Hispanic Shopper Marketing Do’s and Don’ts – List of recommendations

BrandWeek.com has put together a shopping list for reaching out to US Hispanic customers. Initially dealing with reatil and offline hispanic marketing, I find some of the recommendations valuable for online marketing towards Hispanics and other multicultural groups.

DO

1. Consider the context. Hispanics have been particularly hard-hit by today’s economic crisis so a message designed for the ‘good times’ will feel insincere.

2. Focus on the idea. Let your inspiration lead the media. Design around one great concept that extends equally and powerfully to several mediums instead of trying to match each medium with a laundry list of incomplete thoughts.

3. Engage the consumer to ‘feel’ the brand. Latinos gravitate to brands they sense feel right. For instance, Tecate leverages boxing as an effective way
to reach Hispanics and as a powerful metaphor for boldness, masculinity and character. Consumers, in turn, make the connection: bold brand = bold product = bold consumer.

DON’T

1. Rely on a Power Point to know your customer. Data provides invaluable context, trends, and insights. But to get inside the head of “Juan Q. Consumer” spend time outside the office, meeting and talking with brand users. Data is not an effective way to read emotions. Tecate’s platform of character’ came from consumer interaction not from data.

2. Underestimate consumers. With the growth of user-generated content, consumers are more involved than ever in shaping a brand — almost like co-brand managers. In this sense, the right consumer-designed message can boost a brand just as the wrong one can wreak havoc. One consumer designed image that was a take on the Tecate campaign became a minor hit on Facebook.

3. Get mired in cultural relevancy. [...] Don’t try making your brand look ‘Hispanic,’ instead focus on delivering a relevant message. At[...], we’ve abandoned all obvious references to origin because it doesn’t serve the message we’re trying to convey.

4. Be a brand for all people. [....] isn’t an Hispanic brand marketing to multicultural groups, our target is Mexican men and we speak from their perspective. Even people who don’t understand the campaign value its genuineness. Often, a pan-Hispanic message will lack bite and authenticity. More people may ‘get it,’ but fewer will care.

Source: http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/hispanic-marketing/e3id5be315f15f95c42891daac23b957f09

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