You may be surprised to learn that advertising in Spanish and the Hispanic media market are outpacing overall growth in the U.S. advertising industry. This growth is being buoyed by a growing interest in Hispanic millennials as consumers and trendsetters. Multinational manufacturer Proctor & Gamble spent $335 million on advertising in Spanish in 2013, a 36% increase. AT&T and L'Oreal increased spending on advertising in Spanish by 26% and 38% respectively in 2013. An overall expenditure of more than $8 billion was made on marketing in Spanish in 2013 in the U.S, and $580 million, or approximately 7%, of that was spent on online advertisements.

Hispanics spent more time watching digital media content on their PCs and smartphones than the U.S. population in general, here again driving overall growth. Nearly 73 million impressions (when an ad is fetched from its source) were purchased by the 10 largest advertisers on Spanish language websites.

How the Spanish Speaking Population Consumes Digital Media

There is an estimated 54 million Hispanics residing in the U.S., just over 17% of the population. Spanish is the most common non-English language spoken at home in the U.S., with over 37 million Spanish speakers. Experian Marketing Services recently did a study to determine how much time Hispanics are spending on media related activities.

Let's take a look at some of the common online activities and how they are being accessed:

Using internet on a home computer - 3.3 hours per day
Using internet tablets - 2.0 hours per day
Using internet on a smartphone - 1.7 hours per day
Playing video games on a tablet - 2.2 hours per day
Playing video games on computer - 1.9 hours per day
Playing video games on cellphone - 1.4 hours per day
Watching videos online - 2.0 hours per day
Listening to internet radio - 1.9 hours per day
Instant Messaging - 1.4 hours per day
Emailing - 1.3 hours per day

Hispanics and Social Media

There is perhaps nowhere online that the presence of the Hispanic population is felt greater than on social media. Hispanics from the U.S. are leading the world in social media and adoption of e-commerce and mobile technology. In a consumer study, it was determined that Hispanics more readily use social media to shop locally. Facebook was regarded as highly important for local shopping and is used by 61% of Hispanics for that purpose.

A Pew Research Center study indicated 80% of Hispanic adults regularly use social media and were more likely than non-Hispanics to pay attention to a brand on social media.

Corporate giant Unilever commissioned a study with Mindshare, determining Hispanics were two times more likely to share content than other populations. Further, the content that they share is more than 1/3 more likely to be clicked on by those they share it with. They were twice as likely as non-Hispanics to make a purchase based on this sharing.

We've shared a lot of numbers and empirical data to demonstrate the outstanding opportunity that marketing in Spanish represents. With a decade of experience marketing to Spanish-speaking audiences, we are uniquely qualified to help businesses succeed in this market, building their brand in what may be an underserved market, given the statistics cited above.

In looking at digital coupons, for example, more than 84% of U.S. Hispanics acknowledged searching online for a digital coupon after being recommended to, as compared to 70% of U.S. consumers overall. Nearly 70% of Hispanics have used digital coupons accessed on social media - the U.S. only 54% overall. 61% of Hispanics shared those coupons with others over social media, compared to around 50% overall. Experian Marketing determined that Hispanics are shopping online more than Americans in general, visiting the top online retail websites at a rate more than 20% higher than the general population. They also spend more time on retail websites when using their smartphones compared to others.

Hispanics were two times more likely than non-Hispanics to accept ads on their smartphones, nearly 60% more likely to actually make purchases through their smartphones, and 13% more likely to use their smartphones to shop for local deals. Keeping with the trend of being over index on technology, Hispanics were more likely to download apps, chat, stream video, listen to music and play games on their smartphones than non-Hispanics.

Advertising in Spanish - Capitalizing on a Growing Market

The potential of the Spanish language advertising market has not been lost on media and technology companies, who have sought to create new roles for Hispanics in an effort to capture this lucrative share of the market. Twitter hired Nuria Santamaria, who was honored by Ad Age as one of 2014's Women to Watch, as its first multicultural lead in late 2013. CC Media Holdings' Clear Channel hired Liz Sarachek as executive Vice President of Hispanic strategy and sales in the summer of 2014. Ad agencies catering to the Hispanic market have seen ad revenue increase by 5.7%. Ad agency SapientNitro recently acquired La Comunidad, and Interpublic Group of Companies Deutsch last year started a Hispanic practice called DLAtino.

Bilingual Marketing

Part of the success of an online marketing campaign includes getting your message out to people in a language they can understand. When targeting consumers who use Google products such as Search or Gmail, or visit sites on the Google Display Network, for example, you must choose the language of the sites on which you'd like your ads to appear. You can set up an AdWords campaign targeted to Spanish, with ads and keywords in Spanish.

Let's say you're going to advertise an online shop for computer equipment, or a new app for Android based smartphones. If you've chosen keywords in Spanish, as long as your target's Google interface language is set to Spanish, your ads will show up when these consumers search for your keywords. It is possible, however, that a consumer may search for keywords in Spanish, but have their interface set to English. Ideally, it may be beneficial to target more than one language with your keywords. This increases the likelihood that bilingual consumers will be exposed to your ad.

In some circumstances, it is appropriate to create separate campaigns for each language. Language selection, which we'll discuss further, can present a myriad of complexities in online marketing. An online advertising company with experience in the Hispanic market can typically advise when it is most effective to use one campaign in both Spanish and English, or create separate campaigns for each.

The Classic Question when Advertising in Spanish

The classic questions when it comes to marketing to the dynamic and often bilingual U.S. Hispanic market is, “do I advertise in Spanish, English, or Spanglish (a combination of English and Spanish)?” It is necessary to capture the cultural nuances to make the best decision when choosing the most effective advertising for the Hispanic market.

Latinum, a company that helps brands develop strategy for reaching Hispanic and other multicultural consumers, notes there is an emotional connection to Spanish for bilingual Hispanics. Latinum has developed a language decision framework with three key elements: givens, decisions and constraints.

• Givens: This refers to inherited brand traits unlikely to change, such as category and target.
• Decisions: These are elements that require ongoing intervention and optimization by marketers, such as objective, interaction, place and format.
• Constraints: These are factors that restrain execution, like space, times, backlash and cost.

In determining the best solution for language choice, one thing is certain. You cannot simply translate an English language advertisement into Spanish without missing out on a tremendous opportunity for engagement. Making such a choice lacks emotional resonance and breaches trust with the very audience you're attempting to reach. It is critical that marketing content in Spanish be created from scratch, rather than recycling English-based ads through translation.

The Emotional Connection when Advertising in Spanish

For many Hispanics, Spanish is the first language they have learned and is their dominant language. This again speaks to not only the emotional connection, but also comprehension concerns. Memories are often coded in this language, for example, a fond memory of a favorite activity from childhood, or thinking of a favorite meal. Food and entertainment are considered inherently emotional and, as a result, consumers whose first language is Spanish not only prefer this advertising in that language, they are demanding it. By advertising in Spanish, food and entertainment brands can successfully use language to evoke memory and play on nostalgia.

Understanding a Unique Market

We've been doing online advertising for Hispanic markets for nearly a decade and we understand the need for sensitivity and consideration in this unique market. We are able to create original content in Spanish that speaks to the core values of this community, recognizes their affinity for their first language, and taps into the collective experience of the Hispanic community.

We understand the strategic planning process required to create standout and powerful marketing executions for Hispanic consumers. We can help you determine your target, help you form objectives, the best way to create interaction, where to place ads, and the most appropriate format to use.

We can help determine the most appropriate language to use for advertising to the Hispanic market, dependent on brand, category, target and desired marketing activity.

We can be a tremendous asset for your business in working with this market and welcome an opportunity to demonstrate our competencies in online marketing in Spanish.