According to the US Census, 1 in 6 Americans is Hispanic. In the next decade, Hispanics are expected to account for 40 percent of net new households. In an article earlier this year, The Economist reported that in one decade (between 2000-10) Latino buying power more than doubled, and the Latino share of wallet is becoming increasingly important to marketers. Many of our clients are focused on this growing consumer segment and coming up with new products and culturally-relevant messaging.
As such, I often get asked the question, “Can you reach these folks online?” The answer is a resounding ‘yes.’ In fact, a Pew Research Center study released this summer reported that “Latinos own smartphones, go online from a mobile device and use social networking sites at similar—and sometimes higher—rates than do other groups of Americans.” Many of our sample providers have identified these people so we can get at them quickly and efficiently.
“Several years ago, uSamp recognized that our clients were struggling to effectively reach the Hispanic population. We’ve gained expertise in the market and we’ve invested heavily in tapping new, unique sources in order to deliver Hispanic audiences that can help clients glean the business insights they need. Our Hispanic panels now host more than 125,000 members and we’ve made it our mission to understand this complex and diverse audience. The distinction between unacculturated and acculturated Hispanics is just as important as other demographic differentiators such as age, occupation, and location.
When developing SúperOpinión, our premier Hispanic panel, we wanted to give our members the option to fully customize their account – language preference, email invitation frequency, etc. Additionally, they can register from their mobile devices, which is critical in this expanding mobile world. By building and managing our own proprietary panel, acculturation model and rewards engine, we strive to bring panelists an unparalleled user-experience and retain them for the long-haul. We realized that no two panelists are alike, and we wanted to build an environment that accommodated their diverse needs. This is only the beginning of our efforts to engage and build these audiences, and hope that we keep reinforcing our central mission: panelists are people.”
Dave Gaston, Regional Vice President Survey Solutions at uSamp
The trend among our clients is establishing multicultural teams that span multiple brands in an effort to ramp up quickly on who these consumers are, and to really understand their attitudes, behaviors and motivation. Because after all, engaging this segment is more than just speaking en Español – marketers need to understand them culturally too!
