Tap Into a Booming Demographic

Ricardo González is the founder and CEO of Bilingual America. He’s the developer and teacher of the SpanishPower™ Spanish course and the author of The 12 Hidden Truths to Learning Spanish. He’s also a business consultant who shares his insights on language and culture with companies like Coca-Cola, Georgia-Pacific, and Allied Building Products, and he was on hand at Best of Success to present a seminar titled “How to Succeed in Business With the Booming Hispanic Demographic.”

He ran through some statistics documenting that Hispanics represent 50 percent of the population growth in the United States. “So, who are Hispanics?” he asked. “Hispanics don’t exist!” Hispanic is a term that lumps together Spanish-speaking peoples from some 20 Latin American countries, noted González. “Hispanics identify themselves by country of origin. There is no country named Hispania.”

González detailed his experiences with racism he has encountered as a corporate consultant to stress the value of communication. “We have to learn how to communicate properly for the common good,” he said. “You have to take stereotypes head on. Whatever is deep inside your soul at some point, in some way, will come out of you. When it comes to Latinos, it can break your business, or it can make it.”

The Latino population is not only booming, it is very loyal, according to González, who cited surveys that show brand loyalty among Latino consumers in 85 percent, while it is 18 percent among non-Latino consumers. “This is the most vital workforce and customer base in this country,” he said. “You have to be serious because it is a business proposition. It’s not about diversity or political correctness. If you have a growing demographic and it’s a loyal demographic, you should go after it.”

 He detailed some examples of Spanish-language marketing that failed and those that were successful to show just what works when it comes to Hispanic marketing. “All marketing to Latinos should be culturally relevant,” he said. “This means it should consider country of origin. No Hispanic marketing should be general.”