• by Karina Dobarro , March 5, 2015

By 2020, Hispanics are projected to make up more than 20 percent of the population. By 2050, it is estimated that Hispanics will make up 30% of the population. Despite lower average household income levels, Hispanics strength in numbers equates to billions of dollars in disposable income.

By 2015, researchers say Hispanic buying power will continue to grow and reach $1.5 trillion as part of the $16 trillion total U.S. buying power. So how can marketers make sure they are tapping into this exponentially growing and increasingly important segment of the population?

More marketers need to realize the gold mine they are sitting on and not underestimate the power and influence of the Hispanic community. The Hispanic market grows in value every day with 800,000 Hispanics entering adulthood and over 1 million Hispanic births each year.

Hispanics are an extremely valuable group of consumers that respond to marketing in nearly every brand category.

Automakers are doing their part in maintaining a relationship with the Hispanic market. Toyota, which has done especially well in the Hispanic marketplace, continues to customize their efforts when reaching this audience. Most recently, it partnered with Mexican artist, Ximena Sarinana, to bring Hispanic music fans a real-time social media experience during summer music festivals.

Through photos and posts Ximena shared her road trip and summer festival experience with fans, all while driving a Toyota Prius. The hashtag #VayamosJuntos (Let’s go together) was used by the artist to encourage social engagement with fans.

Research shows that Hispanics living in the United States are, on average, 10 years younger than the general U.S. population (28 vs. 39). Since they are younger, they engage in more mobile and online activity, and are responding more heavily to digital and mobile marketing efforts.

As Hispanics continue to embrace the digital world, opportunities for advertisers continue to grow. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are excellent ways to reach the Hispanic audience, considering they are five times more likely to share content than Americans in general. Campaigns that include multi-platform engagement, such as a Facebook and Pandora execution, for example, would be even more effective.

So what shouldn’t marketers do when targeting Hispanics?

It would be wise not to equate Hispanic marketing to Spanish language only. Most Hispanics today are U.S.-born and bilingual, consuming a combination of Spanish and English language media and content. To make marketing even more effective, brands need to understand the media consumption patterns of their Hispanic consumer and seek opportunities in-culture and across languages.

As the Hispanic population continues to grow, brands that chose not to grow with them will fall behind. By 2050, every brand should be marketing to Hispanics as they will represent an enormous and valuable consumer and billions of dollars in ROI. Why not start now?