Hispanic Public relations in a newly created U.S.A.

The year is 2011, the Census numbers have been releases and you’re still marketing towards the same audience. With the U.S. demographic quickly changing, a lot of businesses and organizations are questioning who exactly their target audience is. This is a bit confusing because there is a huge difference in Latinos in a digital age (first generation born) and their parents whom immigrated to the United States. However, there are tons of resources out there for you to start focusing on Hispanic public relations and marketing.

So where do you being? Do you pitch Spanish-language publications like El Diario/La Prensa, El Nuevo Herald, La Opinion or do you pitch English-lanugage publications with a Latino audience like Latina Magazine, Hispanic Executive Magazine or even the HispanicPR blog? Advertising Age said it best, “Dubbed the ‘bridge generation’ in a recent study by MRM Worldwide, these young, U.S.-born Latinos move comfortably between English and Spanish depending on the situation. They attend American schools and have American friends.” This of course makes them American, but nothing can change their cultural identity.

Like social media, this is something you have to do research on, find your audience, and pitch away. Use your resources. The Hispanic Public Relations Association’s (HPRA) mission is to help Hispanic professional communicators enter and advance within the public relations and marketing communications fields by creating an exchange of information and ideas that empower public relations practitioners to be experts in their fields among other things. HPRA are heavily involved with the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and are co-sponsoring the 2^nd Annual Hispanic PR & Social Media conference this April.

You can also follow the Hispanic PR blog which is managed by Multicultural PR veterans Manny Ruiz and Angela Sustaita-Ruiz.  Throughout the posts you’ll find interesting trends, research, case studies and best practices on how to start your Hispanic marketing/PR campaign.  It will also give you insights on how to use social media to reach the Latino consumer. One social media suggestion is to “talk” to your audience in the #Latism hashtag on Twitter. LATISM, the largest organization for Latino and Latina professionals engaged in social media, is a 501(c) 4 nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to advancing the social, civic and economic status of the Latino community.

The outlets are there. The trends are there. As public relations professionals you should be able to follow best practices and your outcome will be as successful as your mainstream campaigns. Hey, sometimes even gearing your big campaign to the Latino consumer will make sense. Starting something completely new may be challenging but it can also lead to success. 

This blog post was written by Eric Cortes. Eric Cortes is a member of the media relations team at the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC). He joined GPTMC in 2008 and quickly became an integral member of the team, developing PR pitches, placing stories in top outlets and planning large-scale media events. He also manages the company’s outreach to the ever-growing Hispanic travel market through his use of traditional media relations and social media.

In 2010, Cortes was named one of the “Delaware Valley’s Most Influential Latinos,” an event produced by the Philadelphia Multicultural Affairs Congress and Impacto Latin Newspaper, and in 2011, he took home the Professional of the Year Award, one of three Excelencia Hispanic Business Awards distributed annually by the Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. He serves as one of three directors for the Philadelphia Public Relations Association (PPRA) and as the vice president of professional development for the Latino Leadership Alumni Association. He is also a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and Gamma Phi Sigma “Hermanos Unidos” Fraternity, Inc.