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Why you have to go beyond ‘cookie-cutter’ campaigns to reach the U.S. Hispanic market

Yaneiza Echezarraga, co-founder of Twin Minds Media and our latest PR Profiles guest, helps brands and other PR agencies go beyond “cookie-cutter” campaigns and activations to reach the U.S. Hispanic market in authentic ways. “What we see often is that brands either do one-off campaigns or they activate during a certain time of the year,” says Yaneiza in her interview for the podcast. “They may do something for specific holidays or seasons like Cinco de Mayo or Day of the Dead or National Hispanic Heritage Month, and then after that, they’re silent.” She says that activating and then disappearing for the rest of the year isn’t good for brand image or reputation and “doesn’t align with what a lot of brands have as their DEI mission.” According to Yaneiza, internal DEI efforts should be in alignment and go hand-in-hand with external multicultural communications.

The second misstep brands make is to take the general market strategy and attempt to adapt it to the Hispanic market. “Instead of including the Hispanic approach from the beginning, instead of having multicultural [communication] be a priority, it’s an add-on,” says Yaneiza. Additionally, Yaneiza says brands try to speak to the Hispanic community as one entity. “It’s a huge community. Trying to do one activation and pretending that that’s going to resonate with all the community, it’s wrong because we all have different realities.”

To address these challenges, Yaneiza says brands must “have someone who knows the market provide information and their expertise, but also to be very authentic in the approach.” And that’s where Twin Minds Media and the experiences and expertise of Yaneiza and co-founder Claudia Solis come in. “That sort of deep knowledge can only be brought by someone who’s Latino or who really knows the market.”

One of Twin Minds Media’s specialties is influencer marketing—a huge opportunity for brands. In fact, Yaneiza says that companies that aren’t trying to reach the Hispanic community on social media “are absolutely leaving money on the table.” Consider that Hispanic families hold around $1.5 trillion in purchasing power according to a recent blog on the Twin Minds Media website.

“Latinos over-index on social media,” says Yaneiza. “We over-index because we are community driven. We engage, we comment, we’re just very active.” She adds, “We know that Latinos look up to influencers, they follow them, they engage, but also if they recommend a product, they look into it because we place a premium on word of mouth.”

Yaneiza recommends that brands take a nuanced, consistent approach to working with influencer marketing. “Long-term consistency has to be a priority,” says Yaneiza. “The consumers will see that the influencer is loyal to the brand and that they’re being authentic with the recommendation. And then that obviously gives [the consumers] more trust about trying the brand, buying it, or recommending it to their families.” Yaneiza also recommends brands give the influencers creative freedom. “If the influencer knows what resonates with their followers, let them give you that feedback, especially when it comes to cultural aspects of the campaign. When there is communication both ways, that’s what really builds a powerful campaign.”

The full interview with Yaneiza is available as a podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, and other major platforms or you can watch the video interview on YouTube.