The Hispanic purchase process language barrier
Many Clients ask me, “is it important for the full buyer experience to be in Spanish”? Sometimes I just shrug my shoulders and nod slightly…but most times I can’t help myself and say YES, of course! Most of them are very intelligent marketers, why would this part of the process be any different? This is part of any operational readiness plan.

Some industries are regulated much heavier than others. For instance, in the financial sector, there are laws protecting consumers that state if a bank solicits a consumer in a specific language, they must service that consumer in that same language. This prohibits banks from preying on consumers by baiting them in Spanish and confusing them when it comes time to collect on the debt. Unfortunately, it also prevents many banks from wanting to do business with the Hispanic market. Many don’t want to get into the legal mumbo-jumbo that many don’t understand. Many also assume that Hispanics do not have money or that they keep it in their mattresses or send it to family in Mexico. But then there’s WaMu and BofA who have figured it out and that is why they are reaping the benefits of having waiting areas filled with Hispanics.
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Those of us that manage business units or retail operations in Texas have to agree that Spanish language marketing efforts need to be evaluated on a city by city basis. This is a basic best practice when approaching this state. San Antonio is different from Houston which is different Dallas which is a polar opposite to Austin. And then there’s that mad Mexican money that crosses the border to buy Hummers in El Paso.

From my days of managing General Motors’ Hispanic marketing efforts in the US and leveraging specific brands efforts in TX; I recall the endless dealer meetings where the white folks argued with the brown folks about what was “the right thing to do” (as far as marketing). Many dealer owners said that Spanish language marketing would not reach their target market. I also heard often, that people who responded to Spanish language marketing or advertising were, most likely looking for a used car. When we were planning direct mail campaigns for GM and other brands, we would launch them in Spanish and English so that no one could get offended…but there was always someone upset with us. With the unreliable amount of direct mail lists in our market, you can never assume. So what is the right answer?
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