Juan Tornoe

Segmentation of the Hispanic Market

By Juan Tornoe

All Latinos are not the same.

It is true that we all carry Latin American and/or Spanish heritage in our blood, but that is the only variable that won't vary (some may say this is cutting us short, but let's use this definition for the purposes of this discussion). As I've discussed in previous articles, there are certain cultural characteristics that you need to be aware of in order to better understand the Latino frame of mind:

    * Degree of intimacy
    * Level of interaction
    * Social harmony
    * Personal contact
    * Respect for authority

These are extremely important and a great starting point for truly connecting with Hispanics. Then again, the Latino community is so diverse, that if you limit yourself to only these general characteristics, it will still be quite challenging to effectively and efficiently reach out to the market you specifically are trying to attract.

You also need to be aware of additional variables that influence Latinos, both as distinct groups and as individuals. Here, in no particular order, are some of the traits to consider when identifying the group (or groups) of Latinos on whom you will focus your marketing efforts in order to tailor a message that resonates with them:

1. Country of Origin / Heritage: There are many differences between Hispanics, depending upon the person's country of origin or heritage: Food and music preferences, as well as the Holidays they celebrate are some of the most obvious. The actual words they use to describe persons, places, actions and things can vary immensely as well.

2. Language Preference: What is the actual language that your target group prefers? Do they usually speak and read in English or Spanish? Are they fully bilingual or closer to either end of the English-Spanish language spectrum? This is of utmost importance when developing your message. Will you talk to them exclusively in English or Spanish? Will you talk to them in both languages? Will you utilize Spanglish (code-switching)?

3. Generation: It is a completely different worldview depending how far away, generationally, Hispanics are from their country of origin/heritage. First generation (foreign-born) Latinos have experienced life outside the U.S., have gone through the immigration experience, and to different degrees, have embraced or become acquainted with living in America. Second generation Latinos encounter a mixed experience, being born and growing up in the United States, but brought up by immigrants and thus heavily exposed and influenced by their parents' culture. Finally, Latinos who are third generation and beyond are the sons and daughters of U.S.-born parents. They are very much influenced by the general market, but still connect to their roots through the values, traditions, and culture passed on by their parents and grandparents.

4. Place of Residence: Latinos living in different parts of the country have completely different life experiences. It depends on the size of their city or town, its demographic composition, and how much or little interaction they have with fellow Latinos. Hispanics living in Los Angeles, Houston, Miami or New York have a vastly different experience and easier access to all things Hispanic than if they reside in Boise or Billings.

5. Socio-Cultural Level: In most cases, foreign-born Latinos obtain a higher income level and greater buying power than they experienced in their home countries. Still, even while their wallets or bank accounts tell one story, their buying habits and overall lifestyles could tell a different story. Their mind-set may cause them to retain financial habits learned in the past, meaning they may be spending less than their buying power would indicate. In other cases, immigrants may arrive in the U.S. with a high socio-cultural and economic level and broader world-view, which creates a completely different set of needs.

6. Acculturation: How much have Hispanics modified or adapted their attitudes and behaviors as a result of contact with mainstream America? What new systems of thought, beliefs, emotions and communication systems have they embraced in order to exist in a new cultural environment without abandoning their heritage?

7. Assimilation: While often used interchangeably with acculturation, this is actually the process of giving up a cultural heritage and becoming absorbed into the mainstream culture. How much has a Latino "forgotten" about their heritage in order to see him/herself as part of a larger national family?

8. Income Level: In general terms, the higher a person's income level (this applies to all people, not only Latinos) the likelier they will have their basic needs fulfilled. The wants and/or needs addressed in your targeted marketing message will need to take this into consideration.

As you can see, it is a combination of all these distinct variables that defines the Hispanic group (or groups) that you will focus on. A good way to understand the interaction between these variables is considering each as an element of a matrix, and the point of intersection of all these variables defines the part of the market you are trying to reach.

As mentioned before, this analysis could be executed down to an individual level, but for marketing purposes it is completely cost prohibitive and would deliver a dreadful ROI. The idea behind this explanation is that you need to perform your due diligence and understand where the majority of the people you are trying to reach land on this matrix, modifying your message according to this insight.

Originally Published on LatPro.com on January, 2008

How to Convert Latino Prospects into Customers and Maximize your Hispanic Marketing Dollars

by Juan Tornoe

A while back I was working with a fast-growing HVAC franchise as a marketing consultant. Having placed several highly successful media buys for them in major cities, I began working with their Omaha, Nebraska franchisee, a seasoned entrepreneur who was ready to take his business to the next level. During our discussions, he began telling me a very interesting story about his last media buy. After placing a strong radio buy with one of the local media groups, additional advertising on the local Spanish station (Regional Mexican) was thrown at no charge as an added value. Of course he was pleased by the nice gesture and accepted it without hesitation.

As soon as the campaign started, the phone began ringing off the hook. Great news, right?

WRONG! The company had to call their radio advertising representative and ask for the Spanish campaign to be stopped immediately. Why? Their new Spanish language radio spots were reaching a whole new audience. These potential customers were thrilled by the fact that the company was speaking to them in their native language, and the Hispanic target audience reacted immediately to the advertising message. So, what went wrong? Believe it or not, there was no one at the HVAC office who spoke Spanish! Not a single soul. All those new business opportunities went down the drain.

Another example I want to share with you is that of a well-known, big box electronics retailer who advertised through inserts in the leading Spanish Language newspaper in one of the Top 5 DMAs (Direct Marketing Areas) in the country. They had an impressive insert in Spanish, which I am sure they invested top dollars to produce and translate. They should have gotten positive results from their advertising efforts.

Unfortunately, decision-makers didn’t follow through with support and marketing materials at the individual store level. People walked into the store, Spanish flyer in hand, looking for signage and, more importantly, Spanish-speaking sales staff to help them find what they were looking for. What they experienced was quite the opposite: English-only signage and not a single staff member clearly indicating that he or she spoke Spanish. No effort was made to actually convert Hispanic visitors into customers at their retail locations.

The result: Disappointed people. Perhaps some did find and purchase items, but I assure you, not as many as expected. More importantly, what did they take away from their shopping experience? Were they happy? Based on their visit, would they return to buy from this store again? Did they recommend the store to their family and friends? Probably not.

If you want to capitalize on the lucrative and growing U.S. Hispanic market, you must have Spanish-speaking bilingual employees to follow through on your Hispanic marketing and advertising efforts.

The people behind your business are more important than advertising. Assuming that you have the right product or service and a sound business model, your advertising efforts will only accelerate what was going to happen anyway, be it good or bad. Your human assets will make the difference, so choose them wisely.

Originally Published on LatPro on December, 2007

The Guy

I’ve become a caricature of my former self...

No doom and gloom here, my friends and business partners at DimeCom surprised my with, you’ve guessed it, a caricature of myself! It cracked me up… These guys are good!!!

Find out what they can do for you and your business; if you are considering comics or animation you need  to talk to my buddies at DimeCom.

Hispanic Average Annual Expenditures

Last week I received a message from a major corporation serving the Latino community in the Food sector (I won’t name names) asking for some specific info they needed to put the icing on the cake for a presentation they were about to make to a MAJOR retailer (again, I’m not naming names).

Knowing where to find the info they needed, I went directly to the U.S. Department of Labor’s website and got the Average Annual Expenditures, according to all the Consumer Expenditure Surveys I could find where the segmentation showed exclusive data for Hispanics. I found data from 2003 through 2006 and shared it with them.

Then my OCD kicked in…

You can download the excel worksheet that came to be once my obsessive-compulsiveness was fully satisfied. I hope you find it useful.

There are so many interesting inferences that you can come up with from reviewing the data, not only as absolute numbers, but through the passage of time AND by viewing the Latino Community annual expenditures as a percentage of their after taxes income... Then you compare it with data available for Non-Hispanics and it gets even more interesting!!! Have I told you already that I am a research freak?

I’ve come to some pretty cool conclusions; I’d love it if you would download the worksheet and
share with us what data caught your attention. You can always comment on this post or, if you prefer, shoot me an email.

Enjoy!

“The word ‘census’ is not even a word in their language”… Sheesh

By Juan Tornoe

With much surprise I recently read an article addressing the Census 2010 and the fact that, “the event approaches amid increased fears, distrust and anxiety in many communities toward government.” It addresses the tough job ahead for those in charge of spreading the word amongst illegal aliens about the importance of their participation and that their confidentiality is protected by law. I am 200% on board with this initiative and truly hope that all people segments currently living in the United States are correctly represented in the Census. I certainly can’t wait to see the new Hispanic numbers.

That said, I could not (and still can’t) believe a statement quoted there, addressing the uphill battle faced in informing Latinos:

“But that may still be a hard sell to the Hispanic community. The word ‘census’ is not even a word in their language…”

As much as I am disgusted by ignorant phrases like this one, unfortunately I’ve become quite acquainted with them. The true shocker was the source on which I read it. It was not your extreme right-wing radio talk show, but The Final Call, a publication founded by the leadership from The Nation of Islam. The reporter supposedly quotes, although not by name, a participant of a meeting between Census officials and members of New America Media, “a nationwide association of over 700 ethnic media organizations representing the development of a more inclusive journalism.”

I know New America Media, I read New America Media, and I can’t put my arms around the fact that one of their members could have made such statement. Could’ve been a Census official? I really have no idea.

The fact is that it only takes a few keystrokes on Google, or picking up any English-Spanish Dictionary to find out that the statement is blatantly incorrect.

This is the uphill battle Hispanics of all walks of life face on a daily basis – ignorance, stereotypes, and narrow-mindedness coming from anywhere and everywhere.

I exhort you, together let’s eradicate these shortcomings affecting more than a few within our society … keep on reading and actively participating through your comments in this blog and it’s big brother, Hispanic Trending.

What makes a first class Hispanic Marketing Manager?

By Juan Tornoe

Let’s start by clearing the air on a touchy subject; you don’t need to be Hispanic to excel in marketing to Latinos (although I have to admit it can give you somewhat of a head start). Nonetheless, you do need to understand the diversity, culture, and values of the Hispanic community as well as the regional nuances of the Spanish language according to the community’s different subgroups, and let’s not forget about the ever present code-switching. There is no need for you to speak Spanish perfectly, just good enough to make yourself understood by Spanish speakers (More than “Dos cervezas por favor” and “Yo quiero Taco Bell”).

It’s an understatement that you need to have a solid understanding of marketing and advertising. Have practiced it them with increasing levels of responsibility hopefully on both sides of the fence: on the client side as well as with agency/media.   Without this you’ll face an uphill battle in delivering measurable results to your organization.

Having travel abroad, especially to Latin America, is definitely a plus, since it most certainly expands your horizons and gives you a whole new perspective as to where Latinos (or their forefathers) came from and the differences between them and people currently living in Latin American countries. Cancún does not count, sorry.

You will also need to understand you have to surround yourself with staff members that complement your skill set and you will be the point person in the relationship with your company’s Hispanic Ad agency or consultant and eventually will be a key decision maker on their evaluation and/or selection. You need to make sure you are dealing with experienced professionals and must be able to trust that they will be putting all their knowledge and experience at work with your best interest in mind. This will guaranty a long, profitable, rewarding relationship for all.

Now, there are certain things that do not qualify you for this job although, unfortunately, I’ve seen them first hand weigh more than they should. Please, don’t take the following lines the wrong way; “Al que le siente el guante, que se lo plante” (BTW, it would be good for you to understand the meaning of this refrain if you are in charge of marketing to Latinos).

Here is a list, in no particular order of the things that have qualified some to market to Latinos:
1.    Being born in Latin America (preferably Mexico);
2.    Being Hispanic (or Latino for those obsessed by the differences between these terms);
3.    Being married to a Latino;
4.    Speaking Spanish;
5.    Having a Hispanic-sounding Last Name (sometimes even better if hyphenated with an Anglo-Saxon one);
6.    Being a good friend of the corporation’s CEO or other decision makers way up the corporate ladder;
7.    Being the only Latino (or one of the few) working in a company that suddenly decides to actively reach out to Hispanics and getting the job because they chose the one Hispanic with the longest tenure in the company, independently if he/she knows anything about marketing or marketing to Hispanics;
8.    A combination of all or some of the above.

Within your company, independently of how you got there, you will be responsible for wisely investing an always-less-than-expected budget to reach out to the Latino community. You will be in charge of managing the relationship with an ad agency / consultant that needs to deliver the campaigns that will make your company’s cash register ring.

You need to partner with and rely on your agency /consultant to do what they are experts in. You need to listen and deeply analyze the input and insight they share with you vs. going on a “power trip” treating them like slaves, telling them what you want them to do, and not even considering what they bring to the table. Unfortunately, some agencies are so scared to lose your company as a client that they will actually disserve it to such point that they won’t bring up the mistakes you are making.

As I said before, it is unfortunate that such a small percentage of the total budget is allocated to advertise to the Latino community. This fact allows in many situations the misinterpretation of actual results in marketing to Hispanics. The overall results overshadow any big or small miss (or hit) generated by the Hispanic Advertising portion of the budget.  Therefore you, Mr. /Mrs. Latino Marketing Manager can in full confidence proclaim your single-handed triumph in getting Hispanics to buy whatever you are selling. When in fact Hispanics were buying it in spite of the way out of focus campaign you pushed down your agency’s throat, while they unwillingly thank you for it and give you fake accolades for your “intelligence”. Please pay attention to what I am saying, you won’t always be right.

So, even if you were hired for all the wrong reasons, at least be wise enough to conscientiously select the best agency for the job (because of how well they have helped other companies generated measurable results and how well they have been able to understand your business and industry, be it due to previous clients or throughout the pitch process) and let them do what they do best.

Reaching Hispanics Online

By Juan Tornoe

I am a big proponent of bilingual sites for U.S. websites. By now almost 15% of the Nation is comprised by Latinos and among them 47% is Spanish Dominant (Pew Hispanic Center, Latinos Online, March 14, 2007). Even thought the latter are not as “connected” as their English Dominant counterparts, they are certainly catching up thanks to cheap computers, cheap high-speed internet connections and to the iPhone!

I’ve always advised that you should give your site’s visitors the OPTION to get the information they need from you in the language they prefer. It does not have to immediately be a full-fledged version of your English site, but at least a work in progress (make sure you accentuate this on your site) that shows Hispanic visitors that you consider them an important part of your online customer base.

That said, there are the other 53% of Latinos of which 30% are bilingual and 23% are English Dominant. So roughly 10 million Latinos prefer to speak, read, and write in English; they are not proficient in Spanish. That’s the size of the population of a small country! Now, these folks are culturally Hispanic, but you just won’t be able to reach them with any kind of Spanish communication, they want, need, and prefer to access their information in English. And all sources confirm that these are the ones more likely to be online right now.

Even bilinguals to a certain extent, might prefer to access online information in English; be it because they’ve been conditioned by the bad Spanish language quality control on certain sites or because they were simply led by any means into the English site, felt comfortable there and did not feel the need to reach out for the information they were looking for in Spanish.

My advice to you is that you should begin to understand Latino culture and subtly begin to weave it into your website’s design and more importantly, content. Please note I am not talking about language here, I am talking about Culture; independently of the language spoken, there are scores of cultural nuances that remain with Latinos.

If you are able to include these seamlessly within your site in such a way that they speak, even whisper, almost on a subconscious level to Hispanics you will be connecting with that other 53% of their population that very likely are visiting your English site. You will be able to notice if you have implemented this successfully by the “ca-chings” of your cash register, since without alienating your general market customers, you will be connecting on a deeper level with English dominant Latinos, who without even knowing what hit them will be more willing to buy from you.

So what are those cultural cues you should be so aware of? That will be the subject of another post.

Note: Originally published on FutureNow Inc's GrokDotCom

Latino vs. Hispano in Google Search Results

By Juan Tornoe

Yesterday Google gave “your favorite Guatemalan” (and admitted OCD research freak) an early birthday present. They came up with the “Google Insights for Search”, which, paraphrasing Google itself:

“… analyzes a portion of worldwide Google web searches from all Google domains to compute how many searches have been done for the terms you've entered, relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time. Then it shows you a graph with the results, indicating interest over time, plotted on a scale from 0 to 100; the totals are indicated next to bars by the search terms. On the results page, you'll see a heat map graphically displaying the search volume index with regions, subregions, and cities.”

So I went in and compared the search results for Latino vs. Hispanic. As you can see in the image below Hispanic was “Número Uno” from 2004 thru 2005, from 2006 thru early 2007 the terms were almost head to head, and from late 2007 until now Latino has been the most searched term between them. The latter, very likely led by searches for the "Latino Vote" and similar phrases.

Go to Google Insights for Search and play with the results for yourself.

You will see that California is the state where the highest relative number for the search term “Latino”, while New Mexico is at the top of the list for “Hispanic”. The state information supports the general “rule of thumb” that says you are safe using Latino in the West Coast and Hispanic in the East Coast and Texas.

Interesting stuff…

Pollo Campero: A Top of the Line Franchise “Orgullosamente Guatemalteca”

By Juan Tornoe

While visiting a client in Houston a couple days ago, I had only one thing on my mind: “There’s Pollo Campero in town”.

Right after taking care of business, I headed straight to the promise land. Actually, I temporarily hijacked one of my client’s PC’s to find directions to the nearest Campero, ending up at the one on Bellaire Blvd., near a TACA office and an Adoc shoe store, as well as several other businesses that screamed Latin America… I was “home” and it felt right.

When I parked outside, I truly felt like a 5-year old kid just about to enter Disney World for the first time. I was in true amazement by watching how Pollo Campero has perfected their franchise.

You really have to come from one of the Latin American countries where Campero is a household name to fully appreciate it. I’m lucky to be from Guatemala, where the company started.

Even though I had been doing a good job at being a vegetarian for more than a couple of years, the “Tierno! Jugoso! y Crujiente!” (Tender! Juicy! Crunchy!) brought out my primal carnivore instincts… I just had to have it.

The restaurant’s infrastructure was as inviting as I remembered it… Could perfectly picture a birthday party going on at the children's area, with piñata and all.

After walking through the front door, I was greeted by a, “Buenas noches, le puedo tomar su orden?” by the cashier. Yes, they immediately address you in Spanish. Awesome.

I instantly called my wife and, as if just having won the lottery, said, “You have no idea where I am… at Pollo Campero and I’m bringing some home!” It must have been hysterical watching me be all exited about being in a fast food joint.

The menu blew my mind. Not only did it had everything that I longed for from the Guatemalan Pollo Camperos, it also included ALL the regional favorite side orders from El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Ecuador. They are so insightful as to offer different fried chicken combinations with or without dark meat; I’ve noticed that generally the white meat is more enticing for Americans, while the darker one is more appreciated by Hispanics.

The icing on the cake was the wristbands they where selling at the cash register, all read “Pollo Campero” on one side and a name of one of the countries where they have restaurants on the other. Took two from Guatemala back home to my kids.

Pollo Campero most certainly hits the bull’s eye while catering to the Hispanic Community; there’s a lot to learn from them.

Go, experience the restaurant, try the chicken, you’ll see what I mean… Buen provecho.

Note: Originally Published in November 2005 on Hispanic Trending