BusinessWeek: How To Tap the Hispanic Market

BusinessWeek carries a story entitled, "How To Tap the Hispanic Market," that features a Q&A with Felipe Korzenny, director of the Center for the Study of Hispanic Marketing Communications at Florida State University.

Here's a summary of his main points:

On the misstep companies are making: "... they do not realize that understanding the culture is part of making a difference in the way in which you can connect with the consumer ... they are missing the opportunity to establish a closer relationship and making their brand more desirable or more wanted by Hispanic consumers by addressing them from a cultural perspective."

On the biggest mistake companies are making: Companies fall into two extremes, "being stereotypical" the ones "that just don't make an effort." "In between, there are categories like the ones who just take an ad and translate it ... that's the most primitive approach."

On what makes a successful approach: " ... the ones that either launch a new product or position it in the Hispanic market by talking to many consumers and finding out how to make the product relevant to them."

On how Hispanic businesses market to themselves: "Being Hispanic can help you, but it is no guarantee. Just by being Hispanic, you do not necessarily know how to market to Hispanics."

On the importance of bilingual marketing: "Bilingual marketing is the way of the future. I think in the past years there was an emphasis on using the Spanish language ... being bilingual is more effective and it is a way to emphasize culture."