10 Things You Should Know About U.S. Hispanics

1. Hispanics are connecting twice as fast as the general market (14% growth vs. 7%) adding over a million users per year. In 2008 there were 23 million Hispanics online, about 52% of the Hispanic population. In 2012 more than 29 million will be online increasing Internet penetration to 58.6%. Living a connected, collective and spontaneous life is a fundamental Hispanic value and desire. Technology that facilitates connecting, sharing, entertaining and learning is rapidly becoming indispensable for the majority of Hispanics. We are referring to those that are connecting on their computers; recent figures put 57% of Hispanics going online through their mobile phones. 2. The growing Hispanic middle class is super connected: 88% of Hispanics with a household income of $50,000 + are online. For categories such as technology, consumer electronics, financial services and travel, connecting with consumers where they explore your products, research options, share experiences with communities, and ultimately buy your products is not an option, it's a necessity. 3. Hispanics are early adopters of mobile technology: 31 million have a mobile phone. By the age of 15, penetration of wireless services is 64%, by 17, it rises to 78%. Hispanics have the highest proportion of cord-cutters among all segments. For the most part, mobile marketing is not really on the radar as a consistent Hispanic marketing strategy. The challenge and opportunity of mobile marketing seems to lie in truly capitalizing on the relationship people have with their mobile devices. The mobile phone is not just another screen onto which ads are sent. It represents an opportunity to fundamentally change the relationship between brand and consumer. 4. Hispanics will spend money on what they really want: They spend 42% more on mobile devices and 35% more on data services than the average user. Convention tells us that the Hispanic market is very value-conscious and often makes purchase decisions based on price. When it comes to technology, the opposite has proven to be true. 5. Roughly half of the Hispanics online prefer Spanish, and for 66% it's important to be recognized as Hispanic through culturally relevant content. Online Hispanics move from Spanish to English and back again in different moments of an interactive brand experience. And far from being a disadvantage, this kind of fluid activity opens up interesting opportunities that helps them to customize their online experience. 6. Hispanics are dynamic content creators and consumers: Two-thirds of online Hispanics use the Web to view other consumers' content and 40% create content and provide their opinions online. Initially generated due to a lack of relevant and in-language content, consumer-generated content in the Hispanic market has taken on a life of its own. Hispanics dramatically outpace the general market in creating and sharing content, and few brands have figured out how to be part of the process creatively. The challenge is to support consumers, provide resources and even become part of the process without imposing artificial restrictions or values. 7. Entertainment content main appeal for online engagement: 37% listen to Internet radio vs. just 30% of non-Hispanics and 36% download music vs. just 29% of non-Hispanics. They represent a captive consumer that is willing to spend time, and in many cases, money for entertainment content online. 8. An online collective life: 77% engage in some kind of online socializing. 40% are part of a social network. An estimated 20% of Hispanics online are considered "Hispanic-fluentials." If word of mouth is key to any successful Hispanic marketing initiative, the online space has taken the dynamic to another level. Online, the collective hyper-social Hispanic cultural dynamic can be expressed, explored and developed without limits. 9. Multi-tasking: Part of the Hispanic DNA. On average, Hispanics spend 17 hours per week online, but they spend 14 hours per day with a technology device (versus 8 hours for the general population). The big opportunity: moving focus from one screen to three, dynamically connected screens. Because of their higher propensity to use converged technology, this consumer is the perfect target for developing truly integrated multi-channel campaigns. 10. Hispanic online landscape is less crowded: Interactive Advertising Media Investment represented 4.6% in 2007, while in the general market, it is around 7%. The online Hispanic opportunity is not only about a big and growing market, or about consumers that are eager to engage. Brands that go in and engage the consumer first have a unique opportunity to establish themselves as first movers and true resources for Hispanic consumers.

Building a Credible Brand for Your Small Business

Kim Wimpseff reports in All Business that three-time startup veteran and software developer Thomas E. Burns could spend his days writing code. Or he could write a book on branding. Burns founded his first company when he was just 22 years old. He then joined another company as its first employee. Then the entrepreneurial spirit came calling again. This next move came about the same time that Sun Microsystems introduced Java, the programming language. As a software developer at the time, Burns knew that Java was the technology for which he had been waiting. So in 1995, Burns, together with Mel Berman and Terence Parr, founded the MageLang Institute to provide customized training courses on Java. The company did well but wasn't the $3 million company that it is today. “The first year we only made about $600,000 in revenues,” Burns says. “But what we were really successful at was building a strong brand.” Burns discovered that, when building a brand, credibility counts. And when establishing credibility, there’s nothing like being a part of your own core audience to understand what is important. Quickly the MageLang Institute discontinued its training business and morphed into jGuru, a Web portal for Java software developers. Now as a media company, the business relies more than ever on its brand to drive traffic to the Web site. Building a credible brand required knowing thoroughly jGuru's audience "The best thing we did is that we know what our audience values and what they care about. And so we associate ourselves with those things," Burns says. "In essence, it's more about emotional values than practicality.” Software developers -- jGuru's audience -- care about technology first and foremost. "It's almost like a religion for many," Burns says, "in the sense that technological advancement is a good thing. They get very annoyed with those who want to hold back technology." Developers are also very individualistic and tend to have a "libertarian streak," he adds. The purpose of jGuru, as stated on its site, is to "advance and improve software technology and development." But Burns takes his company’s philosophy much deeper. JGuru’s mission statement is only the first step in aligning itself with its audience. "At first we associated with other people who could lend us credibility," Burns says. JGuru partnered with well-respected companies like Sun, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard in order to raise its profile and reputation. The next step was to employ credible software developers. Burns refers to these credibility-boosting characters as "celebrity developers" -- in other words, the gurus that make up jGuru. To attract top developers, jGuru encourages its employees to maintain their individuality. The company gives them free reign over their opinions posted on the site and in the software community. In fact, the company has no official opinion on anything -- only that the gurus who work there can express their own opinions freely. "The highest collection of famous developers work for us,” says Burns. “And this lack of control over them -- developers hate control -- and their knowledge came across from the beginning."

7 Ways to Leverage Your Advertising

If advertising is currently your main driver of sales, you can make surprisingly minor and easy changes in your existing advertising that will produce major results – and you won’t have to spend a dime, according to Jay Abraham, author of The Sticking Point Solution. There are several leverage factors at your immediate disposal, each of which can increase sales 20 to 500 percent: 1. Write great headlines: No matter how good the rest of your ad is, your audience won’t ever see it if they don’t get past the headline. Your headline must telegraph to your prospects the biggest, most appealing specific benefit or payoff they can expect to receive. It must be catchy and contain key words that will pop up from the page. 2. Set yourself apart: Distinguish your business from every other competitor by addressing an obvious void in the marketplace that you alone can honestly fill. Set your prospects’ buying criteria for them, so that only you, your business, or your product can clear the bar. Focus on one specific, relevant niche that is most sorely lacking in the marketplace and make it your own. 3. Offer proof to build your credibility: Provide substantiation for your claims, including client testimonials, quotes from experts, and excerpts of media articles about your product. Contrast your performance, construction, or support with the competitions’. 4. Reverse your customers’ risk: Put the onus on yourself. Tell your clients that you’ll offer a full refund, or at least some element of the transaction. Taking the burden of risk off a client will result in higher (and quicker) sales. 5. Include a call to action: Now that your audience has read your ad, don’t make their next step ambiguous. Tell them exactly what to do, why to do it, what benefits they can expect – and what penalties or dangers will result from delay. “Call now!” “Visit our store!” Such phrases may sound old school, but they’re still in use for a reason. 6. Offer a bonus: Whether it’s a coupon, a discount, an extended warranty, or the promise of preferential treatment, a bonus on top of your already fabulous product or service proposition can only further entice and multiply sales. “Be one of the first to join and receive a free companion book!” 7. Summarize your offer: By summarizing your offer at the end of your ad, you are seizing the moment to “Bring it home”: Reiterate the problem you are able to solve, the benefits your buyers will gain, and the upside with no downside. Then tell them again how to act now.