In several articles in our series on multicultural marketing, we have discussed how a “one size fits all” marketing approach is not effective cross-culturally. It is important to understand that each multicultural market is different and each culture requires distinct branding and messaging to drive its consumers to make purchases and remain loyal.
We’re continuing our series on multicultural marketing outreach by focusing on the power and impact of the Latino community to our economy and culture.
In subsequent posts, we’ll discuss the best marketing practices for reaching this highly coveted market. But first, let’s see why marketers should focus on this consumer group.
The power in numbers
According to the U.S. Census, Latinos are the fastest-growing U.S. population, experiencing a 43% growth from 2000-2010 (Source: U.S. Census Bureau 2010 Census. vs. 2000 Decennial Census). Based on this data, it would be detrimental to companies to neglect this market when creating marketing campaigns. In addition, based on findings from the 2013 Multicultural Report from the Selig Center for Economic Growth, Latinos’ purchasing power has been growing 70% faster than Americans’ as a whole since the late 1980s (2013 Multicultural Report from the Selig Center for Economic Growth.) As companies learn about the monetary impact of each minority demographic, they will be able to create strategies that appeal directly to each segment.
Secondly, Latinos are driving new business formation in the U.S. According to a study by the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative, from 2007-12 Latino-owned new business formation skyrocketed 47% while non-Latino new businesses declined by 2%. New businesses mean new jobs – for everyone.
As Nielsen research shows, differences exist between Latino consumers of varying ages, genders, incomes and the preferred languages spoken at home.The more we take time to understand the Latino consumers, the more effective we can become at connecting with them.
The Latino Millennial
One of the important subgroups among Latino consumers is the Latino Millennial. The Millennial population has become a driving force of sales in the United States in recent years. And it is not different within the Latino subset. Millennials are one of the fastest growing demographics in the U.S. and 47% of them are of Latino origin. It is important to look at them as a driving force of all buying decisions of this group. We see listed above that Hispanic spending power has reached one trillion dollars therefore we can conclude that much of this spending is done by Millennials.
Source: US Census Bureau, New Hispanic, Selig Center for Economic Growth
