Should I Advertise In Spanish Or English?

An important question marketers are asking is should I advertise in English or Spanish? There are many important considerations to keep in mind. Advertising in both may be too expensive, so choosing which language may make or break your marketing campaign.

Studies have been conducted to find out recall, effectiveness and persuasion rates for each language in advertising. Lauren Sonderup found that when asking Hispanics about their recall rates for ads in Spanish versus English, it was found that 38% of Hispanics said English language ads were less effective than Spanish advertisements. On the contrary, English advertisements were 70% less persuasive than Spanish advertisements.

Most companies find it extremely helpful to conduct focus groups to find out what their customers and potential customers would prefer. It is sometimes found that Hispanics prefer bilingual materials. This is primarily because of their household makeup. Hispanic households often contain grandparents that speak almost only Spanish, parents that speak both but prefer Spanish, and children who are bilingual and either prefer English or have no preference.

However, it is not always possible to create an effect advertising campaign in both languages because of expense or other reasons. So, often companies have to choose. Many factors come into play in making this decision. First, advertising in Spanish has many advantages as it is the native language of Hispanics. It can also convey meanings, evoke emotions and connect more culturally to Hispanic consumers. However, it is important to keep in mind that the media in the United States is overwhelmingly in English. In addition, most Hispanics do not exclusively consume media in Spanish. In Hispanic males, about half of TV and radio consumption is in English. Hispanic females listen and watch more media in Spanish but still, a significant amount of their time is spent with English media. The best way to choose which media to advertise in, if not both as I stated earlier is to conduct focus groups for your specific target market.

Some marketers will think, well I already have the advertisement in English, I’ll just transfer the words to Spanish. Translating the advertisements from English into Spanish is one of the biggest mistakes marketers make today. Not only may the Hispanic market miss the point of the ad completely, it might even offend them. Also, brand awareness, usage levels, and importance of different product attributes will be different for Hispanic consumers. The best way to market to Hispanics is to prepare the advertisement from the beginning, in Spanish. This will help prevent the mistakes that even the best translators will ultimately encounter.

By Angela Henry
Master’s Candidate, Integrated Marketing Communications
Florida State University
An**********@***il.com

1. Sonderup, Laura (n.d). Hispanic Marketing: A Critical Market Segment. Retrieved September 26, 2005 from the world wide web: http:www.ad-mkt-review.com/punlic_html/docs/fs075.html

2. 2004 U.S. Hispanic Market Report. Miami: Synovate, 2004.