As Hispanic markets change, the need to understand how remains the same

MIAMI - After spending Tuesday evening listening to Cuban music at a local club in South Beach, and touring Little Havana and other Hispanic communities in Miami-Dade County on Wednesday, newspaper executives at API's Reaching Latino Audiences seminar were warned that the Hispanic market is constantly evolving.

Once you know your local market, you can't assume it will remain the same, said Armando Boniche, research manager for El Nuevo Herald in Miami. You need to keep doing research and tracking local trends.

Jerry Campagna, President of Reflejos Publications LLC, a division of Paddock Publications in Arlington Heights, IL, breaks down the demographics of the Chicago suburbs during the seminar. (Photo by Joshua Prezant)

Changes in migration can alter a community's language needs, said Gloria Ruiz, chairwoman for the Communication Arts, English and Humanities Department at St. Thomas University in Miami. Don't assume the only way to reach Hispanics is through a Spanish-language publication.

Aída Levitan, vice chair and chief communications officer of Bromley Communications in Miami, agreed that staying on top of trends is crucial for Hispanic newspapers.

"If you don't, you can't respond to the market, " she said. "You need to be familiar with the latest research. "

Changing course

As the Miami Hispanic community has changed, so has the Spanish-targeted product published by the Miami Herald Publishing Co.

Only 5 percent of the Miami population was Hispanic in the 1960s, said Cesar Pizarro, El Nuevo Herald's business manager. To serve that community, The Miami Herald began publishing two pages of Spanish content in 1963 and branded it El Miami Herald.

El Miami Herald became a Spanish-language supplement in 1976 when the Hispanic population reached 23 percent. However, the Herald initially made a mistake in its distribution methods by inserting the supplements into copies of the Miami Herald that were delivered to households with Spanish surnames, Pizarro said. "We assumed that anyone with a Spanish surname wanted to read a Spanish-language product. " The paper received many complaints from people who didn't want a Spanish-language publication, and it also failed to reach Hispanics who didn't have Spanish surnames, he said.

A new supplement, El Nuevo Herald, was launched in 1987. By then, the Hispanic population had grown to 36 percent. Again, the Herald made a mistake with its distribution strategy, Pizarro said. To get a copy of the Spanish-language paper, you had to buy the Miami Herald.

El Nuevo Herald didn't become a stand-alone daily newspaper until 1998 when Hispanics made up 49 percent of the population. By then, said Pizarro, the market was changing and there was an influx of Hispanics from Latin America coming to Miami. As a result, the paper had to fight the perception among the Hispanic community that it was a Cuban newspaper.

In 2004 El Nuevo Herald was redesigned, adding a daily section called America Latina, which focuses on news from Latin America.

Get a Piece of the Advertising Pie

Staying on top of market trends and doing research also can help increase the amount of national advertising in your newspaper.

"Advertisers have limited budgets " for the Hispanic market, said Levitan, "and they need to reach out to the majority of Hispanics in a cost-effective way. " Unfortunately, she said, a bulk of that money goes to broadcast outlets.

One of the concerns advertisers have is that many Hispanic newspapers don't have audited circulations.

"You need a circulation audit to be considered by a national advertiser, " said Jerry Campagna, president and publisher of Reflejos, a weekly publication targeted at Hispanics in the Chicago suburbs.

In addition to an audited circulation, Hispanic newspapers looking to gain more national advertising need to present market research and creative partnership programs to potential advertisers, Levitan said. "You need to bring something to the table that TV doesn't bring, " she said. "Explain why your paper is important to the mix and how your paper can be of help in a way that broadcast can't. "

Making Connections

In the Hispanic market, face-to-face connections are crucial, Levitan said. Don't rely on e-mail. "Personal relationship building is part of our culture, " she said.

Levitan suggests Hispanic newspapers schedule periodic meetings with the top 20 Hispanic ad agencies. Her recipe for success? Make the meetings something to look forward to.

"We Hispanics like to have fun, " she said. "Bring in humor, zest, do it over lunch. You need to be creative to establish a personal relationship. "

Making connections in the Hispanic community is just as important, said Ruiz.

"We need to have time to develop these relationships, " she said. "These are not things that happen overnight. "

API will publish a full report from this seminar later this year. For more information, e-mail Lisa Rabasca, API's communication manager, at lrabasca@americanpressinstitute.org.