Latino ad agencies: understanding the needs of Hispanic users

by Sin categorizar

Did you know that for 41.7% of the 57 Million Hispanics living in the United States, Spanish is their native tongue? This means that despite being born in the USA, Spanish was the first language they learned.

As Euronews confirms, Latino presence is so strong in the US, that there are increasing calls for politicians to normalize the use of the Spanish language, to attract the attention and vote of this community.

Such numbers are reflected in tremendous economic power. According to estimations, published by the San Diego Union Tribune, if Latinos were their own country they would be the eighth most powerful economy in the world.

The close relationship between Latin America and the United States is evident even in the colloquial language of Latinos, which shows the social, political, cultural and economic bond between their peoples. These give birth to the Hispanic identity.

Spanish and English: bringing the US and Latin America closer

The bond between these cultures is ancient, but alive and evolving. Latin American countries use anglicisms daily. There are many words that come from English and have been hispanicized. For example, it is very common to say “OK” instead of “está bien”, as well as “dame chance” instead of “dame una oportunidad” (give me a chance). And what about the colloquial way of expressing “voy a trabajar” (I’m going to work)? The most common expression is “voy a chambear”.

The geographical region where this language mutation takes place explains the close relationship between the Hispanic and the American cultures. A bit of history of “chambear” gives perspective:

The origin of this anglicism dates back to 1940. During the Second World War the United States needed extra labor, and agreed to provide temporary work permits to Mexican laborers. These temporary workers were called “braceros”. Once their contract was over, they needed to visit a Chamber of Commerce to renew it and continue to work in the US.

These workers, who didn’t have any knowledge of English, used to say that they were going to the “chambers”. And as time went by this word mutated until it became “chamba”. The transcendence of this term is very broad, since it has been used in Honduras, Costa Rica, Peru, Guatemala and Mexico.

The verb “chambear” was accepted by the Real Academia Española (RAE) in 2004. RAE (Royal Spanish Academy) is the highest authority of the Spanish language, and it is based in Spain.

This incredible phenomenon provides insight into the strong cultural and economic ties between the USA and the Latin American community.

The importance of Latino presence in the United States

The connection between Spanish-speaking countries and the United States has continued to grow at a consistently high rate. So much so that the Hispanic Council estimates that by 2060 The United States will have the second largest population of Spanish speakers in the world, after Mexico.

The following chart shows estimated US populations of people of Latin American origin:

Source: Statista “Población hispana en Estados Unidos: países de origen”

This study was published in 2022. Mexico has the largest participation, with an estimated 62% of all Latinos in the USA. These numbers are expected to continue growing due to the higher birth rates and greater family cohesion of Hispanic culture.

What does this imply in economic terms? Keep reading to find out!

Latino ad agencies: the impact of Latinos in the US economy

According to the Los Angeles Times, Latinos have the highest birth rate in the United States. This phenomenon is known as the Hispanic population boom.

What is the connection between birth rate and the economy? If you consider that a product’s life cycle is tied to the fluctuations in the demographic group that consumes it, birth rates have a very significant impact on business performance. As an individual, your product preferences as a child, an adolescent, an adult, or an elderly person, can be very different.

In the study La oportunidad latinx , Nielsen estimates that by 2023, the purchasing power of the Hispanic community will reach USD 1.9 billion, up from USD 1.5 billion in 2018.

Simply put, this means opportunity and growth. The best way to capitalize on this opportunity is through relying on the experience of ad agencies that are experts on Hispanics. Work with people who know the identity and relevant cultural aspects of this social group.

Latino ad agencies: Knowing the Latin consumer in United States

Nielsen lists some important facts about the Hispanic consumer in their study called La Oportunidad Latinx.

  •  Latinos spend about 27 hours a week on social media and mobile apps.
  • 95% of Latinos over the age of 2 own a cell phone and use it to surf the Internet.
  • 69% of Latinos over the age of 18 spend a large part of their time on digital platforms, preferring audiovisual content.
  • 71% of US Latinos speak Spanish at home. This cultural factor leads them to search for content that helps them connect with their culture. This exposes them to more Hispanic brands.
  • Meals are very important for Latino families: they see them as a way to bring people together, especially family. This results in 66% of US Spanish-speakers preferring to prepare a meal in the comfort of their own homes, rather than eating out frequently.
  • Latinos create a close bond with all generations in their families–whether older or younger. This has a significant impact on how and what they consume. Almost 80% of Latinos enjoy food products with their relatives. Almost 30% of them live in a multigenerational home.
  • Almost 80% of the Latino community considers that the Internet is a convenient way to purchase products, with food being the most frequent purchase, followed by products for the home, kitchen and children.
  •  Over half of Latino consumers prefer to purchase eco-friendly products, compared to 45% of the general population in the United States.
  •  Almost 40% of Latino consumers like to share their opinions about the products and services they have purchased via the Internet.

The majority of Hispanics are relatively young, with an average age of less than 30 years old. They are very comfortable in digital environments. Brands have an opening to reach them through digital media, and learn about their desires, preferences and expectations. A Hispanic-oriented digital marketing agency can help you succeed at this.

Hispanic consumer trends in the US

Additionally, Nielsen projects that Hispanic consumers, who consider themselves multicultural, will become a majority by 2044. Latino ad agencies, and brands in general, need to pay attention to emerging trends as this significant shift in the US population continues to happen.

Some examples of trends reinforced by Latinos in the United States are the following:

  • Green e-commerce

As mentioned before Latino consumers care about the environment and prefer to consume products from brands that they consider eco-friendly.

  • Metaverse and immersive marketing

According to Hispanicstar: 75% of Spanish-speakers in the United States are highly active in digital media. They most likely will be open to new technologies such as the metaverse as a way of experiencing the brands they enjoy.

  • Self-love and self-affirmation

Self-love and self-affirmation are part of the most relevant trends of the 21st century. And the Hispanic community participates in this trend by standing up for genuine representation of their culture, and breaking free from stereotypes. In the Nielsen study Latino-led Content and Viewers, they found that 56% of Latinos are more likely to continue watching a show on digital platforms when it includes characters they can identify with or relate to, and are affirming their identity as modern US Hispanics.

Sube Agencia Digital: representing Latinos in the USA

The impact of Hispanics in the United States doesn’t end with those Latinos who live in the US. Latin America is also a huge market for consumer products, and every country is slightly different with its own cultural nuances. This is why cultural sensitivity is so important when trying to reach different groups of consumers of Hispanic descent, wherever they live. Multicultural agencies understand these subtle differences and are better able to work with them.

 If you want to know more about this and other related topics, do not hesitate to connect with SUBE Agencia Digital. We are at the forefront of these important demographic changes, ready to provide you with the most qualified multicultural digital marketing services, to help you reach your goals.

Your commitment to succeed is our greatest inspiration!

Sources consulted

  1. https://es.euronews.com/2022/06/29/organizaciones-piden-aumentar-el-uso-del-espanol-para-atraer-el-voto-latino-de-estados-uni 
  2. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/en-espanol/primera-plana/articulo/2019-09-26/si-los-latinos-en-ee-uu-fueran-una-economia-independiente-serian-la-octava-mas-grande-del-mundo-asegura-informe 
  3. https://www.eleconomista.es/economia/noticias/11754636/05/22/El-imparable-avance-del-espanol-en-Estados-Unidos-un-tercio-de-los-americanos-sera-hispano-en-2060.html 
  4. https://www.milenio.com/cultura/por-que-decimos-chambear-origen-y-significado-de-la-palabra 
  5. https://www.hispaniccouncil.org/eeuu-sera-el-pais-con-mas-hispanohablantes-en-2060/ 
  6. https://es.statista.com/estadisticas/1265654/poblacion-hispana-de-estados-unidos-por-pais-de-origen/ 
  7. https://www.latimes.com/espanol/eeuu/articulo/2021-08-13/censo-boom-poblacional-hispano-estados-unidos 
  8. https://www.nielsen.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2019/09/nielsen-2019-latinx-DIS-report.pdf 
  9. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/09/23/key-facts-about-u-s-latinos-for-national-hispanic-heritage-month/ 
  10. https://www.nielsen.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/09/Sept-2022-Hispanic-DIS-report.pdf

Can Any Inbound Linking Hurt My Ranking?

by Sin categorizar

The answer is simple – inbound linking cannot hurt your search ranking. How is this known for certain? Well, for one, if inbound were to hurt your rank, your competitors would continually link to your site from link farms. Such a scenario is beyond your control. For this reason, Google cannot penalize your site for any inbound linking.

On the other hand, you can be penalized for illegitimate external linking. It is highly advised that you not link to any website or group of sites that may be involved in shady or unethical search practices. Doing so could result in being black-listed by Google, ultimately ruining your SEO strategy. Avoid this situation at all costs and ensure that all external links point to trusted and reliable sources.

Having been involved in the internet industry for a large part of my working life, I have spent a lot of time researching and browsing the internet and reading websites, mainly for client design research, but also for occasional personal use. The one thing that I find most disappointing, is the apparent lack of thought going into website creation and it’s purpose, which in turn creates a missed opportunity for many e-businesses to become successful.

My personal perspective on e-businesses and their websites, is that if they don’t take pride in their websites and show to their customers a passion for what they do, chances are, they won’t take pride in their products, and the passion for providing good customer service will also be missing.

What you must remember, is that your web site is a direct reflection of you and your business. The appearance of your site is the most important factor in determining your potential success rate. In short, if your site doesn’t look professional or pleasing to the eyes at first glance, the majority of people will assume your products and/or services to be of similar poor standard.

At the other end of the scale, you could fall into the trap of going overboard with the design and over complicate things with incorporating high costing flashy graphics. You may end up with a great looking and highly aesthetic web site, but the danger with this is that your site may prove unreliable and at times may take too long to load. There is nothing worse for a customer than trying to visit a slow loading site, and most will close the browser window in complete frustration. As i’m sure you will be able to work out, this will ultimately cost you business.

The other major consideration (if not the most important) when designing a website is your content. Not just links, but content with passion, relativity, and understanding to the customer. When someone is searching for something in particular and they visit your web site, they’re visiting for a reason. Your site has something they want, Whether this be your product, service, and/or information. If they are unable to obtain what they’re looking for, they move on to the next site and so on. To be able to get your visitors to stay and look around your website, you must give them a reason to. Providing them with quality content will achieve this goal.

There have been countless other lists and articles on the subject of website designing mistakes, but I have compiled my own list, from a designer’s perspective, of some pitfalls to look out for when considering either designing a website or purchasing a template. Remember that the simple, clear, informative and well designed sites are the most successful. If you are a current e-business and your sales aren’t what you had hoped, consider the above and take some time to look openly and honestly at your site. Spending money on improving your website is a much better investment than throwing money away on trying to advertise and market a site that just isn’t good enough to sell your product or services.

If you are looking for a template or a custom designed website, be aware of the above and be prepared to ask your chosen designer or template provider questions to ensure that your hard earned money doesn’t go to waste on an inferior design, which contains any of the above. Asking questions won’t cost you a penny, and in doing so could actually save you a lot of money over the long term. Getting your website right first time is vital in terms of saving money and time. The earlier your website is up and running properly, the quicker you will be able to reap the rewards of a successful e-business.

The prime mistake Newbies make is to put their website name into the Anchor Text. Unless your website contains your keywords this is a waste of a perfectly good link. Remember that Google puts a very big importance on those Anchor texts and they should always use your keywords.

The second mistake is trying to put every single keyword into your anchor text and give that to everyone. There are two mistakes with this technique. 1.) Google assigns weight to each word in anchor text so if there are a lot of filler words (common in long sentences), they will “dilute” your target words.

According to two recent surveys, conducted by Forrester Research and Gartner Group, ecommerce sites are losing $1.1 to $1.3 billion in revenue each year due to customers click- away caused by slow loading sites. If a page takes too long to load, your potential customer will not wait. Ultimately costing you business.

Make sure you include proper META tags in the HTML of each page of your web site. META tags are HTML code that enable the search engines to determine what keywords are relevant to a specific site. About 80 percent of all web site traffic originates from the eight major search engines. It would be a good idea to make sure you’ve done your homework and fully understand how to optimize your web pages prior to designing your site. This will save you a lot of headaches in the long run. For further information on META tags read the tutorial entitled, “Building Your Site.”

Be cautious when selecting your background and text colors. Busy backgrounds make text difficult to read and draw the attention away from the text. Always be consistent with your background theme on each page of your site. Your site should be nicely organized and uniform throughout. Keep in mind, colors affect your mood and will have an affect on your visitors as well. Bright colors such as yellow and orange, cause you to become more cheerful or happy, while colors such as blue and purple have a calming effect. Dark colors such as brown and black have a depressing effect. A good rule of thumb would be to use colors based upon the type of effect you’re trying to achieve.

Your main page should specifically let your visitors know exactly what you’re offering. How many times have you visited a site and never figured out exactly what they were selling? If your potential customer can’t find your product or service, they definitely won’t waste a lot of time looking for it. They’ll go on to the next site and probably never return. They’re visiting your site for a specific purpose. They want something your site offers. Whether it is information, a product or service.

Design your site to be easily navigated. Place your navigation links together at the top, bottom, left or right side of the page. Use tables to neatly align your links. If you are planning on using graphic buttons to navigate your site, keep in mind that with each graphic you add to your page, it will take that much longer for your page to load. If you only have a handful of navigational links, using graphic buttons will be fine. If you have over six links, it would be wise to simply use text links to keep your load time down.

If you must use frames, use them sparingly. Frames, if not properly used, can make your site look unprofessional. Avoid making your visitors have to scroll from side to side to view your content. This can be very irritating and cause your visitors to leave. If you must use frames, offer your visitors a choice. Frames verses No Frames. Try to keep the number of clicks required to get from your main page to any other page on your site down to four. Keep in mind, your visitors may enter your site from pages other than your main. Always have good navigational links on every page and place your company logo on each page.

Design a quality e-book to give to your visitors. It’s not as difficult as it sounds. If you can create a web page, you can create an e-book. The focus of your e-book should compliment your web site. Simply write about your passion. If your passion is sales, then you could share some of your knowledge and experience by designing your e-book to provide a complete sales training guide. If your passion is home based business, you could write an e-book about how to start your own home based business. If you’re writing about your true passion then you shouldn’t have any trouble coming up with something to write about. For further information on e-books, read the article entitled, “How to Create an E-book and Drive Massive Traffic to Your Site by Giving It Away.”

Having been involved in the internet industry for a large part of my working life, I have spent a lot of time researching and browsing the internet and reading websites, mainly for client design research, but also for occasional personal use. The one thing that I find most disappointing, is the apparent lack of thought going into website creation and it’s purpose, which in turn creates a missed opportunity for many e-businesses to become successful.