Se habla Espanol?

Se habla Espanol?

If you cannot answer the above question, you could be missing out on connecting with a large number of potential customers.

Business owners develop marketing plans to identify the media they will use to deliver advertising messages. In my many meetings with business owners, I have seen few plans that identified marketing initiatives targeted to Hispanic customers.

Neglecting to communicate with the growing Spanish-speaking population could limit your company's growth.

Based upon census projections, by the year 2025 the Hispanic/Latino population will be the largest minority population in the U.S.

The Hispanic population in Wisconsin more than doubled between 1990 and 2000 to nearly 200,000.

Annual growth nationally has averaged close to 5 percent each year since 2000.

Astute business owners recognize the expanding Hispanic population as an opportunity. The Latino community will provide workforce resources and customers, resulting in a win-win situation.

Bilingual employees needed

Some companies are seeking to hire employees who speak English and Spanish. This is one marketing tool that can provide unique benefits to the business. Connecting with your customers by communicating directly with them is very powerful.

Those of us who speak English fluently take many things for granted. We pick up the telephone, make a call, place an order, or schedule an appointment and take the whole process for granted.

For a person still learning to speak English, the challenges of making a telephone call may prevent them from doing business with a company. This is especially true if the customer service representative answering the call uses "jargon" or slang.

'Frontline' contacts important

Recruiting and training qualified "frontline" contacts will make it easier for customers who speak little English to buy your products and/or services.

Having a bilingual (English/Spanish) employee on staff can eliminate some of the challenges posed by telephone calls and face-to-face meetings, but what happens when you place an English-only advertisement in the newspaper? Will Hispanic customers understand it?

UW-Extension Applied Population Laboratory research indicates that more than 50 percent of Hispanics who speak Spanish at home do not speak English "very well" and 31 percent speak English poorly or not at all.

Will these potential customers have an English-speaking friend available to translate the advertisement? If they do, will this friend understand the ad and effectively convey its message?

Communicate directly

For many companies, a better strategy is to communicate directly with the Spanish-speaking public in the language spoken in their homes.

Now is a good time to look at your marketing plan and see if you are communicating with the Hispanic community.

Growing your business can be accomplished by making it easier for your customers to do business with you. That includes marketing tools targeted to your customers in a language they can understand. It may also mean using multiple advertising media that allow your message to reach all of your customers in a way that truly resonates with them.

If you want to grow your business, you need to understand your customer and your customer needs to understand you.

Delivering your marketing appeal in an easily understood format is the beginning of the process. Developing a relationship with customers/clients begins with good communication.

Se habla Espanol?

Bud Gayhart is interim director of the Center for Innovation and Business Development at UW-Whitewater.