Some Questions to Ponder

• Will other countries with large minority communities follow the example of HPR or has this already occurred in other areas across the world?
• Will HPR grow further beyond California, Florida and New York to other markets in the U.S?
• Will all pr practices in America release information in both Spanish and English one day?
  

I hope this blog has been informative and thought provoking for all who have read it. To your right you will find some links to sites that I found helpful when researching HPR as well as some references I used during my research. I look forward to reading your comments and questions regarding HPR and its future.

The Future of HPR

As the Hispanic consumer market grows, and statistics show it will increase rapidly, more businesses will begin to notice the spending power the Hispanic market has. This can only mean HPR will have to increase as well. What remains to be seen however is how serious public relations practitioners will be in developing a successful HPR sector within the industry.

I believe a good foundation has already been laid in HPR and the future of HPR will be a successful one. If those who enter into the HPR industry research and understand the cultural diversity within the Hispanic market, have a strong background in the field of public relations, and execute a public relations campaign accordingly, one that steers away from ethnic stereotypes, they will be on their way to a prosperous career in the field.

Challenges the industry is facing:

Finding a HPR practitioner that possesses both a good understanding of the Hispanic market and is experienced and knowledgeable in the field of public relations could prove to be difficult. Ignasi Vendrell says that currently “minority owned companies, on the one hand, have good resources, multiple contacts and maintain daily community involvement. On the other hand, Anglo public relations firms with Hispanic divisions provide better strategic development and planning”.

In the future I can see this changing. With growth comes competition and HPR practitioners will be expected to have both an inside edge within the Hispanic media and market as well as a deeper knowledge of the practice of public relations.

María Len-Ríos stresses the importance of understanding general public relations by encouraging those interested in HPR to work within a sector of public relations not specifically dedicated to the Hispanic market. By gaining experience within different sectors of public relations you increase your overall knowledge of the industry. She suggests, if possible, to work within a pr practice which allows the practitioner to work on multiple projects, some of which are Hispanic projects.

Another challenge facing HPR is finding qualified Hispanic practitioners. According to a set of interviews taken for a journal article in Public Relations Quarterly, 70 percent of respondents reported it “very difficult” in finding qualified Hispanic professionals. On the other hand, nine national minority-owned HPR agencies reported that 99 percent of their employees are from Hispanic origin. This data confirms that there is a large need for educated and experienced Hispanic-origin HPR practitioners. The study goes further by stating that not only do these practitioners need to understand Hispanic cultures, but they also need to understand and be able to communicate with Anglo cultures. Again, stressing the importance of HPR practitioners having experience in both general and Hispanic public relations.

All of these challenges though are ones that can be addressed and overcome with time. As I stated earlier the status of HPR currently is one that is small but so far successful. I believe it can only get better with time. Hispanic media within the United States has become a massive success and I think we will see the same outcome with HPR.

HPR and Education

Some questions that keep popping up in my head as I do this report are:

• As this sector of public relations increases will pr studies in universities begin to have courses on Hispanic relations?
• Will there one day be a Hispanic Public Relations major?
• Does HPR need universities to offer courses specialising in Hispanic relations or is the knowledge about the different Hispanic divisions within the population something one cannot simply learn through a university course?

Already Florida State University is offering an online course in Hispanic Marketing Communication. Below I have posted a link to the press release.

http://www.hispanicprwire.com/news.php?l=in&id=7793&cha=6

I personally believe universities, specifically those located within a large Hispanic market, will offer courses on HPR or Hispanic Communications. As the industry grows as will the demand for universities to incorporate it in their curriculum. I however do not believe that HPR practitioners will need to study HPR in university in order to be successful. On the job training and gaining experience through working in the industry, I believe, can also be a good form of education. I feel this way about public relations in general however, not just HPR.

Hispanic Market Segments

I wanted to expand a bit on the first myth I mentioned in my last post. That myth was:

All Hispanics have similar experiences and backgrounds.

As HPR grows I believe that the only way it will become successful is by HPR practitioners fully understanding the different market groups within the Hispanic community.

One disparity within the Hispanic population is the term by which they prefer to be identified with. Some Hispanics or Latinos disagree on how they should be identified. Some prefer “Hispanic” while others prefer “Latino” or “Latina”. The term “Hispanic” is sometimes identified with people whose ancestors came from Spain or Portugal while others associate it as an ethnic label issued by the U.S. government. Some pr professionals believe that those who prefer to be identified as “Latino/a” often times are foreign-born or speak Spanish more fluently. A HPR practitioner needs to be aware of this when communicating with their target audience.

This is only one of many differences within the Hispanic population. To get a better idea of the different segments within the Hispanic population I read an interesting report that broke down the Hispanic population by location.

Top 3 Hispanic Markets

• Los Angeles
  
• New York
  
• Miami-Fort Lauderdale
  

When looking at the top three Hispanic markets in the United States you can begin to see how diverse the market is. In Los Angeles almost two-thirds of all Hispanics claim a Mexican heritage while 14 percent come from Central America. In contrast, in New York more than a third are from Puerto Rico or claim a Puerto Rican heritage. Less than ten percent are Mexican. In Miami-Fort Lauderdale however almost half of Hispanics claim a Cuban heritage. Less than ten percent are from Puerto Rico and fewer than five percent are from Mexico.

HPR practitioners must be aware of who they are targeting. Each market holds stronger alliances to their specific nations rather that the overall Hispanic community. Each group has different cultural distinctions and for a successful pr campaign planning, strategy and research into what these differences are is vital in achieving success.

Common HPR Myths

Now that I have gotten a good idea about where HPR currently stands I wanted to look into what some of the common misconceptions were of HPR and the Hispanic community.

Myth 1

All Hispanics have similar experiences and backgrounds. Rather than try and reach the entire Hispanic population with one uniform message HPR practitioners must be aware that there are different groups within the Hispanic community and, in order to be successful, they must understand how to communicate the message to the different groups.

Myth 2

All Hispanics can understand each other. A PR practitioner who simply speaks Spanish is not a guaranteed way of reaching the Hispanic Community. In America not all Hispanic consumers speak Spanish nor do they all share the same colloquial language.

Myth 3

HPR is different from general public relations. Regardless of the type of public relations, basic public relations skills are essential in order to be successful. Just being Hispanic will not get you into the field. As with all public relations, experience and knowledge of the field of pr is essential.

Myth 4

Employing Hispanic practitioners is not important in HPR. Being Hispanic does in fact matter when it comes to communicating with Hispanic consumers. This is because there is a higher trust and more shared experiences between the consumer and the messenger. Numerous studies have shown that Hispanics tend to be loyal to spokespersons or brands with similar backgrounds.

Hispania Public Relations, Edelman, & Contacto PR News: Examples of HPR

A few examples of varying forms of HPR are Hispania Public Relations, Edelman and Contacto PR News. Each company is involved in HPR in different ways. All of them are relatively unique and all of them are contributing to the future of HPR.

Hispania Public Relations dedicate themselves to being “the premier public relations resource for companies and agencies seeking to maximise the impact of their investments, or their clients’, in the U.S. Hispanic market”. They design and execute public relation campaigns for clients’ looking to reach the Hispanic population. They claim to have an extensive understanding of the Hispanic market, such as what they identify with, the differences between the various Hispanic groups, and the different dialects and pronunciations based on their country of origin.

In contrast, Edelman is an international public relations firm that specialises in a wide range of industries and practices. In 1998 they launched “Edelman Multicultural”, which specifically markets to the U.S. Hispanic and African-American populations. They combine knowledge of individual industries, such as healthcare, with expertise knowledge of ethnic backgrounds, thus creating a public relations campaign specifically targeting the Hispanic or African-American communities within the designated industry.

Finally, Contacto PR News is a news release distribution service that reaches the Hispanic news media. Their services include distributing a client’s news release in both English and Spanish to the media as well as translating client’s press releases into Spanish. They work with organisations as well as pr agencies and can either translate a press release into Spanish or will create a press release for an organisation. They allow pr agencies and departments to reach the Hispanic population regardless of whether or not they have pr practitioners knowledgeable of the Hispanic community.

HPR as it Stands Today

When looking at where HPR stands currently, María Len-Ríos says the number of HPR practitioners is small but growing. Her statistics, derived from the U.S. Census Bureau, indicates that 4.2 percent of managers in marketing, advertising and public relations are of Hispanic origin. The same report shows that Hispanics comprise of 5.5 percent of public relations specialists. These figures have increased from the 1995 annual averages.

So what exactly is HPR? According to James Grunig, "Hispanic public relations exists when any or all of the following are Hispanic -the organisation, the public, or the public relations practitioner". HPR can be any of the following:

• Specifically targeting those within the Hispanic community
  
• A specialised sector within a public relations department focused on the Hispanic community
  
• A public relations firm designed specifically to communicate with the Hispanic population.
• News Release Services offering translations and distribution to Hispanic media outlets

Although HPR exists in a variety of formats it still has a lot of growing to do. Jose Nine argues that there is still a lack of understanding regarding the importance of HPR to corporations. He believes that corporate America should follow the examples of major corporations such as McDonald’s and Anheuser-Bush who have already incorporated Hispanic marketing public relations into their strategic marketing communications programs.

Introduction & Statistics

The U.S. Census Bureau defines people of Hispanic origin as “those people who classified themselves in one of the specific Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino categories listed on the Census 2000 questionnaire -"Mexican, Mexican Am., Chicano," "Puerto Rican", or "Cuban" -as well as those who indicate that they are "other Spanish/Hispanic/Latino.” Origin can be understood as the heritage, nationality group, lineage, or country of birth of a person or a person’s parents or ancestors before they arrived in the United States.

In America according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2000 Census there are 35 million American Hispanics. That is approximately 12.5% of the entire population. Additionally they project that Hispanics will become the largest ethnic minority in the U.S. by the year 2010. In 1998 Hispanics spent an estimated $380 billion on consumer goods with this figure expected to reach $938 billion by 2010. This increase has led pr practitioners to examine strategies that would effectively reach the Hispanic population.

According to Frank Pérez, the concept of Hispanic public relations “HPR” is a relatively new one. Traditionally, in the past, public relations campaigns failed to distinguish the differences that existed between minority populations. Within the last seven years however, ethnic marketing and public relations have gained popularity due to the fast growth and increased purchasing power of the Hispanic population. Organisations have now begun to realise the economic importance of the Hispanic population and see this segment of the population as the “majority minority”.

Welcome

Hi everyone and welcome to my blog.

When I was mulling over ideas about trends in public relations I thought back to my internship days at D.C. United Football Club in Washington D.C.. While I was there the need for Spanish speaking employees was quickly increasing. When I was assigned to receptionist duty I often times forwarded phone calls to a Hispanic ticket representative because the caller did not speak English. Later, when the organisation was hiring for the receptionist position one of the job requirements was they must be fluent in Spanish. This made me realise how important it was for Spanish speakers in jobs which communicated with the community.

At D.C. United they have, as a part of their communication team, a position for a manager of Hispanic relations. In addition they also have positions in sales specifically targeted for their Hispanic programs. Although soccer in the United States is heavily supported within the Hispanic community, and thus the reason there is such a heavy emphasis on Hispanic relations at D.C. United, I wonder if this is the case in other sectors of public relations.

This blog will examine how the expanding Hispanic community in the United States is affecting the public relations industry. Are more public relations firms and in-house public relations departments focusing their attention on Hispanic relations like D.C. United has done, and if so how will this affect the future of public relations? I hope by creating this blog I will be able to provide insight and gain a better understanding about this public relations trend.