Wired Latinos

Blaire Borthayre, CEO of Hispanic Marketing Resources (HMR), wants marketers to learn the necessary skills to reach and serve the immigrant Hispanic community. These skills can be learned in the form of online seminars, aka webinars, offered on demand through the HMR website.

HMR has been helping businesses reach the Latino consumer through culturally appropriate behaviors and messaging training since 2000. However, the recent economic downturn forced HMR reassess and innovate and they started offering webinars online as a way to offer a more affordable way for marketers to reach the growing Latino market.

"During tough economic times, training and travel are the first to be cut in the budgets of most companies. Webinars are an affordable convenient way for them to learn and/or reach a certain segment of the market without having to pay exorbitant travel or marketing costs," says Ms. Borthayre.

Webinars can help many different industry specific groups reach the Hispanic market by overcoming language and cultural barriers. Among HMR's wide library of webinars we found webinars for Attorneys, Bankers, Retail, Physicians and now Dentists.

"For example, there is an misconception that immigrants avoid going to dentists simply because they can't afford to do so and this is just not true," explains Borthayre. The truth is that "[there] is a dire need for marketers who can overcome cultural and language barriers to help our community."

It is a known fact that once cultural and language barriers are overcome, Hispanics are loyal consumers who will refer many family and friends to their favorite product or service and that is the message HMR is driving with all their webinar products.

Each webinar is 90 minutes long and just needs a computer with speakers and a phone line or internet service to access. There is also the choice of downloading a copy of the recorded webinar instantly.

EMarketer recently posted an interview with Isidra Mencos, Executive Editor for BabyCenter en Español. The interview revealed interesting information about the Latina mom online. Some of the most interesting points were the following:

• Less acculturated Latina moms are more brand loyal
• They are 8% less likely than non-whites to shop online -- but are beginning to catch on
  
• 49% of Latina moms click on ads, 23% more than non-whites
• 57% of Latina moms read e-mails from companies with offers, 19% more than average US Mom
  
• 45% of Latina moms look for offers before buying
• 67% of Latina moms say it is important to find information online

You can read the entire interview here.

Source: e-Marketer

A recent study by e-marketer.com estimates the online Latino population to grow by 10 million in the next 4 yours (from 29.6 million in 2010 to 39.2 million in 2014). Wired Latinos will no longer be a minority online, but expected to be considered mainstream as 70% of them will be connected.

“This online population is young and thriving,” said Lisa E. Phillips, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report “Hispanics Online: Demographics and Media Usage.” “They frequently use social media, message boards and sports sites.”

According to the report, the majority of Latinos online are proficient English speakers and native born. However, they will take notice when advertisers culturally address them. The report also cited studies done by Arnet and Opinion Research Corporation where they found that 62% Latinos are more likely than African-Americans (55%) or Whites (48%) to respond to online banner ads and e-mail marketing offers.

“Marketers must move beyond their perceived language barrier and commit to reaching a market that is already a majority-minority community,” Ms. Phillips said.

“As the FCC’s broadband initiative begins to take hold in rural areas, even more Hispanic households could be online in coming years,” she added. “Marketers who ignore this population will find themselves at a distinct disadvantage against competitors who are testing digital campaigns targeted to this audience.”

Read full report here.

Source: eMarketer

The popular Latino blog, Being Latino, kicked off its "El Pueblo Unido" series featuring ParentsStepAhead.org. The new series showcases small nonprofits that serve the Latino community. As the first organization featured in the series, many can learn about Parents Step Ahead, the work it's doing for parents, and how to get involved.

Parents Step Ahead was established in 2006 to recognize, educate, enable and empower parents to take a proactive role in the educational and personal development of their children. "We are hoping that by partnering with Being Latino and getting the word out about Parents Step Ahead many will recognize the dire need for parental involvement in schools," said Lupita Colmenero, founder and chair of Parents Step Ahead.

"El Pueblo Unido" is a new bi-weekly series created by Charlotte Gossett for the Being Latino blog dedicated to promoting the efforts of small nonprofit organizations that support and empower the Latino community around the nation. "I know how difficult it is for small nonprofits to have a voice and gain recognition for their grassroots efforts. I thought Being Latino was a great platform to build awareness around the organizations and their local Latino communities," states Ms. Gossett.

To see the blog, visit Being Latino's blog series El Pueblo Unido.