• DM News, Friday, August 11, 2006 12:01 PM

Hispanics constitute 10 percent of the households in the United States, but marketers who want to effectively reach these consumers need to understand that it's not a homogeneous market. The differences among households are sometimes subtle and sometimes profound. Nielsen Media Research estimates that the buying power of Hispanics will exceed $1 trillion by 2008--a 55 percent increase over 2003 levels. As a group, Hispanics are more likely to focus on family and home, hold traditional values, and be media-friendly. The vast majority of consumer behaviors are determined by current needs and wants, however--not by historical cultural ties. Marketers would do better to segment the Hispanic community by the household-specific economic and familial circumstances that drive consumer behavior, rather than by cultural heritage. One of the biggest mistakes marketers make is to simply translate existing marketing messages into Spanish.

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