It’s no secret that the Hispanic population boom has gotten our attention. There are 39.9 million Hispanics in the United States. Census officials estimate that this figure will rise to fifty million by 2007.

According to the The Selig Center for Economic Growth, Hispanic buying power for 2002 was totaled at 580 billion with a predicted compound annual growth rate of 8.7 (The standard rate of growth for non-Hispanics is 4.8 percent). The center’s study predicts that by the year 2007, Hispanics dollar power will rise to 926.1 billion. Why are so many tax preparers and accountants are missing the boat when it comes to this market segment?

To understand the answer to that question, look to the statistics. The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that more than half of all adult Hispanics living in the United States today are immigrants, and another fifth are the U.S born children of immigrants. The number of foreign- born Hispanics in the U.S has more than tripled in the last two decades. A recent study by Strategic Research Corporation forecasts that by 2020, one of every five U.S. residents will be of Hispanic origin.

The Hispanic population boom is a fairly recent phenomen. Accordingly, there is a lack of both experience and information about culture, language, and marketing issues specific to what is now the largest minority group in the U.S. While accoutants are interested in growing their Hispanic client base, many lack the knowledge of how to do so effectively.

The Hispanic market is actually broken into four separate categories.

1. The new immigrant: Less than five years in the U.S with little or no English skills.
2. The transisitional immigrant: Less than ten years, still Spanish dominant but more acclimated and speaks better English.
3. The acclimated Hispanic: ten plus years in the U.S.
4. U.S born Hispanic/second or third generation.
Hispanics that fall into category three and four are usually served by the standard marketing strategies employed by most companies. Categories one and two however, remain incredibly underserved. The reason is that most companies who want to market to Hispanics typically have their media materials translated into Spanish. Unfortunately, this tactic will not work in to reach Hispanics in the first two categories.

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