Thread: ESCONDIDO BUSSINESSES GET TIPS TO ATTRACT LATINO CUSTOMERS

Escondido businesses get tips for attracting Latino customers

By: DAVID GARRICK - Staff Writer

NORTH COUNTY TIMES : SAN DIEGO / RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

Fast-growing market is focus of chamber seminar

ESCONDIDO -- A group of local business leaders got advice Tuesday morning about attracting a larger share of the fast-growing Latino market

During the seminar, which was hosted by the Escondido Chamber of Commerce, a marketing specialist said it is becoming more crucial for local businesses to attract Latino customers as they become more affluent and a greater portion of the local population.

Hispanics now make up one-third of San Diego County residents and 44 percent of Escondido residents, and their purchasing power is projected to grow by 40 percent between now and 2009, according to the marketing specialist, Chula Vista-based Andres Verjan.

Among the key marketing tips Verjan offered were that Latino customers typically prefer cash to credit cards, shop in groups instead of alone and become fiercely loyal to companies they trust.

Latinos typically respond well to Internet marketing because they tend to be younger than the average consumer, said Verjan. They also usually respect companies that feature Spanish words in their ads and within their places of business, he said.

"Using Spanish is a great way to build loyalty in your customers, because it shows you are trying," said Verjan. "When we see someone advertising to us in Spanish, our attitude completely changes."

Verjan was invited to speak by the chamber's Latino Business Committee, which was established last fall to help recruit Latino business leaders into the chamber despite their cultural differences with its mostly-white membership.

Chamber leaders said Tuesday's seminar was an example of how business people with different backgrounds can work together on issues that are important to all of them.

More than 30 business leaders attended the seminar, which featured a slide show containing a wide variety of statistics, graphs and charts. Verjan said he gleaned the data from multiple sources, including the U.S. Census and the San Diego Association of Governments.

Chamber Chairman Floyd Farley praised the seminar afterward, saying he hopes that business owners who missed the event will make an effort to get the information from chamber officials.

"Marketing to Latinos is an important factor in business success in Escondido," said Farley, explaining that he would like the chamber to present Tuesday's information to chamber members in another venue later this year.

Farley, who is chief executive of Graybill Medical Group in Escondido, said he was especially impressed by the relatively young age of local Latinos.

Verjan said 42 percent of Latinos in Escondido are under the age of 20, and just 3 percent are over the age of 65. He said the median age for Escondido Latinos is 25.3, while the median age for Escondido overall is 31.

"Marketing to Hispanic teenagers is typically well-received," said Verjan. "We need to drive the families through the teens."

Verjan said another key is using Spanish words, but that such efforts must be handled carefully.

Verjan said Washington Mutual had enormous success with painting "bienvenidos," the Spanish word for "welcome," in its lobbies. But he said some West Coast companies have mistakenly used phrases popular among Puerto Ricans when their customers are primarily Mexican, who speak a different dialect and use many different phrases.

Ads or storefronts featuring the same words Latinos use in their everyday life will convince them that you respect them and their culture, said Verjan.

"Trust and respect is the No. 1 thing you need to gain in the Hispanic market," he said.

-- Contact staff writer David Garrick at (760) 740-5468 or dgarrick@nctimes.com.


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