by Matthew Jones 

It’s no secret that the U.S. Hispanic population is the fastest-growing segment in the country, and as a result, is quickly becoming one of the country’s leading spenders.  With more than $700 billion thrown into the marketplace each year, Hispanics are finally getting the respect and attention they deserve from the country’s leading marketers – entire industries have been created in hopes of turning these consumers into loyal customers.

However, like any marketing challenge, the true battle lies in forging a relationship between the brand and the target audience.  To this end, many marketers have fallen short in reaching out to the increasingly influential Hispanic market, mainly due to a general lack of knowledge and information on the market itself.

Terra Networks, a global pioneer in access, portal and value-added Web-based services for Hispanic consumers, is offering a solution.  The company recently announced a new partnership with computer-based research leader Socratic Technologies aimed at creating “one of the largest Latino research panels, both on and off the Internet,” as described by Natasha Funk, Sales Research Manager, Terra Networks.

Under the new partnership, the companies have just released Terra Selecto – a multinational panel that includes U.S. Hispanics and Latin Americans.  The panel, which is run by Socratic Technologies, examines how major demographic characteristics – gender, income and education, among others – affect Internet usage.  Panel participants are selected on a voluntary basis from Terra’s existing network audience.

“Almost any type of research that can be conducted offline, can be done online, as well,” said Funk.  “We’ve already found out some very interesting things.”

One of the major findings Funk referenced was with regard to language preference and comfort usage for U.S. Hispanics.  “The results were very interesting,” explained Funk.  “No matter how long (respondents) have been in the U.S., the preferred language (for most situations) is still Spanish.”

According to Terra’s research, even for people who have been in the U.S. for twenty or more years, 51 percent responded that Spanish is their preferred language – 46 percent selected both English and Spanish, while three percent chose English as their language of choice.

Some critics might wonder if using the Internet to collect a sample automatically excludes those that cannot afford a computer, and therefore skew the demographics toward the affluent.  According to Funk, this has not been an issue with their current research.

“We have not come across that as a concern,” said Funk, who cited recent studies to support the company’s POV.  “As of the year 2000, 50 percent of U.S. Hispanics have access to the Internet, and most have access from their homes.  According to a recent Media Metrix report, 14 million U.S. Hispanics access the Internet each month.”

For the Terra Networks and Socratic Technologies partnership, the journey has just begun.  As Terra pulls more and more new panelists into the pool, they will begin to examine a whole array of lifestyle behaviors among Latinos across the Americas.

“We will be able to have different verticals each month,” explained Funk.  “One month, we’ll conduct a food and beverage survey.  The month after that, we’ll do an automotive survey, and then travel, and pharmaceutical after that.”

To help achieve these ambitious goals, Terra hopes to grow their U.S. panel size to 30,000.  Their Latin American sample has already exceeded the initial goals at a whopping 40,000 members.

Acquiring new panelists has proven to be a bit of an art form, according to Funk.  Originally, they offered participants a two-dollar incentive for each survey, about on par with general market panel incentives.  However, they do things differently today.

“We learned a lot from our initial survey,” said Funk.  “Our audience is fairly tech-savvy.  We found that they were more receptive to (an opportunity to win) an iPod.”

In addition to sweetening the incentive pot, Terra is also looking at new options for their pitches to potential participants.  For example, they will begin using a more call-to-action approach in their copy.

“We (have to let them know) we think their opinion is important, and that (making their voices heard) can better leverage their purchasing power,” said Funk.  “We’re always trying to improve.”

THE END