Recent MediaPost articles are talking about Hispanic businesses and state that for most marketers, questions result in more questions than answers...
- Are therereally that many Hispanic-owned businesses?
- Aren't most Hispanic businesses small "mom and pop" sole proprietorships like single-location restaurants or dry cleaning businesses?
- Do Hispanic businesses even represent a viable market for my product or service (e.g. we sell CRM software to mid-sizedcompanies)?
- Don't my existing B2B programs reach Hispanic businesses?
- Even if I wanted to reach Hispanicbusinesses, aren't they simply too niche to efficiently target with advertising?
- Do I need to advertise differently to Hispanic businesses?
So should B2B marketers pay more attention to Hispanic businesses? Iwould argue yes. Let's start with answers to those common questions, or barriers, about Hispanic businesses.
Are there really that many Hispanic-owned businesses?
There are approximately 2 million Hispanic-owned businesses in the U.S. that generate almost $300 billion in annual gross receipts. By the end of this year, there will be 3.2 million Hispanic firmsgenerating $465 billion (Sources: SBA, HispanicTelligence). That number is expected to balloon to 4.3 million by 2012. In fact, as of 2007, 1 out ofevery 10 small businesses in the U.S. is Hispanic-owned (Hispanic Trends).
Aren't most Hispanic business small "mom and pop" sole proprietorships
More than 50% of Hispanic businesses have 25 or moreemployees (U.S. Census Survey of Business Owners, 2002).
Do Hispanic businesses even represent a viable market for my product / service?
Hispanic businesses are in a variety of industries and range from the start-ups to large public companies, and therefore consume every imaginable business product or service. However, Hispanic businesses are concentrated in thefollowing industries: