Markets Evolve.

I found this interesting piece of research from Vertis Communications, a leading marketing agency: HISPANICS ARE TECH-SAVVY CONSUMERS.

Their research "revealed that Hispanic adults in the United States are just as likely, and in some cases more likely, to use technology as are non-Hispanic adults." Technology adoption does, however, vary based on different traits, such as whether the consumer speaks only Spanish, which country they or their ancestors came from and how long they've been in the country.

But, overall, the research shows that Hispanics are using the Internet; they are text messaging like the rest of the world and are no strangers to IM.

What this pointed out to me, especially considering the amount of ethnic data that is currently embedded in several of my clients' customer segmentation systems, is that we need to constantly be aware of evolving markets. We need to constantly be thinking of how to best maximize our knowledge of the segments.

This study tells me that we should probably re-evaluate channel strategies for the Hispanic market. Interactive marketing may now be a good fit. Further, it highlights the need to seek a deeper understanding. Do we understand their language preferences? Do we know how long an individual prospect or customer has been in the country? All of these nuances within the overall Hispanic segment are very important, and this Vertis research proves that one more time.

Be on the look-out for behavior changes in your core customer groups. By understanding your segments, you can continually tweak messages, offers and channel strategies in order to better-serve your customers. And, of course, in the end, if you're doing it right, ultimately you'll reap the highest possible profit from each customer.

P.S. This article also provides a link to the entire research results. It gets pretty specific as to what offers Hispanics prefer and tend to respond to and overall is a great resource.