Marketing Water Treatment to Hispanics

From Volume 32, Issue 10 - October 2009

Feature This large market could help grow your customer base. by: David H. Martin, Contributing Editor It’s official: Hispanics are the largest minority in the United States — 13 percent of the population. This represents a marketplace as big as a European nation. Targeting the $540 billion buying power of this market can expand your customer base and boost sales — if you do it right.

You don’t have to be Hispanic to market water treatment to Hispanics in your geographic market, but it helps. Do you have any Hispanic employees? Maybe you should.

The Hispanic residential water treatment market is one of the fastest-growing segments of the industry. As a result, marketers are scrambling harder than ever to reach this market, which, in addition to its impressive size, is unified by a common language. Are you getting your share?

Solutions for home, family
Daniel Munoz is owner of Blue Water International, Inc., a Dallas-based manufacturer of residential water treatment equipment. The company has a multi-state network of independent Spanish-speaking salespersons who focus 100 percent on direct in-home sales to Hispanic families.

“No matter how big Blue Water grows, we are at heart a family business,” Munoz says. “And most Spanish-speaking people, our target customers, are family-oriented, sharing the view that quality water is of primary importance to the ones they love and live with.”

Dan Jimenez, owner of Santa Clarita Water Conditioning Inc. in Valencia, CA, believes that Mexican immigrants have a strong distrust of tap water, a distrust originating from heavy chlorination practices in Mexico. He observes, “When they settle in the US, Hispanics have a carry-over distrust of chlorinated water, making them highly interested in non-chemical solutions, such as the systems we represent.”

Hispanics are likely sales prospects for other reasons as well. Tamara Barber of Forrester, a national marketing research firm, says Hispanic consumers will be more likely to rebound more quickly from recession-dampened spending patterns.

“When the economy begins to improve, Hispanics may be the first to start spending again because they’re less likely to have debt or be heavy users of credit cards,” says Barber.

Wide cultural spectrum
Laura Sonderup is the director of Heinrich Hispanidad, based in Denver, a division of Heinrich Marketing, Inc. Sonderup has been a featured speaker on the subject of ethnic marketing at many local and national conferences. To get results selling to the Hispanic market, Sonderup advises, marketers should focus on similarities that transcend ethnic and cultural differences.

“More than 75 percent of US Hispanics speak Spanish at home and 67 percent are most comfortable reading Spanish publications,” says Sonderup. “Even if they read and speak English fluently, 95 percent of Hispanics consume some form of Spanish language media each day.”

Sonderup observes, “It’s easiest to reach the full spectrum of Hispanics in Spanish. With more than 332 Hispanic magazines and 550 Hispanic newspapers nationwide, the opportunities for language-specific ads are plentiful. However, only a few cities — New York, Miami and Los Angeles — have major Spanish-language newspapers.

“More importantly, research shows that Hispanics prefer television and radio over newspapers and magazines. Spanish-language television and radio are your most effective vehicles for targeting this market.”

¿Habla usted español?*
According to Sonderup, Spanish is likely to remain the language of preference among US Latinos. In fact, Univision (the Spanish-language cable TV network) is now the No. 5 network in the United States, behind ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox.

When asked about advertising effectiveness, 38 percent of Hispanics surveyed found English-language ads less effective than ads in Spanish in terms of recall, and 70 percent found them less effective than Spanish ads in terms of persuasion.

Many younger and acculturated Latinos mix languages into a form of “Spanglish,” in which they speak English peppered with Spanish words or expressions. But when it comes to selling, 56 percent of Latino adults respond best to advertising when it is presented in Spanish.

Research shows that while Hispanics consume every type of media, they have a special attraction to television and radio. Nevertheless, as with any group of viewers, the air time used to identify a product or service at an in-depth level is typically too brief and too incomplete to be effective, thus the “sale” will not be closed.

However, the combination of direct mail, broadcast, Web sites and print makes it possible for the Hispanic consumer to obtain additional information — with each medium contributing to the total communications story (sidebar).

Have Spanish-speaking employees?
When planning a sales and marketing strategy that addresses Spanish speakers, be sure to include one or more Hispanic employees in the planning process. Consult with them on advertising copy, bilingual signage and telemarketing scripts.

Be aware that Hispanic consumers may differ from others in some of the product attributes they deem important. Ask your employees to help develop the right messages in Spanish. Direct translations of English-language messages and themes might not work nearly as well as custom-tailored ones.

Community engagement
Heinrich’s Sonderup suggests that you not only hire Hispanics, but also engage Hispanic vendors, sponsor Hispanic events and donate time or money to support charitable efforts.

“By becoming more involved in the Hispanic culture, Hispanic customers will become more involved in your business,” she says.

* “Do you speak Spanish?”

Correction: Thanks go to Las Vegas dealer Harry Harlow, who pointed out the error in my August 2009 article where I wrote that “…you can acquire a list of people to call at no cost, if you limit your request to homes in three specific ZIP codes….” The sentence should have read: “You can acquire a list of ‘Do Not Call’ names and numbers for any five area codes at no charge. For additional area codes the FCC charges $55 each.” — D.M.

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Water Technology^®Contributing Editor David H. Martin is president of Lenzi Martin Marketing, Oak Park, IL, a firm specializing in water improvement and environmental marketing that integrates old and new media. He can be reached at (708) 848-8404 or by e-mail at: david.martin34@comcast.net.