On the second day of the 2021 Hispanic Leadership Summit on Dec. 8 in New York City, Claudia Romo Edelman, founder of We Are All Human, hosted a conversation with Mónica Gil on the results of The Latina Pulse: Champions of Change survey and how to market to Latinas. Gil is the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Telemundo, who conducted the survey with Hispanas Organized For Political Equality (HOPE) and the Latino Victory Foundation.

They began by talking about how the pandemic has affected Latinas. One-in-four lost someone to COVID and six-in-ten faced financial difficulties because of the pandemic. Gil revealed despite these dire statistics, Latinas are overwhelmingly optimistic about the future. She then noted that the amount of Latinas getting degrees is up by 173% and earned managerial positions at a higher rate than other groups. 

Gil noted three of the biggest misconceptions marketers have about Latinas and the community: how Latinas are, what language is spoken, and where people are located. 

When companies try to market to Latinas they often make the assumption that Latinas are a monolith. Gil disputed this notion and said that the things they share are determination and grit. She then hit on the second misconception, which language to use. 

She stated, “It’s not either or, it’s and.” English and Spanish are the two most commonly spoken languages in the United States.

The last misconception was on location. There is an assumption that most Latinos live in the southern part of the United States. However, there are growing Latino populations all over, including here in Philadelphia. Gil pointed out that the fastest-growing Latino population is actually in North Dakota.  

From there the conversation moved to the results of Telemundo’s survey. Gil hit on five categories of statistics — wealth, justice, business, elections, and progress. 

A majority (65%) of Latinas are under the age of 40. Gil commented that they are the “new American soccer moms” and any business that wants to be successful needs to advertise to them because of their purchasing power. 

The Latino community currently has almost $2 trillion in purchasing power. Around 86% of the decisions of what to buy are made by Latinas, who are often buying for their families. 

In addition to this, Latinas are growing their own wealth. Fifty-two percent of Latinas aged 50 and over own their own homes, while 44% of those age 35-49 plan to purchase their own home in the next three years. Fifty percent of the same age group have or are planning to have a college fund for their children. Before the pandemic, the percentage of Latinos going to college was steadily increasing. There is currently a decline of 7.3% in enrollment which echoes a decline in enrollment across the board.  

One way that Latinas are growing their own wealth is through owning a business. The Champions of Change survey found that they are twice as likely to own or are planning to own their business than non-Latinas. This statistic goes up for those born outside of the U.S.

“Data is incredibly important because anecdotes don’t give us the numbers we need,” Gil stated. 

Romo Edelman added, “‘What doesn’t get measured doesn’t get done,’ Dr. Juan Andrade would say.”

When asked about the role of CMOs in marketing campaigns that focus on the Latino community, Gil said that marketers have “a responsibility to get it right.” 

She added that the best ways to do this would be inviting Latinos to the table when these campaigns are being developed and by putting adequate funding into them.