Reaching Hispanic consumers online, knowledgeably

By 2050, the Hispanic population in the U.S. will grow by 188 percent, according to the Census Bureau. That’s a total of 102.6 million people, or 24.4 percent of the projected 2050 population. Clearly, that’s a big piece of the American consumer pie, and an intriguing prospective customer base for many businesses. But the Hispanic consumer is not a completely unified being. There are first-generation families, and third-generation families. There are consumers from Mexico, Central America, and South America. A blanket approach to reaching out to this group of people as though they were all the same is probably a less than ideal strategy. So how can your business reach this growing group of consumers knowledgeably?

Well, we’ve got some ideas. Follow along as we look at where Hispanic-origin consumers are located in the U.S., what they spend their money on, and how to best reach out to them via the Internet.

Researching Hispanic Consumers by Location

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A good place to start in looking at characteristics of people in a particular place is the Census Bureau. In addition to the American FactFinder, where you can search by zip code to find the number and percent of population by Hispanic origin, the Hispanic Population page is one to bookmark. It provides population growth statistics and projections at both a national and local level.

The 2008 Statistical Abstract provides location-specific population projections by numerous characteristics, including Hispanic/Latino origin. It also includes statistics on native and foreign-born populations in particular places.

For discussion on a broader scale, see this 2002 publication: Hispanic Population in the United States. In addition to providing geographical dispersion data, it looks at country of origin for the U.S. Hispanic population.

A publication from the USDA Economic Research Service, called New Patterns of Hispanic Settlement in Rural America, looks at Hispanic populations in rural settings, and a report from the Brookings Institute, called Latino Growth in Metropolitan America, looks at urban living.


Hispanic Consumer Spending

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Knowing where your target consumers are is one piece of the puzzle; knowing how they spend their money is another. This sort of data can help confirm or deny the viability of a marketing plan in general, and can also inform specific marketing directions.
 
For a broad overview, an Arbitron report titled Power of Hispanic Consumers, is a good introduction. In addition to demographics and broad population statistics, this report provides a fairly detailed consumer behavior profile - including expenditures in numerous categories.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics offers access to consumer expenditure data (published in 2003) for Hispanics, segmented by geographic origin. Supplement this slightly older data with this 2006 Consumer Expenditure Survey data by broad Hispanic origin.

This Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies presentation, titled An Overview of Current Market Trends and AHAA Data, provides demographic and psychographic information, along with consumer spending preferences and habits among younger adult Hispanic consumers. 


Reaching out to Hispanic Consumers Online

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There are numerous reports available providing guidance in marketing or advertising to Hispanics online. We’ll look at some examples, but you may also be interested in knowing how Hispanics use technology in the first place.

The excellent Online Technology Ownership report from the FSU Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication provides detailed statistics on technology ownership within the Hispanic community.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project is a go-to source for technology statistics of any kind, and profiles Latinos Online.


Some explicit guidance for reaching out to Hispanic consumers online:

The Right Spend report, from the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies, can help you figure out the products and services most likely to resonate with Hispanic consumers and provides benchmarks for how much to spend on advertising those products or services.

The Right Spend II provides product category highlights and further advertising spending suggestions.

A brief from Jupiter Research provides statistics and guidance in its Marketing to U.S. Hispanic Consumers Online. Use this brief to compare Hispanic and non-Hispanic Internet users, and research specific online activities.

And the Internet Advertising Bureau chips in with the 33-page publication Reach U.S. Hispanics Through Online Advertising.


Wrapping Up and General Resources

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Most of the links provided here come from a Hill Library research site called HispanSource. HispanSource brings the best free online Hispanic consumer research from across the Web together into one place. The site is free, but registration is required. We’re at the beginning stages of some updates to this site, so if you don’t check it out now, look for news about it from us in the months to come.

Also, I could hardly show my mug in the research community if I put out a guide to Hispanic consumer research without mentioning the Pew Hispanic Center. This site is arguably the most complete source for painting a statistical portrait of the Hispanic citizen. Start your research here. It may be all you need.

But if you do need more than can be found using the information profiled above, get in touch with us. Leave a comment on this post, send us an email (info at jjhill.org), or give us a call (877-700-4455). We’re always happy to help folks track down tough business research. Or easy business research. Whichever you need.