Reach mobile Hispanics effectively

By Emilio Castellanos

To effectively reach the Hispanic mobile market, brands should ally themselves with organizations that have an established and ongoing relationship with the market and involve themselves with a cause that is important for the particular Hispanic demographic they want to reach. Each case needs to be looked at individually. There is no magic formula that will work across the board. Translating an ad into Spanish just won't do.

Companies seeking to target Hispanics should gain a strong understanding of the cultural differences and behaviors that make them unique --whether they are English or Spanish preferred, represent a particular ethnic group, etc.-- and develop a relationship with them based on those individual characteristics, needs, wants and aspirations. Targeting mobile Hispanics must begin from message conception, contain a long-term component, incorporate multiplatform, and provide an added value service that can be useful and interactive.

For over 90 years some of our properties (http://wwww.impremedia.com) have been developing long-standing relationships with local Hispanic communities that allow companies advertising through our platform to quickly translate and reap the benefits of this trust and audience insight. It is through this rapport that we have successfully incorporated mobile promotions contextually, tying mobile initiatives such as SMS alerts and others to mediums such as online and print.

Just as an example, a recent sweepstakes conducted via our mobile SMS alerts through a landing page and signup, received 33% click-through with a 6% signup rate. Other contextually relevant advertising promotions have garnered similar responses. The integration of mobile with online and specifically with our print products has allowed us to reach consumers at the most personal level.