Hispanics And Direct Marketing example essay topic

The article "Hispanics and direct marketing advertising" investigates the general Hispanic consumer behavior in the United States. It provides a general study of purchase behaviors, attitudes and beliefs of Hispanic consumers toward direct marketing advertising. The use the term DMA (not for Direct Marketing Association, but for direct marketing advertising.) DMA to Hispanics has grown tremendously in past years and has been overlooked by many companies. To better understand the attitudes and believes of Hispanics several studies have been used to identify such behaviors. Still many of these studies where not specified towards Hispanics, instead they were general studies that studied Hispanics as one of the subsets. Most of the studies that are review view the aspect of assimilation and how assimilation is one of the best ways to approach the Hispanic culture when marketing to them.

In the past marketers have perceived Hispanics as a low-income group with little education and lacking credit instruments. Throughout the 1990 this perception has begun to change a great opportunity for marketers has been revealed. Due to the past believes there is little information about the Hispanics population attitude towards DMA. This makes it difficult for marketers to better understand successful ways of marketing to Hispanics.

Data Data collection was a mayor part of this article and the authors of this article where very careful where they obtained their data. A lot of it's information comes from Polla y and Mittal's (1993) studies who's data and information had four mayor factors: 1. Advertising in general rather than specific medium oriented 2. Had scalable, reliable and valid data 3. The constructs are theory based and drawn from past literature in the area 4. Their study is easy to read and administered Other studies that where taken in consideration in the article provided statistics that where culture oriented, in other words they where conducted in both English and Spanish.

In the past general studies have been done only in English, which many times avoided the Spanish speaking public. Even with Spanish and English material collecting data from Hispanics was not simple. This article states how difficult it was to collect samples for the project. Concerns about participating where accentuated because of the fears that immigration authorities, as well as fears that unethical businesses will use the information to exploit them could use personal information against them. A lot of the information was sent to the home of individuals through local Spanish newspapers and personal home encounters. Culture With the Hispanic culture there are many subgroups have to be taken into consideration.

While each of the Hispanic subgroups in the US has its own distinctiveness, there are a number of commonalities which serve to unite the larger group. All the groups share a common colonial founding and experience with Spain, and all geographic areas of Latin America witnessed a subjugation, or virtual elimination, of a native population. The native presence remains strong in many, though not all, parts of Latin America, and this characteristic is most prominent in Mexico, most of Central America and the Andean chain. Many parts of Latin America also experienced the introduction of African slavery, although this phenomenon was most pronounced in the countries of the Caribbean basin. Similarly, all countries of Latin America developed an uneasy relationship with the United States reaching back centuries, and the friction between an essentially Mediterranean culture with an Anglo-Saxon one continues to this day.

In the United States, few non-Hispanics make or are aware of significant distinctions among the different Hispanic groups, and it is not unusual for all groups to be seen as a unified, "Hispanic" category. The universal connection throughout Latin America to a Spanish colonial experience is the key to the cultural commonalities among all the Hispanic subgroups. While the Spanish influence is stronger in some regions than in others, the unifying theme regionally whether linguistic or cultural remains the connection back to Spain. For example, local linguistic variations exist, but Latin Americans of all backgrounds can easily communicate with one another in basically the same language. Language is a very important hallmark of culture, and this common language does provide a sense of unity, a factor, by the way, that has been enhanced with the rise of modern communications.

People throughout the Latin American region, and even Hispanics within the US, often watch the same television programs, listen to the same music and read the same authors. It is important ot recognize that the Hispanic market dies not constitute a single homogeneous market. As Hispanics have been coming to the United States for more than a century from many different areas and cultures, the Hispanic market comprises of several subgroups. These groups can be identified in many ways: . Country of Origin.

Reasons for migrating (political, economical, family oriented). How well the group assimilates to U.S. Society Assimilation and Acculturation The article states that for companies to succeed in the Hispanic market it is necessary to understand its complexity, diversity, levels of assimilation and acculturation. Understanding the immigrant experience to better speak to recent immigrants in the early stages of assimilation. Understanding that immigrants are very different, but are striving to assimilate. Immigrants absorb media differently than assimilated Americans. The use of in-language media differs within their own households.

The article views the studies by Segal and Sosa (1983), which stated that the key to identifying and understanding Hispanic subgroups might lie in the degree of acculturation. Acculturation is frequently defined as the culture exchange that is initiated by the conjunction of two or more autonomous cultural systems. It may be the consequences of direct cultural transmission, it may be derived from non-cultural causes, such as ecological or demographic modifications induced by an impinging culture, it may be delayed, as with internal adjustments following the acceptance of alien traits or patterns, or it may be a reactive adaptation of traditional modes of life. This definition has been employed in many past studies of ethnic cultures in marketing and other disciplines, as well as in the development of three distinct acculturation paradigms - assimilation, affirmation, and overshooting. Assimilation, perhaps the oldest of the three acculturation paradigms, is the focus of the "melting pot" literature in many studies. The assimilated group is expected to submerge the distinct cultural traits and exhibit or adopt the new (majority) culture's traits and values.

Affirmation occurs when the ethnic group chooses to retain their original values and reject behaviors of the majority. This is sometimes termed the "salad bowl" theory, i.e. participation without assimilation. Finally, overshooting occurs when the behavior of the group becomes more extreme than that of the majority, thus "overshooting" the dominant values and behaviors in the society. Critique and Conclusion This article must have looked at over 40 articles that expressed some sort of data concerning Hispanics views on direct marketing. This made the article an interesting data collection source but at the same took away its individuality. Still the topic, which it covered is of monumental importance and will continue to grow as time goes by.

The 2001 census gave Hispanics what the marketing community generally denies them recognition. Though Hispanics comprise 13 percent of the U.S. population of 284.8 million and are now the largest minority group, advertising spending on that market is just $1.2 billion compared with $173.2 billion on the general market nationwide. By 2010, Hispanics will account for 15 percent, or 56 million, of the country's population. In 2020, that figure will balloon to 70 million, or 21 percent. Hispanics are already a force in parts of the country. One out of three residents of California and Texas is Hispanic, one out of four in Arizona and one out of eight in Illinois.

The United States has the fifth-largest Hispanic population of any country. And may become No. 2 in a few years behind Mexico. Though these numbers represent a new frontier for marketers, U.S. Hispanics are not a homogenous group. Roughly two-thirds claim to be of Mexican origin. Hispanics from Central and South America account for 15 percent. Puerto Ricans are 9 percent, Cubans 4 percent and others born of intermarriages are 5 percent.

Such diversity within Hispanics makes marketing to them harder but not less important. Direct marketing to the Hispanic population should and will become a major area throughout the United States and the first to jump on the boat will endure the initial success. Sources: Minority Professional Network, Inc. (MPN), (2002), Marketing Expert of Adelanto Hispanic Marketing Says Smart Segmentation Is the Key to Targeting U.S. Hispanics, retrieved April 12, 2003 from: web Paul Miller. Primedia Business Magazines and Media, (January, 1 2003), Lists and Prospecting: The Overlooked Hispanic Market, retrieved April 13, 2003 from: web.