This post is also available in: Spanish
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Joining in the ever increasing debate about which language to use in reaching out to the Hispanic community, is a recent article from Captura Group’s Lee Vann, which I think is worth sharing: Five Reasons for Using Spanish to REach Hispanics Online. While of course marketers should be reaching out in English and Spanish, I think that he very accurately summarizes some key reasons why Spanish is the key language in reaching the Hispanic market.
Here are the Five reasons according to Lee:
1. Strong Market Dynamics – While the US online market has reached maturity, Spanish preferring and bilingual Hispanics are driving the growth in the US Hispanic online market. New Internet users represent an attractive target for marketers looking to make a good first impression. Take a look:
Internet Growth by Segment April 2010 - April 2011
2. Less Competition – Today there are relatively few marketers proactively targeting the 14.6 million online Hispanics that prefer Spanish or are bilingual. Less competition means not only lower advertising costs on platforms such as Google and Facebook, but also higher engagement with a consumer that is not as bombarded by online advertising.
3. Favorable Demographics – When compared to English preferring online Hispanics, Hispanics who prefer Spanish or are bilingual fall into a sweet spot for marketers looking to reach consumers who are young, make more money and have a family:
Demographics of Online Hispanic by Language Preference-April 2011
4. Low Expectations – In a previous post from Lee, he theorized that most Hispanics expect Spanish-language online experiences to be poor. Marketers who provide high quality Spanish language online experiences will exceed expectations and make a favorable impression on this segment.
5. Using English is More Challenging- Targeting English preferring Hispanics online is more difficult and expensive than targeting Spanish speaking online Hispanics. In addition, marketers already investing in general market online campaigns are likely reaching English preferring online Hispanics.
At the end of the day, marketers looking to reach all online Hispanics need to use both English and Spanish. But if you had to choose between the two, I would start with Spanish. It just makes sense.
Other related articles from Reach Hispanic:
Most U.S. Hispanics born in the U.S: What it means for marketers
