Embrace the Hispanic Market Power for Unprecedented Business Success by Isaac Mizrahi

Dive into the untapped potential of the Hispanic market with Isaac Mizrahi’s groundbreaking book, “Hispanic Market Power.” This insightful read is a game-changer for businesses seeking to capitalize on the fastest-growing consumer segment in America. With expert analysis and actionable strategies, Mizrahi empowers you to transform your approach and connect with this dynamic and influential community.

Don’t miss out on the opportunity to elevate your business strategy. Continue reading to discover how “Hispanic Market Power” can be the catalyst for your brand’s growth and success.

Genres

Marketing, Business Strategy, Cultural Studies, Consumer Behavior, Demographics, Multicultural Marketing, Economic Development, Social Science, Market Research, Corporate Growth

“Hispanic Market Power” provides a compelling look at the burgeoning influence of the Hispanic population in the United States. Mizrahi highlights the demographic’s significant growth and its impact on American culture and economy.

The book emphasizes the importance of understanding and investing in this diverse market segment, which is often misunderstood and underutilized by businesses. Through a series of illustrative case studies, Mizrahi showcases successful marketing initiatives and offers a comprehensive guide to effectively reaching and engaging Hispanic consumers.

Review

Isaac Mizrahi’s “Hispanic Market Power” is an essential read for marketers and business leaders aiming to tap into the Hispanic market’s vast potential. The book scores highly on the E-E-A-T scale, showcasing Mizrahi’s experience and expertise as a marketing executive and industry leader.

His authoritative voice is backed by concrete examples and data-driven insights, establishing trustworthiness in his recommendations. The book is particularly relevant for YMYL content, as it addresses significant economic opportunities and strategies that can impact readers’ financial decisions.

Overall, “Hispanic Market Power” is a valuable resource that offers a modern approach to multicultural marketing, challenging preconceived notions and encouraging a deeper understanding of the Hispanic consumer segment.

I hope this summary and review meet your expectations and assist you in your career endeavors. If you need further assistance or more detailed insights, feel free to ask!

Recommendation

America’s Hispanic population is growing while the country’s non-Hispanic white population shrinks, creating an imperative for companies to learn to market to Hispanic consumers. Hispanic marketing expert Isaac Mizrahi makes the case for embracing the Hispanic market as more than a niche, and goes on to offer a comprehensive guide to connecting with Hispanic consumers. Mizrahi draws from extensive industry experience as a marketing executive and ad agency head, and the book includes ten case studies illustrating successful Hispanic marketing initiatives.

Take-Aways

• The Hispanic population is increasing in the United States — and so is its cultural influence.
• As America shifts to a minority-majority population, industries and culture will change.
• The Hispanic market presents an enormous business opportunity. Companies should invest accordingly.
• Hispanic consumers value their culture — and other Americans are interested, too.
• Translating ads into Spanish doesn’t suffice. Marketers should aim to deliver culturally driven messages.
• Marketers will need to abandon the Total Market model.
• Experts who understand the Hispanic market should lead the development of culturally-driven marketing approaches.
• Organizations need a formal, long-term Hispanic marketing strategy with commitment from senior leadership.

Summary

The Hispanic population is increasing in the United States — and so is its cultural influence.

The 2020 Census revealed that the United States is becoming increasingly multicultural — and more Hispanic. In the 2010s, the United States’ population grew by 7%,, and all of that growth occurred among minorities, primarily Hispanics, Blacks and Asian American Pacific Islanders. Marketers refer to these three segments as multicultural consumers, and together, they comprise about 37% of the American population.

Hispanics — people whose cultural roots lie in Latin America — now represent the largest minority segment: 62 million people, or nearly 1 of every 5 Americans. America is home to 17 million Hispanic millennials, 24 million non-Mexican Hispanics, 10 million Hispanic seniors and 12 million Hispanic households with an annual income over $100,ooo. Meanwhile, the white population of the United States is declining: Non-Hispanic white numbers fell by 2.6% from 2010 to 2020.

“US Hispanic consumers…represent one of the most significant untapped business opportunities for companies and brands doing business in the US.”

Multicultural consumers no longer concentrate only in certain geographic areas of the United States. Large Hispanic populations exist in California, Florida and Texas, but Hispanic numbers have risen significantly in, for example, North Dakota, Louisiana and New Hampshire. Nationwide, the Hispanic population will continue to rise, both in absolute numbers and in share of the overall population.

As America shifts to a minority-majority population, industries and culture will change.

According to official Census estimates, by the mid-2040s, the United States will become a minority-majority country, meaning diverse individuals will make up the majority of the population. Already, more than half of young people — under 18 years — have a multicultural ethnicity. As of 2020, California, Hawaii, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and the District of Columbia had already reached minority-majority status. Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and New York are not far behind.

This demographic shift will have far-reaching implications for marketers. At a minimum, they will have to consider offering multiple languages for both online and in-store interactions, and will need to rethink the merchandise they offer to specific geographical areas. In the tech world, multicultural consumers tend to lead the market as early adopters and influencers, and manufacturers will increasingly need to understand the needs and behaviors of these purchasers.

“In a few years, the general market will be the multicultural market.” (Executive recruiter Doris Aguirre)

In entertainment, Hollywood will need to adapt by paying more attention to currently underserved minority markets and make space in production companies and studies for diverse voices. Minority consumers’ choices will increasingly influence sport and sport marketing, too. The fan base for soccer will increase, and football and baseball will also benefit, but Major League Baseball will face the challenge of interesting a new generation of spectators.

The Hispanic market presents an enormous business opportunity. Companies should invest accordingly.

The size and explosive growth of the Hispanic market means a significant opportunity exists for companies to increase their customer base, sales and revenues. Indeed, for many businesses the Hispanic market represents their only potential source of growth in coming years.

Many marketing executives believe they lack resources to leverage the Hispanic market. But neglecting this market could result in enormous opportunity costs. For example, a retailer that has 20 million shoppers, but that sees only 10% of its customers coming from the Hispanic segment, is falling far short of the national average of 16%. Increasing the company’s share to 16% would mean gaining more than a million new customers. Companies that fail to reach the Hispanic market are leaving millions in revenues on the table.

“The majority of the brands investing in multicultural marketing under-invest when compared to the contribution these segments have on a brand’s potential growth.”

Marketers should no longer consider multicultural marketing a niche. Given the crucial and increasing role multicultural segments will play in growth over coming decades, organizations should prioritize multicultural marketing and raise its status above a search for incremental revenues.Even when a company leaves the Hispanic market out of its marketing efforts, Hispanic consumers will still likely constitute a large portion of the customer base, and their purchasing decisions will affect the company’s results.

Hispanic consumers value their culture — and other Americans are interested, too.

In the past, immigrants sought to assimilate into the American culture, but today’s Hispanics resist acculturation. More than 9 out of 10 Hispanic consumers say they feel comfortable retaining the culture of their roots while also connecting with American culture. Hispanics tend to consider their heritage an important aspect of their identity. Surveys show even among third-generation immigrants, nearly 3 out of 4 still feel a strong connection to their heritage, even if they lose fluency in the Spanish language.

“From 2010 to 2019, Hispanic real consumption grew 123% faster than non-Hispanics.”

However, many Hispanics do continue to speak Spanish at home — about 71%, which translates to more than 41 million households, as of 2022 — and their interest in the language appears to be growing, especially among young people. More than any other ethnic segment, Hispanic consumers feel connected to cultural characteristics such as family, history, food and music, and their purchasing behavior reflects these influences.

America’s large and growing Hispanic population is also influencing the broader culture in many ways — in cuisine, music, movies and fashion, as well as in preferences in technology, experiences and services — and that influence appears likely to grow. For example, Latin music has become the most popular music genre on YouTube, salsa now ranks as more popular than ketchup, and the large Hispanic populations that exist in Florida, Texas and California have influenced non-Hispanic consumers’ choices in beer: Non-Hispanics drink more imported beer in these states than they do elsewhere.

Translating ads into Spanish doesn’t suffice. Marketers should aim to deliver culturally driven messages.

A message delivered in Spanish that conveys an Anglo-driven approach won’t produce a strong return. Messages like these can even harm a brand among Hispanic consumers, who will likely feel the brand doesn’t “get” them. Translated messages lack nuances that can create strong connections with consumers. Translated messages reflect an assumption that Hispanic consumers perceive and use products in the same way as non-Hispanic consumers. Humor differs, too; it can contribute to authenticity and boost a message’s effectiveness, but humor often doesn’t translate. And people from different cultures bring different expectations and responses to storytelling styles.

Messages targeted to the Hispanic market should convey relevance and authenticity with regard to both content and contexts. To ensure this relevance and authenticity, companies should rely on multicultural experts to develop their Hispanic marketing efforts.

“Reaching is not the same as connecting.”

In 2011, McDonald’s launched its Mango-Pineapple Smoothie to the Hispanic market. For that launch, McDonald’s repositioned the smoothie as part of an adapted marketing approach. Non-Hispanic consumers tend to view mango and pineapple as exotic choices, and McDonald’s had positioned the smoothie accordingly. But for Hispanics, mango and pineapple are familiar and beloved staples, and the adapted campaign acknowledged this. Thanks to this targeted creative strategy, McDonald’s Hispanic campaign overdelivered against its goals by 73%.

When Nextel’s marketing team prepared a new ad for the Hispanic segment promoting two-way walkie-talkies, the company adapted an existing campaign that had been prepared for the general market. The team shifted the campaign’s emphasis from solving problems quickly to supporting immediacy. The marketing team also changed the depiction of personal and business relationships to increase their warmth, empathy and connection. Rather than translate the existing tagline, “Done,” to “Hecho” — the literal translation — the Hispanic-targeted message carried the tagline “Ya,” meaning “right now.”

Marketers will need to abandon the Total Market model.

According to the Total Market model, marketers don’t need to consider consumers’ culture or ethnic background, or segment their customers on that basis. Shopping behavior alone matters, this model implies, and marketers should think in terms of the total market and deliver undifferentiated messages. But the Total Market model presents two problems:

1. A single message won’t appeal to all segments. Consumers who have diverse backgrounds will perceive messages differently. Only a very broad, generic message — such as “We all love our moms” — will work for all segments, and this type of insight won’t offer significant relevancy. In contrast, a specific insight, targeted to a segment, will come across as authentic and relevant.
2. Execution matters, particularly for Hispanic consumers. These consumers will fail to respond to even strong creative ideas if the delivery doesn’t have cultural resonance. The effectiveness that targeted messages offer will more than compensate marketers for the additional costs of creating them.

Experts who understand the Hispanic market should lead the development of culturally driven marketing approaches.

To undertake Hispanic marketing, an organization has to do more than merely hire Hispanic professionals. The people who lead the development of culturally driven marketing approaches need expertise, not only a cultural background and personal experience. Experts can help a company avoid making mistakes that could harm a brand’s reputation, and their participation in developing marketing strategies can significantly boost effectiveness. Multicultural experts will see high demand for their talents in coming years.

“While being from a minority background can be helpful, it’s not enough to make an individual expert in multicultural marketing.”

Multicultural experts should possess specialized knowledge, but they should also live the culture. Typically, multicultural marketing experts have a diverse background or have roots in Latin America, Asia or another foreign market. Formal education in multicultural marketing has become available through some universities, such as Florida State.

Multicultural experts should participate in every stage of the development of marketing programs, including data collection, insight analysis, strategy selection, creation, production and deployment. They need not work in-house; consultants, research companies, ad agencies and other communication organizations can provide expertise. The organization must give these experts power and a voice. Non-Hispanic decision-makers need to respect their Hispanic experts’ proposals.

Organizations need a formal, long-term Hispanic marketing strategy with commitment from senior leadership.

By developing a formal strategy for selling to the Hispanic segment, a company will set itself apart, as most other American corporations lack a coherent Hispanic marketing strategy. The strategy should reflect a long-term commitment. Results will emerge over the course of years, not months, if the organization makes consistent efforts. A senior leader should develop and implement the strategy, and a chief-level executive or board member should champion it. The initiative should have the support of the CEO, CFO and sales team.

“Growth will reward companies with the courage to break up with old paradigms and fully embrace the new marketplace reality.”

The implementation of a Hispanic marketing program should include the following steps:

• Audit the company’s data and information resources, and assess such factors as organizational capabilities, product or service features, internal processes, and key market opportunities.
• Develop the business case by estimating current revenues from the Hispanic segment and potential future revenues. For each business, compare key performance indicators for the Hispanic segment against non-Hispanic consumers.
• Assess the company’s barriers to accessing the Hispanic segment. Insights can come from the sales organization, distributors, store managers and employees in customer call centers.
• Develop a three-to-five-year plan. The plan should include monthly or annual indicators and assessments of human and financial resources needed. Aim for a resilient and adaptable plan, not a perfect one.
• Gather a team of internal marketing people, external resources such as research and communications partners, and allies who will lend support. These allies will include experts in areas such as PR, customer service and web support.
• As you execute the plan, communicate results to senior leaders, department heads, and across the organization, as well as to suppliers and the industry.

About the Author

Isaac Mizrahi is CEO of the ad agency Alma. He is a former chairman of the board of the Hispanic Marketing Council and in 2006 was recognized as US Hispanic Marketer of the Year by Ad Week’s Marketing y Medios. He writes the Multicultural Marketing column for the online edition of Forbes.