Advertising to Hispanic Audiences: How to Connect with America’s Fastest-Growing Consumer Group

With a large population, rapid growth and escalating wealth, U.S. businesses can’t afford to overlook Hispanic consumers in their communities. Consider the following:

• Hispanics accounted for nearly 20 percent of the U.S. population in the 2020 census;
• More than half (51 percent) of all new population growth in the U.S. is among Hispanics;
• Wealthy population growth among Hispanic and Latino communities is outpacing the rest of the U.S. population;
• Hispanic and Latino buying power in the U.S. is projected to surpass $2.6 trillion by 2025.

Those simple data points make it clear: Hispanic audiences are valuable audience and potential advertising opportunity for businesses of any size, and in any community. But connecting with these consumers isn’t as simple as targeting ad delivery to Hispanic consumers. Meaningful, authentic engagement is necessary for any business looking to foster meaningful relationships with their local Hispanic audience.

Looking for tips on how to approach this goal? Here are some of our suggestions.

Prioritize Cultural Literacy in Your Ad Creative

Effective advertising elicits an emotional response from your audience. To connect with Hispanic consumers, this means your advertising needs to be engaging on an emotional level, rather than simply articulating your desire to win over a Hispanic audience.

This ad creative needs to be fluent in Hispanic culture and the types of storytelling that your Hispanic consumers will recognize and appreciate. Some cultural elements to keep in mind include the following:

• Art and culture: From music to visual art to cultural festivities, explore how your ad campaigns might incorporate and highlight Hispanic arts and culture.
• Family values: Hispanic audiences tend to be very family-centric. Advertising targeted to this consumer group may want to highlight family-friendly brand experiences and/or align the business with family values similar to those held by their Hispanic customers.
• Emphasis on community: Hispanic audiences are known for valuing community and its role in shaping healthy lives and society.
• Diversity within your Hispanic audience: It’s important to remember that the term “Hispanic” is itself a broad label applied to many different smaller communities. Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Guatemalans and other Hispanic-origin groups all offer their own identities and cultures that make them distinct from other Hispanic audiences. Keep these identities in mind when targeting ads to local Hispanic consumers.

Target Consumers Through Spanish-Language Programming and Content

According to the Pew Research Center, 38 percent of Hispanic adults in the U.S. only speak Spanish, and 36 percent are bilingual. Despite the size of this Spanish-speaking audience, ad campaigns delivered via Spanish-language programming are vastly outweighed by English-language ads targeted to Hispanic audiences.

This imbalance is a missed opportunity for advertisers, and for more than one reason. While the impact of a Spanish-language ad is likely to be much higher based purely on the lack of brand outreach across this language divide, underutilized ad inventories on Spanish-language TV, streaming and other digital channels has created a buyer’s market for advertisers willing to produce Spanish-language ads.

By creating campaigns to be run in Spanish, your business could enjoy the win-win scenario of getting better value for your ads and enjoying stronger engagement from Hispanic consumers.

Lead With Representation

As is true with any minority group, representation can make a big impact among Hispanic consumers. Speaking in Spanish and addressing Hispanic audiences can go a long way in building brand relationships, but representation in your ad creative can deliver a stark bump in audience engagement.

According to Nielsen, Hispanic representation in TV programming has been rising in recent years, and Hispanic viewership has followed suit. These trends largely translate to advertising, where representation can draw the attention of Hispanic audiences and create a stronger opportunity for delivering brand messaging and building awareness for your business.

If connecting with the local Hispanic market is a top priority for your brand, it’s time to invest in ad creative and messaging that will resonate with this audience. Cox Media’s experts can help you plan and launch authentic, engaging campaigns targeted to this influential consumer group.

Ready to get started? Contact us today.