"It was developed to meet the necessity of more than 44M Spanish speaking individuals that live in the United States today, and more than 460M around the World."¿Hablas español? In the spirit of disclosure; I am living in Northern Latin America. My post may be irrelevant to many Coolerites, or maybe not. That is the question. Gringo law firms, are you paying attention to the growing Hispanic market in the U.S.? What say you?
Three Miami residents launched BuscAbogados.com, a directory aimed at helping Spanish speakers find lawyers in Florida. They have a strong business case and a plan to expand their presence to other U.S. regions. They charge $19.95 - $299 for expanded listings. There are already 7,000 complimentary basic listings for South Florida attorneys - about 5000 of them in Miami-Dade. Sounds like a revenue generator. Since someone has already vetted the idea, is, should or could Martindale or Best Lawyers find this market attractive? Findlaw? Are they going to chase down a copyright?
According to the HISPANIC Fact Pack, 2008 Edition, Annual Guide to Hispanic Marketing and Media, that I received today with my Advertising Age; Google, Microsoft and Yahoo are within 1 or 2 percentage points of one another in Spanish-language preferred Web properties. There must be a business case because they seem to be chasing one another in the data. Did you know that the business to business social networking site LinkedIn has a Spanish version?
1. Log into LinkedIn with your existing id.
2. Go here and switch the language field.
There's always a lot of debate here in South Florida -- is the official language Spangelish? The courts and government say not. But, in the business world of South Florida, Spangelish is the first language. The influx of Spanish speaking residents is not limited to South Florida.
In Miami we have Abogados on every corner - primarily consumer focused - immigration stuff. But most larger national and international firms in Miami have International practices that cater to the businesses of the "Gateway to Latin America." As for the rest of the U.S., would you pay for a listing in buscabogados.com? Is anyone looking at the Hispanic market? Just curious. If so, how serious are you and do you see a revenue stream? In what areas of practice?
(Disclaimer: I am not fluent in Spanish. I do, however, own Rosetta Stone Spanish language CD's. Unfortunately you have to actively use them, not just put them under your pillow and hope the language will seep into your brain over night:-).
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2 comments:
Jayne, I shall walk through your door anytime ;-)
At a prior firm, not an AmLaw 100, one of the practices began to insist that we advertise and go after a Hispanic audience. We're in Southern California, so there is a marketplace for this and it made sense.
No joke. When I asked who was fluent in Spanish, the answer I got back was one of the secretaries.
And while I argued that it would be disingenuous of us (not to mention unethical) to publish an advertisement in a MAJOR Hispanic publication based on a secretary who spoke Spanish and an associate with a Hispanic last name who didn't speak a word of Spanish, I was of course overruled.
Let's just say that the moral of the story is if you're going to enter into a segment market, you need to be prepared to walk the walk, and, better yet, talk the talk.
Heather - your story is like so many we've heard over the years. Companies continually hear about the growth of the Hispanic market and its buying power, and they want to get their piece of it. But they're not "talking the talk" as you say; heck, they're not even putting their money where their mouth is!
If an organization wants to attract Hispanic consumers, the first thing we suggest is for them to analyze whether their staffing reflects the customer base they're seeking. If not, their work is cut out for them. To be successful, the organization should not just speak the language but be a genuine part of the community.
For example, if an insurance company hires Hispanic agents, those agents and the personal relationships they cultivate along the way have much more of a pull than any translated (or even original Spanish-language) ad.
Thanks for writing about this!
Lauri Jordana
www.conexion-marketing.com
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