Looking to Delve Into the Flourishing U.S. Hispanic Market?

We all know that the U.S. Hispanic market is experiencing substantial growth. In 2000, the U.S. Census confirmed that in the previous decade the Hispanic population grew more than four times that of the general population. This year’s census is expected to document even more growth, signaling to retailers nationwide that now is the time to break into this flourishing market.

But wait. Many marketers have undoubtedly already begun to expand their campaigns to this up-and-coming market, but our research has uncovered a unique variable in calculating the return on investment of a Hispanic media campaign.

After having successfully launched direct response campaigns in the U.S. Hispanic market for the past 10 years, Omni Direct wanted to determine the buying behavior of the Hispanic consumer. Specifically, does Spanish media drive purchasing across English language sales channels?

Through a recent matchback study, we discovered that although a product’s Hispanic target audience was most effectively reached via Spanish-language campaigns, the majority of internet sales for these products were being sold via the product’s English-language website.

The impact of this is greater than you might think. Many retailers create Hispanic campaigns only to judge the ROI based on sales on their Spanish-language site, not their English-language site. This means many retailers might be in the dark as to how successful their U.S. Hispanic campaigns really are — and many might have abandoned their U.S. Hispanic campaigns too soon.

Determined to confirm this notion and simultaneously find the most effective means of reaching Spanish-speaking audiences while maintaining maximum purchasing results, Omni Direct decided to use two of its branded products, Ellezza and Xtreme Bra, as test products. For a period of 18 months, it ran only Spanish-language television ads for Ellezza, a beauty cream product, and Xtreme Bra, but maintained both products’ English- and Spanish-language search marketing ads and websites.