Know Your Audience: Recruiting Latinos to College

A recent report by the Pew Hispanic Research Center titled Second Generation Americans: A Portrait of the Adult Children of Immigrants got me thinking about how marketing and advertising agencies will use this research to inform new ad campaigns for Latino and Asian audiences. The profile of the about 20 million adult children of immigrants, most of which are Hispanic and Asian, should spark conversations in consumer marketing and advertising circles given that these second generation adults “have higher incomes; more are college graduates and homeowners; and fewer live in poverty” (Pew Research Center, 2013, p.7). These socioeconomic characteristics translate into higher buying power for these communities.

The report included a caveat about the gaps that still exist between the respondents. For instance, Bachelor’s degree attainment rate for Latinos is only 21% compared to 55% for second-generations Asians. However, the report does highlight that despite these gaps of those in household income and poverty rates among second-generation Hispanics and Asian Americans “within each group, the second generation is doing better than the first on most key measures of economic success” (Pew Research Center, 2013, p.14). Given my experience in working with Latinos and the higher education sector and the tremendous growth in Latinos under the age of 18, I will focus on that community and how some of the findings might impact the way we meaningfully recruit and market to Latinos.

One of the key phrases that kept running through my mind as I read the report was “know your audience” so resources such as those constantly published by the Pew Research center should be helpful to market researchers who want to know more about Latinos in general. As this report points out, second-generation Latinos are completing higher education and have higher incomes than first-generation Latino immigrants. This alone should be helpful to colleges and universities who are trying to recruit more Latinos to their campuses. Some of the marketing and outreach budgets should include a strategy to reach second-generation students and their families.

In terms of identity, most second-generation Latinos had a connection with their “ancestral roots” and 37% described themselves as simply American. This means that when connecting with students, higher education institutions should understand that many second-generation Latinos are balancing cultural identities between the parents’ homelands and their own. They are as American as apple pie, but they also might enjoy watching Sabado Gigante with the abuela or futbol with la familia. In writing this, I was reminded of a powerful clip created by New American Media for Univision where the importance and diversity of the Latino market is masterfully highlighted:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQnhuj11zgI
Admission officers who work on marketing strategies should Latinize content and tone without overdoing it since many of these kids might see trough inauthentic connections. Since about 78% of Latino adults believed that hard work could help them achieve their goals, they will more than likely be interested in career and college graduation outcomes, so this messaging should be present in various communications.

As for la familia, 26% of Hispanic second-generation adults are in interracial marriages (Pew Research Center, 2013, p.11) and 52% believe that their group gets along with other racial and ethnic groups, so they are more likely to have diverse friends. Therefore, college admission officers should embrace learning about prospective students and connect with their families through on-campus events. Marketing collateral and web content/pictures should speak and welcome the diversity in this community.

Finally, since “eight-in-ten second-generation Hispanics say they can speak Spanish at least pretty well” (Pew Research Center, 2013, p.12)a marketer might want to learn more about code-switching. The notion of simply advertising to Latinos in Spanish should be completely reconsidered. Second-generation Latinos are straddling two cultures and in some cases, like in language, they absorb much more in English than they do in Spanish. This is not to say that you simply rely on ads designed for the general market, you need to Latinize or once again go back to the rule of thumb and get to know your audience. By knowing them, targeting messages, speaking to their interests and needs, and using the right channels you might be able to capture their buying loyalty or a “commit” if you are a college recruiter.

References:

Pew Research Center (2013, February 7). Second-generation Americans: A portrait of adult children of immigrants. Retrieved from http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/files/2013/02/FINAL_immigrant_generations_report_2-7-13.pdf