How Direct Mail Can Win Hispanic Market Response

Direct mail is a powerful marketing tool for targeting Hispanic customers, as Hernan Tagliani, president of The Group Advertising and Hispanic communications pro, reminded in a recent article. To bolster his direct mail advocacy, Tagliani cites the Yankelovich Monitor Multicultural Marketing Study findings that 77% of Hispanics won’t discard mail before reading it and 54% of Hispanic adults respond to a direct-mail offer, so Hispanic households are 3.5 times more likely to respond to a direct-mail solicitation than non-Hispanic households. But he also stresses that crafting direct mail to successfully appeal to Hispanics is not simply a matter of sending an English piece to a Spanish-surname list, or translating existing mail copy verbatim into Spanish. He provides five important tips for direct mailers. First, consider the target audience, meaning the decision-maker and his or her likely acculturation level and language dominance -- and that means careful list selection, we would add. Next, make sure to personalize and customize the message whether the direct mail copy is in English, Spanish or bilingual. Get an expert translation if Spanish copy is required to avoid the ineffective, even insulting, impact of a poor literal translation. Customize visuals, too, so that they match and reinforce the multicultural marketing message. And the bottom line for any successful direct mail campaign: Make a compelling offer with a specific response time frame! For more detail, see http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/how-to/marketing/2014/07/direct-mail-geo-targeting-hispanic-buyers.html