FACE-TO-FACE, ONE-TO-ONE Marketing and Hispanics

By Luis Garcia
Mailed 2004-12-08

What does it mean when someone tells you Hispanics are a "relationship marketing" population?

Relationship marketing is, literally, marketing that is meant to engender a "relationship" between consumer and advertiser. The definition of this relationship is dependent upon the advertiser's goals and can range from the purely transactional to the extremely personal, which requires some knowledge of consumer motivation. One aspect of relationship marketing to Hispanics, face-to-face initiatives, is extremely crucial.

Though face-to-face marketing is closely tied to bilingual personnel, its executions deal more with understanding the importance of friendship to Latinos. Some marketers assert that Hispanics value old-fashioned personal touches and appreciate the value of forming long-term relationships. The mistake most often made, however, is when business people ask for their business before seeking to establish friendly relationships in the community. One could say that Hispanics prefer to do business with friends, in addition to being business associates.

The importance of personal attention has prompted many companies to execute face-to-face marketing efforts in areas of high Hispanic concentration. Many music labels, for example, employ face-to-face street techniques to reach Hispanics who may not consume much mainstream media because of language barriers, or who might want more information about a product on the spot. In fact, street teams, once considered a guerilla marketing technique, have been increasingly used to market to Hispanics at events, as well as at everyday locations like malls and theaters. Well-trained street teams can help put a face on a brand story, potentially creating lasting affinity between consumers and companies.

Toyota's strategy for advertising to Latinos has for years been explicit about using Hispanic talent in its ads. Banco Popular even used Don Franciso, the popular host of Sabado Gigante (the equivalent of The Price is Right in Latin America), as its spokesperson when it officially entered the U.S. market in 1998. In 1997, Pepsi pulled out all the stops when it had Mexican soccer star Jorge Campos endorse Pepsi domestically and internationally. The company then produced a commercial that featured him and actress Selma Hayek. They again made headlines by bringing on Shakira as a celebrity endorser in 2002, not just for Hispanics, but for the general market.

Return to Market News list