Growth Strategy – from the Latina Insight-Out

There’s always more than one way to slice the pie, but when you are looking for growth you must look closely at the Latina market and what this consumer segment represents in opportunity for your brand. If you are like most marketers, you are planning the year ahead and looking to find growth potential. Latinas are currently driving growth across the U.S. in an exponential manner across consumer categories and trade sectors.

Why is that not a surprise? Or is it?

If you’re looking for scale (and then, who isn’t?), it’s important to consider that your plan to reach the total market is not complete if you don’t include Hispanic and potentially, other multicultural groups in your marketing strategy and execution. If your business is like most today, you’ve reached your ceiling at sustained sales and your revenues are highly dependent on promoted cases or marginal price increases, if you’re lucky.

Growth today largely depends on your relevance to Non-White America and your brand’s ability to mobilize Multicultural women toward consideration and adoption. Simply put, a marketing plan that only reaches White, English-speaking Women is only reaching 75% of the total U.S. adult female market.

Latina women are the primary decision makers on 85% of family and household purchases across product categories, therefore, understanding their attitudes and behavior is paramount to a successful and scalable strategy.

The Niche Mystique and Amplification

Contrary to accepted paradigms, the adult female Hispanic market is not niche at all. Here are some impressive statistics…At 17% of all Women 20+; 25% of Millennial Women 20-34; and 29% of all Millennial females 0-34 years old, U.S. Hispanic women are clearly in a position to influence sales and revenues positively if you heed their attention, or stay flat or decrease if you don’t. One step further, the U.S. Hispanic population is expected to be over 60 Million by the year 2020. Time check, that’s only 5 years from now!

Latinas are at the forefront of consumer trends in multichannel media usage, fashion, music and entertainment, making them icons and influencers across other Non Hispanic consumer segments. Needless to belabor the Sofía Vergara phenomenon across mainstream media or JLo’s success as an entertainer, both high-profile businesswomen in their own right. As icons and celebrities and very much carrying their own weight in influence, African American women are also early adopters of trends and product innovation. Bound by purpose and community, these women represent over 80% of adult women 20+ among the three major multicultural segments. They have a strong voice and they are not afraid to use it. Asian females also show an impressive opportunity, however scalability is more regional in scope, west coast followed by the east.

Make no mistake, Hispanic women are increasingly educated, product-savvy and superlatively active on social media circles. This allows brands to amplify their outreach and participate in their conversations with an authentic voice. In this context, every connection becomes an opportunity to invite them to be your brand ambassadors and spread the word among their peers and communities. If you attract and persuade this unequivocally-not-niche market, multicultural women 20+ — all 40 Million of them – will make a mark on your total business.

Yet we’ve learned that cross-cultural marketing goes well beyond ethnic segmentation. While Cultural Linking is key to drive relevance against each target segment, there are behavioral insights and cultural truths that help us drive scale across multicultural segments. It is key to identify these cultural truths as they relate to your brand, via ethnographic and psychographic techniques that probe beneath that first layer of consumer feedback.

In other words, peel the onion layer by layer and take your Latina strategy from the insight-out. Then, Amplify.

Priority Allocation

Many marketers often ask what’s the “right” allocation for their expansion into the U.S. Hispanic market. There is no right answer to this question, unfortunately. We advise clients that funds allocation be made by prioritization of strategic goals, opportunity sizing and ROI. This of course will vary by brand, category and/or consumer target, so there is no magic number.

Instead, we must ask ourselves: What strategies and actions bring us closer to objective and what opportunities can we leverage to stretch results?

By prioritizing allocations on the basis of “must have” to deliver and “must stretch” to exceed, you’ll find the right balance for your brand to succeed at growth with Hispanic and multicultural women.