Growing up in the US as a second-generation Latin American, I had very limited exposure to Latino-owned businesses. In fact, for the first fifteen years of my life, I only felt Hispanic business owners were investing in the food business.
However, this changed when I enrolled in an Advanced Placement® Program(AP) business class. It was during the business class that I realized Hispanic business owners were often limited to specific industries, and their customers were also marginalized.
Fortunately, this trend is changing. As per Census Bureau data, new businesses owned by Latinos accounted for 36% of launches in 2023. Moreover, Latino-owned businesses are expected to boost the U.S. economy as they are projected to make up 29% of the population by 2050.
As Latino-owned businesses are growing, it seems that once a marginalized community, Hispanics are now set to create new standards for other businesses as well.
If you are a small business owner looking to grow, here are some strategies from the Latino-owned business playbook that you can consider.
Best Ways Latino-Owned Businesses Are Setting New Standards in Business
Challenging Personalized Experiences
Many businesses have a specific target audience. For every marketing campaign, they start with an ideal customer persona and eventually use this persona for targeting, running campaigns, and endorsing business. Apart from this, the ideal customer persona also helps in improving products, dictating price range and other details of the brand.
For instance, most beauty products in the 60’s were targeting white audiences. This trend persisted until the 2000s, and in some areas, it continues today. Targeting a white audience helps brands charge more, and gain more profit while offering products that are not universal.
However, Hispanic-owned businesses are addressing this issue by leveraging personal experiences. Most of the business owners in the Hispanic community have been marginalized by mainstream brands. This behavior eventually pushed these marginalized customers to build brands that could offer solutions for their community. Today majority of the Hispanic-owned businesses use personal experiences and address dominant issues in their community.
Building Inclusive Strategies
Many businesses create customer personas to understand their target market. In a country like the US, which is seen as a melting pot of cultures, the white community remains stronger. This is the most brands assume English to be the dominant communication language, and white, middle-class class to be dominant buyers.
However, studies reveal that in the US, there are more than 43 million Spanish speakers and nearly 67 million Hispanics living in the US. By focusing solely on English, businesses risk overlooking a significant portion of their potential customers.
Hispanic-owned businesses are now addressing this issue by using both Spanish and English for customer guidance and advertisement. This has paved the way for other businesses to opt for multiple communication languages to create a more inclusive brand. For instance, Spectrum offers servicio al cliente Spectrum, so Spanish-speaking clients can easily communicate with the brand.
Focusing On Events
Event-based sales dominate the business globally. As per Oberlo, in the holiday season of 2023, customers bought goods for more than $105.2 billion. This hike in sales is not limited to the holiday season, events like Cyber Monday, Prime Day, and Black Friday are equally important. According to the emarketer stats, cyber Monday and black Friday in 2023 were responsible for more than $13.23 billion and $10.47 billion in sales respectively.
However, in the US, most brands are hyper-focused on Christian events and global sales only. This is the reason the US either has Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Halloween-related sales or Cyber Monday, Prime Day, and Black Friday sales leaving a big room for other ethnic holidays.
Hispanic businesses are planning sales based on inclusive events, offering an opportunity for everyone to celebrate their happy events. This is helping Hispanic businesses to earn more throughout the year. Moreover, this planning is helping customers to feel included and welcomed regardless of their background.
Taking Inspiration from Others
Having faced historical marginalization, Latino business owners are open to learning from diverse sources. They have learned from black business owners and other people of color. This has helped them establish their dominance faster and improved their chance of overall growth.
Another very important factor that has contributed to their growth is their intelligent personalized learning. Hispanic businesses are not ready to repeat the same mistakes as other marginalized businesses in the past. They are not only learning from successful strategies but also adapting to changing market conditions.
Moreover, when an opportunity knocks on their doors, Hispanic businesses are more likely to accept new offers regardless of their magnitude. Forbes reported that Latino businesses have a faster overall business entry rate (0.54% in 2021), have a much better rate of bouncing back after a destructive business event i.e. (COVID-19), and are ready to accept relatively smaller contracts.
Top Hispanic Business to Look Out For!
Ceremonia – best for beauty
Bonita Fierce – top pick for fragrances
Chau Luna – top pick for books and education
Eberjey – best for clothing
Brazi Bites – best for food
