Opportunity during the recession

This is a post written by Intern Tim Hemphill, who is majoring in economics and Spanish at the UW with just one quarter left to go.

According to Tamara Barber in her July 20th article published by Forrester Research, Inc., “Hispanic Consumers Offer Opportunities in a Recession,” now is not the time for companies to cut or discontinue funding for marketing targeted to the Hispanic community.

One of the more interesting points supporting this conclusion found that Hispanics are more loyal to brand names than non-Hispanics, although the number is declining in recent years, perhaps due to a younger-skewing demographic.

Also, Hispanics are less annoyed with advertisements and more dependent on them for making purchases, something that once again has declined since last year.

All of this suggests that further cuts in marketing to the Hispanic community could lead to an unfavorable trend for companies that previously had success reaching this segment of the population.

Note that this segment comprises almost 10% of the spending power in the U.S. The Hispanic population is large enough and important enough to make them a priority in marketing strategy, and without prompt changes, companies could lose opportunities in the long run despite their efforts to save money now.

For a subscription to Forrester see its website.