Marketing to the Spanish-Speaking Community

Did you know that 28% of Californians speak Spanish at home? And that 13% of the U.S. population speaks Spanish as a first language? This raises an important question: is your business neglecting this important group? Since many businesses overlook Spanish speakers, you have the chance to beat your competition with a few internet marketing tactics aimed at Spanish-speaking customers.

Many may think that there is a shift from Spanish-speaking immigrants to U.S. born Spanish-speakers, therefore, not requiring the need to market in Spanish as English begins to dominate the population. This is simply not true.

Facebook released the results of their “Facebook IQ” study conducted by Latinum Network in October 2016. 500 Hispanics from different language usage backgrounds (English-dominant, bilingual, and Spanish-dominant) were interviewed. The results can be summarized below by Forbes:

• 86% of respondents believe the Spanish language helps them remain connected to their culture.
• 80% of U.S. Hispanics don’t feel they need to stop speaking Spanish to be part of the American culture.
• Ads targeting Hispanics in Spanish significantly increase their interest in purchasing products.
• When online, more than 80% of Spanish-dominant Hispanics use Spanish at least half of the time when they read, write or watch videos.
• 79% of Spanish-dominant, 82% of bilingual, and 60% of English-dominant Hispanics surveyed on this research think brands should reach out to consumers in both English and Spanish.
• 58% of Spanish-dominant Hispanics and 48% of bilingual Hispanics think that brands that reach out to the segment in Spanish demonstrate they value the Hispanic community.

The study also found that 62% of bilingual Spanish-speakers read in Spanish online at least half of the time and 69% when watching videos.

The U.S.A. is a beautiful mix of cultures from all over the world. It’s our jobs as business owners and marketers (and in our best interest) to speak to our target audience in a language that they understand (both metaphorically and literally). And marketing to Spanish-speakers is more than just translating – it’s understanding the culture, casting Spanish-speaking actors or models, using relatable situations and specific humor. Remember when Coors Brewing tried directly translating their slogan “Turn it Loose” to Spanish? It came out meaning “Suffer from Diarrhea” in Spanish. And when “Got Milk” directly translated their phrase, it resulted in asking Spanish-speaking consumers “Are You Lactating?”

Consider your Internet marketing tactics today. Many of them can be duplicated in Spanish.

Dual-Language Website

You’ve likely visited many websites where you had the option to change the language. This is probably the first thing you should do if you want to reach Spanish-speaking consumers. You can promote your services in Spanish as well as run advertisements with Spanish landing pages. However, the process is more than just adding translation technology to your website. You will need a translator to translate your pages, a developer to create the duplicate pages with the Spanish content, and some sort of plugin or tech that will allow users to choose between the different languages.

Check out the solution our digital marketing agency implemented on the website for Mentis, Napa’s Center for Mental Health Services. As a nonprofit providing aid to the Napa Valley community, it was essential to have a Spanish version of their website.

Spanish Advertisements

Today, it’s easier than ever to run an advertising campaign targeting Spanish-speakers. Facebook advertising has a setting that allows you to target people who have their browser set to Spanish. Google Ads does this as well. And the best part? The competition for Spanish-language keywords is much lower so CPC (cost-per-click) can be as low as 75% less than the English equivalent keywords.

Spanish SEO

This one goes hand-in-hand with Spanish webpages. If you’re creating Spanish content on your website, adding Spanish keywords is a must. Search engines will try to show websites to Spanish-speakers that indicate the language in the domain (for example, www.website.com/es). Then the search engine crawlers will choose the website that features relevant keywords. Spanish SEO is not as common as English. Therefore, with a Spanish keyword research and proper implementation, your website can really rank for the specific terms. Easy.

In the end, it comes down to if you’re willing to experiment with language to grow your business. We’re all for trying new things because a business that evolves to the times and its consumers will thrive. Investigate your target audience today and decide if your company can benefit from reaching out to the Spanish-speaking community.

At WSI Next Gen Marketing, we’re here to help you, whether it’s implementing a dual language feature on your website, translating content to Spanish, or running ads for Spanish-speakers. Contact our digital marketing agency today to get started.