The Hispanic Millennial Mistake!
Brand managers are becoming more and more aware of the importance of Hispanic millennials:
• Hispanic Millennials currently represent 18-21% of total millennials in the U.S.
• Purchase more consumer products than their non-Hispanic counterparts
Obviously, to brand managers and all marketers they are very important and there should be a strategy to engage them. Agreed!
So what is the Hispanic Millennial Mistake? The mistake is when a brand manager or marketer decides to focus all of its marketing dollars on a bicultural, bilingual Hispanic millennial and thus, shifts all of the Hispanic marketing dollars away from its core Hispanics base; that’s if a brand has one. Many brands are barely beginning to market their products to Hispanics and just want to focus on the Hispanic millennial.
The mistake is not in marketing to the Hispanic millennial which is a very important strategy. It is when a brand shifts all of its marketing dollars from advertising to the Spanish-dominant 30+ Hispanic and focuses on the Hispanic millennial only instead based on these thoughts:
• “Because that’s where everything is headed”
• “Because we already own or have a great relationship with the core Spanish-dominant 30+ Hispanic”
Yes, yes, yes go after the Hispanic millennials! But don’t ignore the base you already have developed a
relationship with. Remember, if you don’t nurture a personal relationship you risk losing it. We have a former client, who did this a few years ago, contrary to our recommendations. The first year it shifted some marketing dollars away from their key base and the second year increased the shift of marketing dollars. Results: they lost major sales from their core Spanish-dominant base. The increase in Hispanic millennials did not make up for what they lost, thus, translating into two bad years of sales. They corrected this issue the third year and went after both.
We have another client that did the same with not only Hispanics but the general market as well. Same results, but the good thing is that they course corrected even quicker and took a more balanced strategy directed at both age groups.
Now how do you reach the large Spanish-dominant Hispanic? Yes, digital and social marketing are important and can be effective, but the best ways to reach the Spanish-dominant Hispanic are:
• Spanish TV- TV viewership still works extremely well in getting your brand message across. Spanish
TV serves as a great REACH vehicle
• Spanish Radio- listenership is still high and also extremely effective. Radio is great for frequency, great for brand messaging, and easy to increase by market/city.
• Hispanic experiential marketing- this is a great vehicle to, touch, sample, communicate, engage, your
Spanish-dominant Hispanic and even begin a valuable brand/customer relationship
• Hispanic retail activation- in-store sampling product education, activity engagement! Your Brand
marketing via TV, radio, direct mail, digital are great, but many times you need a “purchase trigger”, a
tactic that will create a purchase, a sale, a trial.
• Launch a Hispanic/Latino social media Spanish platform and campaigns.
So, don’t make the Hispanic Millennial Mistake, do not shift a majority of marketing dollars to Hispanic millennials at the detriment of your relationship with your Spanish-dominant Hispanic base.