Market research key to starting Hispanic-targeted publication

According to the U.S. Census, the Hispanic population is America's fastest
growing minority group. In 2002, the census reported that more than one in eight
people in the United States were of Hispanic origin and predicted 98.3 million
Hispanics will be living in the United States by 2050. In 2000, Hispanics were
12.5 percent of the U.S. population, and by 2050 Hispanics are forecast to be
25 percent of the U.S. population.

Newspapers across the country are rapidly evaluating how to reach this growing
market, but the answer isn't as simple as translating the daily newspaper
into Spanish and distributing it to households with Spanish-sounding surnames.

The most successful Hispanic-targeted publications will be the ones that have
done the best research, Robert Montemayor, president of Montemayor Consulting
in Bloomfield, N.J., told the 21 newspaper executives who attended the American
Press Institute's recent Reaching Latino Audiences seminar in Miami.

Many of the executives there?from newsrooms, and advertising, circulation
and online departments from across the country?were tasked with figuring
out how best to reach the Hispanics in their communities. Some of their papers
are contemplating adding specialized content to the existing mix. Others are
purchasing an established Spanish-language paper in their market or creating
a publication from scratch. Some of the executives already produce a Spanish-language
publication and wanted to stay ahead of the curve. Regardless, all were in Miami
looking for better ways to serve this emerging market.

Know Your Market

While there is no question that the Hispanic population overall is growing,
publishers need to evaluate their local market. What percentage of the local
population is Hispanic? Were they born in the United States or in another country?
Are they predominantly Puerto Rican, Cuban or Mexican? Do they prefer to read
English or Spanish? What is their acculturation level?

The danger, said David Hume, president of Mediamericas, an Alexandria, Va.-based
consulting firm, is assuming all Hispanics are alike. "The only thing we
have in common is the word Hispanic," he cautioned. What works in Miami,
which is heavily Cuban, won't work in New York City, which is predominantly
Puerto Rican, Dominican and Central American. And what works in the Big Apple
won't work in Los Angeles, which is heavily Mexican.

Content also will be driven by whether the population is mostly new immigrants
or Hispanics who have been living in the United States for a while. New immigrants
are most interested in content about how to get along in this country?how
to get a driver's license, buy a house or enroll their children in school?and
they will most likely prefer to read in Spanish, said Armando Boniche, marketing
research manager for the Miami Herald Publishing Co., which produces El Nuevo
Herald, a daily Spanish-language paper. Second-, third- and fourth-generation
Hispanics might prefer to read in English and are probably more interested in
news about the local community.

Once the population base has been identified, the publisher will need to determine
whether the paper has the resources to produce a quality publication for this
market. Can the paper recruit reporters familiar enough with the Hispanic community
to produce relevant content? If the plan is to produce a Spanish-language publication,
can the paper recruit reporters, editors and copyeditors who can read and write
in Spanish?

"It's hard to find good talent writing in Spanish," admitted
Edward Schumacher Matos, chief executive officer and editorial director of Meximerica
Media Inc. in San Antonio, which publishes a Spanish-language paper, Rumbo,
in Austin, Houston, San Antonio and the Lower Rio Grande Valley. "Those
who have been here a while lose their syntax when writing in Spanish."

Educate Advertisers

Just as publishers are learning about this new market, advertisers also have
some catching up to do. Sales reps need to be educated about the Hispanics in
the local community?what their buying power is, where they shop and what
they buy?so they can educate advertisers.

"They need to understand the value proposition and the community to be
able to tell the advertiser why it matters to their business," said Miami
Herald's Boniche.

Aí¤¡ Levitan, former vice chair and chief communications officer at
Bromley Communications, a Hispanic advertising agency in Miami, said that national
advertisers also need to be educated about the value of Hispanic-targeted media.
Too many national advertisers believe that by advertising in English, they are
already reaching the Hispanic market, said Levitan. Many advertisers, particularly
those selling pharmaceuticals, technology and financial services, are under-spending
in this market, she said.

Levitan admitted that most of the advertising dollars go to Spanish-language
broadcast outlets. One of the concerns that advertisers have is that many Hispanic
newspapers don't have audited circulations.

"You need a circulation audit to be considered by national advertisers,"
said Jerry Campagna, president and publisher of Reflejos, a weekly publication
owned by Paddock Publications in Arlington Heights, Ill. Reflejos reaches Hispanics
in the Chicago suburbs and is audited by the Circulation Verification Council
in St. Louis, which specializes in auditing community newspapers.

Instead of focusing on national advertisers, the sales staff of El Diario/El
Prensa, a daily Spanish-language paper in New York City produced by impreMedia,
focuses on local advertising. The best categories are automotive, cellular telephones,
grocery, travel and legal services, said Jorge Ayala, the paper's general
sales manager.

Sales presentations for local advertisers need to be very simple, Ayala said.
"All they care about is cost, how much will the phone ring and how many
people will come in the door."

Lessons Learned

In 1998, Aida Bustos-Garcia was tapped to become the San Diego Union-Tribune's
Latino affairs editor and to "create something" to reach this audience.
At the time, she was the paper's metro editor.

Bustos-Garcia originally created a monthly publication called En Espanol, which
evolved into Enlace. The staff faced many challenges including the fact that
none of the sales reps spoke Spanish. The paper's computer system couldn't
handle the Spanish language alphabet, and there was no circulation or distribution
strategy.

Initially En Espanol was inserted each month in the edition of the paper distributed
closest to the Mexican border, but, said Bustos-Garcia, most of those households
didn't read Spanish and a few dozen complained.

El Nuevo Herald in Miami made a similar mistake with its initial distribution
efforts, said Cesar Pizarro, the paper's business manager. El Nuevo Herald
was inserted into copies of the Miami Herald that were delivered to households
with Spanish surnames. "We assumed that anyone with a Spanish surname wanted
to read a Spanish-language product." Like the Union-Tribune, the Miami
Herald received many complaints, he said, from people who didn't want
a Spanish-language publication, and it also failed to reach Hispanics who didn't
have a Spanish surname.

Today, Enlace is delivered free to 65,000 homes in primary Latino areas. It
also is available in retail locations, and the Union-Tribune will insert it
into the paper if a reader requests it, said Bustos-Garcia.

El Nuevo Herald, on the other hand, is sold by subscription and at retail outlets.
"If you want to read in Spanish, we're your newspaper," Pizzaro
said.

Keep Doing Research

Even after all the research is done, publishers will need to continue to track
the market and trends.

"Migration patterns will change," said Boniche. Over time there will
be different language abilities and acculturation levels among the audience.
"You can't be static. You need to be ready to change course because
the market continually changes."

While there are opportunities for newspapers to create products for Hispanics,
said Montemayor, "it will get down to the brass tacks of who does the best
research."

"The landscape is likely to change," he warned. "There will
be causalities and some will be squeezed out."