Brands Should Adapt Their Marketing to the Growing Hispanic Population — Here’s How

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For many companies, the most recent census results can provide insight into their audiences and how the country’s population is changing: For example, the largest growing population in the United States are Hispanics, who represented nearly half of the nation's total decade gain.

The U.S. population is only growing more racially and ethnically diverse, and a changing demographic means that brands need to evolve with it.

"The fact that this is a multicultural country, and becoming more multicultural, is defining marketing," said Dr. Jake Beniflah, executive director of the Center for Multicultural Science, during a recent Suzy webinar, The Changing American Consumer: The 2020 Census and the Impact of the Hispanic Population Boom.

During the webinar, industry leaders spoke about what the broader census results mean for market researchers. Here are the four key takeaways about the changing American consumer.

Knowing your audience changes the marketing strategies

If your consumer base is changing, you need to change with it. As the population becomes more diverse, brands may want to shift their focus to understanding new audiences.

Kim Jones, Senior Category Development Manager at Post Consumer Brands, shared her experience of marketing towards the Hispanic population during our webinar. She related that it's critical to do research into how Hispanic people are interacting with the world around them.

"You need to have a strategic plan to target,” she said. “Make sure you really think through things like, "How are they shopping? How are they consuming media? How are you going to get your message to them?"

There's more to your marketing strategy than simply knowing your audience and their behaviors though. It also needs to include a deep understanding of a multicultural lifestyle.

"Companies need to listen. They need to understand that the majority is not the message that you necessarily need to go after," said Katherine Williams Brinkman, a manager in LinkedIn Sales Solution. "It's not a one-size-fits-all."

Language may not be as significant as you think

While the Hispanic population is growing, it doesn't necessarily mean that a marketing plan needs to be defined by the Spanish language. The main factors driving growth within the Hispanic community are age — most consumers are under the age of 18 — and bilingualism. "Keep in mind that many U.S. Hispanics are really immersed in both American and Latino culture," said Jones.

Dr. Beniflah agreed, noting that there isn't a need to address a language barrier with younger bicultural people.

"I used to work as a research director and we were targeting the bicultural and bilingual individual,” he said. “We didn't develop content in language. There wasn't a brief that said, 'English'."

However, that doesn't mean market researchers should discredit the Spanish language entirely. Jones shared that translating national sales materials from English to Spanish made it "as easy as possible for the consumer to understand the message" for people whose primary first language is Spanish.

Diverse teams are critical to reaching multicultural audiences

Companies that are reflective of the population are going to be key to staying competitive today, especially as we look at how the demographics of this country are changing.

"Companies have to have a plan," said Brinkman. "Before you develop that plan, what we've seen with companies who are really doing this well is they listen and they're listening to the entire population."

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts within a company's organization will provide critical understanding to a growing multicultural market.

"If you don't have a company that understands and experiences the values of your consumers, it's going to be hard to successfully execute [your messaging] and be relevant to them," said William Cimarosa, SVP of Market Research at Suzy. "Your company will only be stronger when you can diversify your experiences because only then can you be relevant."

Be ready to adapt to a changing world

As new data emerges, a well-diversified company can be ready to handle the challenges of adapting to a changing U.S. consumer. This can be an exciting opportunity for companies to expand to a new market.

"You're leading the digital transformation, so you have to think about that and how you're going to market to them," said Jones.

Objective and reliable data is an important part of the process of discovering and reaching new audiences.

"Everything you do should be grounded on the consumer and that consumer is based on the research that you've conducted," said Beniflah.

For more information on the growing Hispanic population and the opportunities that lie within it, watch the entire webinar at Suzy.com.