As mentioned on the “There is no Hispanic Marketing - Part I” post, a segment is defined as a significant consumer block that due to different purchasing behavior, media usage, and in some cases language, are not reached via the mainstream marketing communication efforts.

Not all segments share the same characteristics. Some segments can be the core target of a particular advertiser, others are simply a segment outside a larger core group, and still other segments are emerging and new to a category.

In any stage or format, the particular consumer segment is not being motivated by the mainstream marketing efforts to buy into the brand or services of the marketer.

You might think that you don’t have any unattended consumer segments. Look again.

Is your sales data showing a significant gap in certain geographies? Have sales steadily declined in a particular distribution format or geography? Is there a regional competitor outselling your national brand? Is the ideal demographic target not responding to your messages?

The aforementioned challenges will not be solved by new distribution initiatives… Additional media expenditures and/or a new mainstream message will be as irrelevant as the old one…And it definitively doesn’t mean that consumers in certain retail formats, or geographies “don’t get it.”

Just look closer…or step back and conduct proper marketing practices. You might find that your product is not positioned in the relevant context to the consumer needs and wants.

Take food as an example; in the US West Coast, flavor profiles have been heavily influenced by the foreign immigration into the region. The schisms between the West Coast and the rest of the country in regards to flavors are huge. So it’s reasonable to expect lower sales of particular flavors in the Western regions unless the consumer segments are being addressed in a relevant manner.

McDonald’s recognized that within this Big Mac loving country, regional flavors played a significant role. So it split it’s operational and marketing teams into the regions. They got it right.

Opposite to the golden arches, Burger King insists on dictating to the rest of the country from the Southeast. The results? Well…there are happier franchisees in the East than on the West Coast (where the consumer segments are not being properly addressed with the national programs).

There are many other examples of consumer segments not being addressed and the opportunity to positively impact profit is lost. Automotive, Packaged Foods, and Financial Services, are the worst at leaving potential sales unattended.

On my next post, I will address the Hispanic Consumer Segment. The largest of all the consumer segments, the myths and their origins, and the realities.

According to comScore, more than 87 million people — nearly half of all internet users in the U.S. — are using widgets. Couple that fact with the 49 percent of the U.S. adult internet population expected to engage in online social networking on a monthly basis this year, and the opportunity for branded interaction becomes downright spectacular.

Ok, so, what is a widget? For the purpose of an advertising campaign, widgets are applications with valuable or sharable content such as audio, video, games and animation and, to the user, are most interesting or valuable when that content changes or gets dynamically updated.

For example, some of the most popular widgets on Facebook (now gaining more new users than myspace, according to the drudge report) are iLike and The Compass.

The iLike widget lets you list the songs you like, lets you know of concerts in your area, and gives you recommendations based on your Facebook music and friends. This widget is the most popular on Facebook with 633, 717 users.

The Compass widget, from the Washington Post, presents a simple survey to determine your political leanings, and presents you with a compass on your Facebook profile page to let everyone else know. 98,110 users have opted for this one.

The above are just a couple of examples of smart, useful and entertaining widgets. Advertisers can develop and distribute their own branded widgets to audiences via a website, a rich media banner, blog or even via another widget. The inherent value of a widget lies in the fact that they keep the user continually connected to the brand.

Widgets become even more valuable to advertisers when users are able to easily grab them and showcase them externally: in their blogs, their websites or perhaps, most compellingly, in their personal social networking spaces, such as Facebook. This allows users to share and showcase their affinity for specific brands, products and causes. A particularly effective way to leverage digital word of mouth.

My philosophy is that marketing is an absolute discipline. There are essential steps necessary to create a solid marketing plan, think of it as a blueprint.

Good ideas are based on logical thinking and solid rationale. It’s common sense. You wouldn’t build a house on a shaky foundation, so why trust any advertising plan built on anything but solid marketing.

The blueprint applies to the Hispanic consumer segment, as well as any other consumer segment currently in existence or that will exist in the future.

A common mistake is the assumption that there is a discipline called Hispanic Marketing. The mistake is perpetuated and promoted by self-anointed “Hispanic Marketing experts” who claim their “Hispanic Marketing expertise” is needed to advertise to the Hispanic consumer segment.

You are familiar with these “experts.” They claim knowledge of a different marketing practice entirely based on their years of working with Hispanic consumers in a service function along with Spanish as a second language — usually by birth, religious mission, or peace core experience.

From their seemingly authoritative experience they recite erroneous facts and present misguided marketing strategies. Facts based on decades old obsolete data, and in some cases simple observations based on a sample of one. Even worse the misguided strategies are duplicated from a previous product or services that are not based on marketing principles, rather “if it worked once, then it should work again” mindset.

As Anne Bradstreet said, “Authority without wisdom is like a heavy axe without an edge; fitter to bruise than polish.”

The aforementioned “experts” exist because there is a need to market goods and services to the Hispanic Consumer Segment. A segment that is very real and demands proper marketing practices like any other segment in the marketplace.

I understand the rationale behind believing the “Hispanic Marketing” myth. Targeting consumer segments is different than targeting the general market. Different consumer behavior, different media, and in some cases different or multiple languages. I understand it can be daunting, and in most cases an added task to a plate that’s already full.

All marketing plans to all consumer targets have to possess the same elements. And while the category might deem a segment market emergent to the category, the steps necessary to plan and implement a marketing program will always be absolute. If elements are ignored, or bypassed, the chances for success will decrease. Inversely, a well-executed plan decreases the chances of failure.

Speaking the language, sampling the culture and cuisine or knowing the holidays is not enough. Advertising to consumer segments requires sound and disciplined marketing. That is an absolute necessity.

I’m often asked about Hispanic marketing.

• What are the rules?
• How is it different?
• What’s the best book to learn from?
• Who are the Hispanic Marketing experts?
• What is the best case study to emulate?

Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting specifically on marketing to consumer segments — the how and why — and will likely surprise some of you.

On my next blog entry I will cover, paraphrasing a line from the movie Fight Club, the first rule of Hispanic Marketing, —

First rule of Hispanic Marketing:

There is no Hispanic Marketing.

The air above Oslo, Norway, exploding, two minutes after midnight on January 1, 2008