Target Markets-The Hispanic Market

Accurate identification and analysis of a target market is essential in creating an effective marketing strategy. Do you know the target markets your company serves?  Is the U.S. Hispanic market on your company's radar screen?   

The U.S. Hispanic population is a market that companies are targeting due to their buying power.  According to Jeff Humphreys, Director of the Selig Center for Economic Growth at the University of Georgia, " Hispanics purchasing power is estimated to be $863.1 billion in 2007. By 2011, it will be almost $1.2 trillion".  Could the Hispanic market be lucrative for your company? Is this growing consumer segment part of your company's target market?   

A good way to start learning about the Hispanic market is to look at available secondary research and information.
I found several useful resources to learn about the Hispanic market.
Hispanic Trending a Latino Marketing and Advertising blog is written by Juan Guillermo Tornoe.  In my opinion, it is a great place to start understanding this growing segment.  This blog features news and commentaries related to Hispanic Marketing and Advertising.  Also, Juan includes a variety of of links to other informative Hispanic sites.  Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations web site and podcast offers a variety of topics written by many authors.  Specifically, I found an article, Still Not Targeting the Hispanic Market? , that highlights key items to consider when targeting the Hispanic market.

Dr. Felipe Korzenny founded the The Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication at Florida State University in 2004.  The web site contains several research studies on specific topics.   I found an interesting paper on the  web site The Multicultural Marketing Equation : Media, Attitudes, Brand,and Spending. This paper reports findings on the degree to which multicultural marketing efforts can aim at cultural commonalities or whether these efforts must be culturally targeted.

The Pew Hispanic Center is a non-partisan research organization.  Its mission is to improve understanding of the U.S. Hispanic population and to chronicle Latinos' growing impact on the entire nation.  The Center focuses on 8 key subject areas;demography, economics, education, identity,immigration, labor, politics, and remittances.  Findings on key subject areas are found on the web site in reports and fact sheets.  One of their recent reports, Latinos Online, provides findings of a telephone survey, conducted in Spanish and English to Hispanic adults over 18, asking about online usage.

These resources will be useful in understanding the Hispanic market.  Most likely, the next step is to conduct primary research to provide more data and information relevant to your product or service.  Once all research is done, you can begin developing a business case that details the potential of the Hispanic market.  What resources have you found useful in learning about the Hispanic market?