m-musings

Courting the Hispanic Market

 

This article appears in the agency's inaugural

client newsletter m-strategizing.

 

  In recent years, we have spent countless hours researching ways to gain knowledge into the dynamics of the Hispanic lifestyle. Fine-tuning our learnings of their behavior regarding consumption, mores, and shopping   habits. We then use qualitative and quantitative research, plus other methods to help us discover the objective insight needed to support our creative platforms.

This methodology works well as long as our communication goals are still based on well-known formulas, procedures and practices along with their traditional media outlets: TV, radio and print – in Spanish, of course. But when we find out that our clients are reallocating their Hispanic advertising budgets to the general market, we begin to worry. How does this affect our commitment, not only with the industry but also with the Latino community? Essentially, what should we expect? Change, change, and more change.

There’s no doubt, that change requires flexibility, but change is also the manifestation of true growth and maturity. We should ask ourselves, how can we use change to our benefit and turn a potential negative into a positive. For starters, we should reach out more to our clients and propose new alternatives. Help them change and measure the brand presence among the Hispanic consumer to an even more transcendental, relevant, personal, memorable level. We should aim to create more grounded and poignant interaction with the consumer.

In order for the transition of change to be fluid and harmonious, our focus should be on more precise and inclusive methods.  Using applied efforts and tactics of non-traditional approaches, like grass-roots and high-touch marketing, change will be something that is now welcomed.

Therefore, the task is not only creating Spanish communication, it’s creating an in-culture message that puts us right in the environment of sociological change and cultural adaptations of our consumer. By creating in-culture communication, not only are we being an active part of change, but we are also leading the transformation - an evolution that just makes sense since it’s close to our reality. Being a part of the Hispanic community the future is bringing us opportunities like never before.

Today is the best time to redefine and prove our creative abilities by promoting true flexibility in the use of media budgets and creative measures; resulting in dynamic and memorable communications when they are needed the most and the ones the consumer is least expecting.

The future is defined by change, change in the way Hispanic consumers will interact with your brand, your future awaits.

The Cartel Group known for disruptive compaigns for well-known national Brands, is m strategies’ strategic partner in advertising.

Recession-proofing Your Marketing Strategy

This article appears in the agency's inaugural client newsletter m-strategizing.

 

Conventional business wisdom says that when times are tough, marketing is one of the first budgets that should be slashed.  Perhaps, then, it may sound counter intuitive to market through a down market instead of ceasing your activity.  It’s the advice that I give any business and any client.  It is a major mistake to quiet marketing efforts in an economy like the one today.  After all, how will your target hear your call to action if the message is not delivered?  The answer is that they won’t hear it, and they likely will soon forget it since attention spans are limited these days and memories are even shorter.

So how do you achieve buy-in for such a radical plan to continue to market through a downturn?  Here are three tips that will help you to develop a plan to market smarter by recession-proofing your marketing plans.

Keep all your agencies and opt for 360 integrations.  Bringing all your agencies together to the brainstorming and planning table will not only allow for synergies, but it will allow these agencies to work smarter by finding overlaps in their strategies.  For instance, when the interactive agency, a public relations agency, the media buyers and an ad agency gather to plan, the result can be one integrated marketing strategy that supports your advertising creative, gives more depth to your online presence, gives context to your buying decisions and supports the public relations outreach with solid awareness.  This approach requires all of their expertise and less of their billings compared to if they are in their separate corners and told to write plans without collaborating.

When your ad spend is soft, go hard with PR. We hear it all the time—“Our message didn’t translate in a certain non-media market,” or “I wish that we had more money to spend on radio during this crucial sales period.”   For the first dilemma, consider a market-focused, aggressive PR campaign.  For the second, consider a radio media tour with a great spokesperson.  Public relations will not only “fill” your advertising gaps with your message, it is also less expensive and offers a free dose of credibility to boot.

When you’re marketing on a dime go social.  If your audience is online, go meet them there with a well-planned social media strategy.  Your interactive team can build it, but will they come?  Your PR team can articulate and ensure it, and your ad team can integrate and promote it.  While many social networks remain free to utilize, think about the best way to connect with your target, and call your agencies to get it moving.  You’ll find that a social campaign has less overhead than a traditional one, and gifting editors can be virtual as well.  Consider sending iTunes that tell your brand’s story with an audio file with the pitch. Yes…you can do that. 

Finally, do not forget to measure and report. Want more strategies and insights?  Drop me a note at michelle@mstrategiesinc.com.

L. Michelle Smith a veteran PR strategist is the principal at m strategies inc.

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tweaking your twitter

Twitter is one of the most popular micro-blogs where countless of people login to provide informative snippets, insights, headline news commentary and business practices to a diverse media-savvy target audience.

With more and more business professionals and corporations using Twitter as a social media vehicle to disseminate instant messages - make sure you are using Twitter in the most efficient and effective way.

Here are five tools to tweak your Twitter:

 

1. 1. Twitter Snooze: Twitter’s handy version of a mute button. If one of your followers are blabbing constantly this tool will allow you to temporarily un-follow them.

2. TwitterScope : TwitterScope is Twitter’s version of Technorati. TwitterScope will display Twitter posts from a specified user and all @replies to that user. Having all the posts on a single page makes it much easier to follow the rest of the conversation if it involves people/subjects you’re not yet following as well as tracking the span of your messages and influence. Here is a great article on how to use TwitterScope: http://www.designmeme.com/twitterscope/

3. TweetDeck : Organize the growing number of followers. You can place people on your Twitter into groups and watch what they are doing in their own pane. This is helpful for Twitters like Starbucks or CNN – that have thousands of users.

4. Qwitter : Missing your mark? Losing followers? If you want to know who has stopped following you, Qwitter is the perfect tracker.

5. Twitter Search : Twitter Gossip? Find your Twitter ID, grab the RSS feed and subscribe. Now, you will know what and who is talking about you.

For more on the effectiveness of your tweeting, here is a great article that will shed some light.

 

m strategies inc. continues to provide a roadmap through the emerging social media terrain. Making sure to always create the right message for the right audience while using the most innovative and effective social media channels, at the right time. Call us  at 214-741-2100 if you'd  like strategic counsel on how to implement these tools...and ensure that your Tweet is meaningful.