How to Transcreate Your Marketing Strategy

I’m not exactly a numbers kind of guy, but I’m fascinated with this one…. one point five trillion. This very substantial number is incredibly important to transcreation agencies like CultureSpan Marketing.

So why am I so into this number? It is, according a report provided by AhAA: The voice of Hispanic Marketing, the estimated collective spending power of Hispanic consumers by 2015. If you’re even remotely connected to Hispanic advertising and marketing you need to check out AhAA. The data compiled on their website is extensive and fully supports the case for pursuing the growing Hispanic opportunity.

At CultureSpan, we’ve been watching this trend for years and keep it top of mind 24-7; especially now as big advertisers are starting to cast their nets into the Hispanic market. You can insert everything from Luna Bars to pick-up trucks into this equation and it still amounts to big business.

However, while many companies have pounced on this data and are making the most of the opportunity, it still seems that some are reluctant to take that big first step. For those of you who can see the demo shift happening in your own backyard, but aren’t getting the corporate buy in just yet, take note. Here are some ideas on how to begin evaluating your Hispanic opportunity and present it to the people signing off on the marketing budget. Mind you, transcreating your marketing strategy is a multi-tiered process, so the ideas in this article are just the tip of the iceberg.

Something important to keep in mind is that you should begin with a practical and incremental approach. Don’t feel like you need to solve this riddle with one grand solution. Some of the most successful businesses I’ve had the privilege of working for started with a simple demographic profile. They identified the significance of the Hispanic opportunity, took a bold leap to transcreate their campaigns and made a firm commitment to allocate a substantial (but not necessarily proportional) percentage of their annual budget to reaching Hispanics. They also made a commitment to cultivating a long-term relationship. This cannot be a one-time date to the Quinceañera. So, where to begin?

Step One: Gather the demographic data on your community(ies) and determine “who your Hispanic consumer is” and how many are living within your market(s). Focus on country of origin for starters. Is your target of Mexican ancestry, Cuban or Central American? They (and many other sub-segments of Hispanics) share a common language but the cultures are vastly different.  Figuring this out can be an area of research unto itself and will be addressed later in this series of articles.

Step Two: Determine their levels of acculturation. Are they first, second or third generation Hispanics? This may not be easy but it is incredibly important to positioning your brand in the right way to the right sub-group of Hispanic consumers. This will inform everything – from messaging to media buy. 

Step Three: Engage in some self-evaluation and determine if your product (or service) will be well received by your new target consumer. How does the Hispanic market currently interact with your brand, if at all? Is your offer something that would be compelling to a Hispanic consumer? Is it something that they want and is there a perceived need? This will take a bit of speculation but the right thing to do is engage a transcreation specialist to conduct the market research for you… more on that later. If after this initial evaluation you come up with more questions than answers, then good. You’re on the right track.

These first three steps are really just the beginning. There are many more factors that will come into play, more than we should try to cram into this one article. So, let’s break this out into a number of articles. In Part II we’ll dig deeper and get into more details about media considerations, consumer behavior research and effective transcreation.

There’s more to come in Part III of this series when we’ll get down to pulling all of this together into one document that you can use to analyze the Hispanic opportunity for your company and transcreate your marketing strategy. Stay tuned.

There’s huge business potential in reaching the Hispanic market. Want to learn more about how CultureSpan can help you tap in?  Call me at (915) 581-7900 or shoot an email at gabe.acuna@culturespanmarketing.com.