The Buzz about Gauging PR’s Success with today’s Pivotal Market: Latinos.

By Christine Clavijo-Kish, Managing Partner LatinClips.

Hispanics are the ‘it’ topic at marketing conferences, in the political arena and for government data analysts. The mainstream PR industry has slightly awakened to the relevance of the Latino market with ‘measurement’ seeming to be the busiest buzz word in PR right now. However, here’s the paradox: The National Research Council says “We are in the midst of a Hispanic moment” as they announce findings from their latest survey in Hispanic Business magazine, yet there are many PR practitioners around the nation wondering how to reach out or even if they should bother including Hispanics in their national outreach efforts.

There have been cases of corporate marketing budgets being allocated to the corporate PR team so that they can pursue the “Hispanic Market.” However, without a clear understanding of whom exactly a Latino is and how Hispanics vary by nation of origin, city, acculturation and assimilation levels or even language; all the money in the world will not get you attention for your products or events. Furthermore, Spanish is not uniform nor may even be the language of choice. And how do you even measure if you properly reached your target audience if you don’t understand it?

In the midst of the ambivalence surrounding the Hispanic market you do find the dedicated PR and advertising agencies that truly grasp the marketplace and its many nuances. Nevertheless, they have been faced with services that don’t understand the market nor offer solid measurement options to report the effectiveness of their programs. So how should the knowledgeable practitioner analyze results or even begin to gather data? Don’t worry, there are options. However if they come in the form of an advanced “dashboard” service this will not work. When speaking about such a little understood and varied market the only way to properly measure results is the old fashioned way: real humans with real knowledge. True experts can analyze real media coverage and communications plans to determine how your program “moved the brand” among new audiences.

When about to launch a campaign there are crucial questions that should be asked:
1. Are we including Hispanic consumers as part of our marketing and communications plan?
2. How are we going to reach them?
3. Have we done our research and know our consumer? Who is our target consumer among Hispanics?

If the answers to these questions show that your team still has a lot to learn then partner with practitioners who can bring your team proven results. This way your first attempt, or your improved attempt, really counts. And keep in mind that your advertising budget should include Hispanic newspapers and Spanish-language programming whether radio and/or TV. Of course it is PR’s job to properly pitch media in order to garner interest and coverage. Investing in the community’s various forms of communication should be part of the overall plan.

So where are we then? Public relations truly has many disciplines that are very well suited to reach the growing Hispanic populations across the country. From media relations to social marketing and grassroots initiatives- PR tactics are key to building your brand with new consumer audiences. And if you still aren’t sure if all the “buzz” is more than just hype about the Hispanic population consider this factoid from the National Research Council survey results: “The first decade of the 21st century is a defining moment for the Hispanic population and for the nation,” said Marta Tienda, a Princeton University sociologist who was chairwoman of the new study… the rapid population growth means that by 2030 nearly one in four U.S. residents will be Latino.”

By Christine Clavijo-Kish, Managing Partner
LatinClips News Monitoring & Measurement Services

Source: www.hispanicbusiness.com (March 2, 2006)