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HISPANIC MARKET OVERVIEW 2019 Powered by HispanicAd.com
EDUCATION: THE TOP TASK FOR TACKLING
HISPANIC MARKET GROWTH
Burbank, Calif.-based Terry J. Soto is considered to be one of the nation’s foremost experts on growth strategy in “new cultural markets.” On June 5 at a presentation in Lake Worth, Fla., the rapidly growing buying power of the Hispanic consumer was shared with local business leaders intimately tied to a still nascent Latin marketplace.
Soto was there to discuss her recent tome “The $3.5 Trillion Advantage,” available on Amazon. Soto had to apologize to attendees: The book’s title was already outdated, just six months after its
release.
“This population nationwide controls $3.8 trillion in buying power .... That is huge,” she said.
The session proved to be an eye-opener. What seasoned Hispanic marketing and advertising pros may have considered to be “the basics” peppered the Q&A session, proving that even in markets adjacent to some of the nation’s largest Hispanic population centers, knowledge about what to do – and how – is scant.
For Soto, “Targeting the new América” involves four groups. “There are Hispanics, but there are Blacks and there are Asians. You could include in this group LGBT consumers, too.”
Yet, she adds, there are some places in the U.S. where, while the reality is a market may be very multicultural in its makeup, the ol’ bastions don’t let this growth flow into marketing, and top-of-mind awareness.
In Palm Beach County, Fla., the 2020 Census could reflect that multicultural inhabitants represent more than 50% of the county’s population. As of the 2010 Census,
that percentage stands at 41%.
This means multicultural and women business growth is ripe – both here and in other areas where Census 2020 will reveal to all what many in the multicultural marketing world already know.
This is why the Census is so important – and why controversy over a citizenship question clouds the accuracy of Census 2020.
“The Census has missed disproportionate numbers of color, young children and the rural and the urban poor, leading to inequality in political power and in access to public funding and private investment for these communities,” Soto says.
But, what if a completely accurate Census 2020 were conducted in places such as Palm Beach County? The Caucasian community could possibly not be prepared for it, Soto fears.