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January 13, 2002 at 07:00 PM
Given the current demographics of the United States, insurance companies can deliberately opt to disregard the Hispanic consumerand justify their choice to do soor develop and implement strategies to reap the benefits of this burgeoning market.
According to data from the Census Bureau for the year 2000, 32.8 million Hispanics (12% of the total U.S. population) reside in the United States. This does not include the 3.6 million who reside in Puerto Rico.
The mosaic of this population embraces residents of Mexican (66.1%), Central and South American (14.5%), Puerto Rican (9%) and Cuban (4%) descent, as well as descendants from other Spanish-speaking countries (6.4%).
By the year 2050, given current immigration patterns and the fertility rate of the Hispanics, the Hispanic population is expected to surpass 25% of the total U.S. population. Moreover, depending on the source examined, the current spending power of this market ranges from $380 billion to $630 billiona buying power that is growing faster than that of the general market.
Even though insurance companies might turn to advertising agencies to target this fast-growing market, it is imperative to recognize that any marketing strategy must take into account the language used in the marketing pieces and the conduits and interventions used for promoting the product.
Language Matters
Bearing in mind that the United States is now the third-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world (behind Mexico and Columbia) and that 70% of Hispanics in the United States speak Spanish at home, the language of choice for targeting this market is Spanish.
Based on the fact that cultural imprinting is experienced in the native language during the infancy of the individual, cultural anthropologists agree that promoting products and services in Spanish instills a sense of prideeven within the small subpopulation of Hispanics (less than 12%) that only speaks English.
As a caveat, every effort should be made to develop marketing campaigns in Spanish specifically for the Hispanic subgroup, since translations or adaptations of strategies designed for the general English-speaking market do not work as well.
However, if translation cannot be avoided, use a team of professionals that represent the four corners of the Spanish-speaking world and that specialize in translating insurance contract and advertising language. This assures that the English copy is interpreted and translated accurately and that the language generated is standard Pan American Spanish, free of regionalisms, and appropriate for all audiences.
One should not rely on his college Spanish courses, on someone from the office who claims to know Spanish, or on a freelance translator to decipher, interpret and translate important marketing pieces.
Conduits and Interventions for Promoting the Products
The conduits and interventions for promoting insurance products include radio and television, print media, the Internet, and face-to-face interventions. In addition to local Spanish-language radio and television stations, the all-Spanish television networks Univisi?n and Telemundo can be used effectively to reach more than 92% of Hispanic households in the United States.
