Hispanics are available, but that’s compared to more than 75,000 for Anglo-consumers, according to Schwartz. Lower overall quantities make negotiating deals more difficult.
Although the universe of Spanish-language generated response lists has been growing — with new names coming from catalogers, magazine publishers, Web sites and DRTV marketers — counts for individual files are still relatively small.
“Probably the largest files have only 250,000 names and monthly hotlines usually run 20,000 to 25,000 names,” said Schwartz.
The response rates from lists sourced from Spanish-language offers are typically two to three times higher than from lists sourced from English language offers, he said. That’s because a typical Spanish-speaking consumer may receive only one piece of direct mail per week in Spanish.
There are tradeoffs to consider when using Spanish-language generated response lists and files with data overlays that infer that a person speaks Spanish.
First, response files tend to have smaller counts and offer fewer selections — and of course, typically generate the highest response. Second, files with inferred language data perform best with geographic selections targeting areas with higher concentrations of known Spanish-speaking households.
Probably the most overlooked Spanish-speaking market is Puerto Rico, he added.
Are online systems for generating list counts and ordering names a threat to list brokers?
“No. Anyone can go on the Internet and search for lists, but that gives false hope to mailers,” Schwartz said.
Companies will never have the resources nor collective knowledge of list brokers using lists, testing, response analysis and price negotiation skills. Good brokers know the source of a list and who has been using it successfully, he continued.
“I had a call from an insurance company that wanted to mail more to Hispanics. It turns out they had only used one list before, and didn’t know how the file was generated or use any selections. It didn’t work for them,” Schwartz said.
Automated systems have a role, for those who only want to mail to everyone in a given ZIP Code. “Otherwise you can’t just go online, type in your criteria and pull a list out of a hat,” he said.
Know someone you’d like to suggest for Meet the Broker? E-mail Jim Emerson at [email protected].
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