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If you're looking for a fight dog, googling "pitbull" can take you to a different place. Not only because the successful rapper will be at the top of the searches, but also because this stage English name can be misleading. Behind Pitbull, there's a Latino called Armando Pérez, the real name of this Cuban American artist.

As Latinos online continue to grow, this fight for identifying and targeting them is becoming more and more challenging. Reaching Latinos online can be, as the pitbull example, difficult or misleading.

Language as An Approach

Spanish language seems the obvious way to go. Either the language selected for tools used (browser, Twitter, etc.) or language in which the social conversation happens could help identify Latinos online. For example, Facebook allows people to select if they speak Spanish or Spanish and English. You could assume that those users, if living in the U.S., are Latinos. Unfortunately, most people either don't change or add these two options. By the way, did you know that Facebook users can select "Spanglish" as a language option?

Also, considering that 67 percent of Hispanics browse the Internet only in English, language preference might be very limiting. So what happens with English-preferred Latinos?

Broadening the Conversation

Social media monitoring tools experience the same limitations when identifying Latinos online. Identifying conversations in Spanish around a specific brand seems to be a good approach, but we've already discussed that language can be misleading.

Providing a context to where conversations are happening can help provide some light. Including specific terms that are Latino-relevant and/ or part of your Hispanic advertising campaign can help better understand which part of that social conversation comes from Latino consumers. READ MORE

Join the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC), Fortune 500 companies, Hispanic Business Enterprises (HBEs) and local Hispanic Chambers of Commerce from across the country on September 18-21, 2011 in Miami where Hispanic business is hot. The USHCC will host its 32nd Annual National Convention & Business Expo at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach.

"This year's National Convention will be the premier event for Hispanic business in America," says Nina Vaca-Humrichouse, USHCC Board Chairman. "We invite business leaders across the nation to come to Miami Beach to take part in networking and developing business opportunities."

The schedule includes signature events such as Business Matchmaking, the Ultimate Latina Luncheon, the Million Dollar Club Breakfast, the International Opening Ceremony, the HBE Elite Luncheon and the Business Expo. New events have also been added including The Perfect Match Reception and Green Builds Business.

"Hispanics represent significant economic and political influence. Today, working with Hispanic Business Enterprises is good business and represents a huge opportunity for corporations," says Javier Palomarez, USHCC President and CEO. "The 2010 Census confirms what we at the USHCC have known, Hispanics are starting businesses at a faster rate than other demographics and are driving economic growth and job creation in this nation. The Convention celebrates their American entrepreneurial spirit and provides a critical forum to network."

Serving as 2011 Convention Chair to the 32nd Annual National Convention & Business Expo is USHCC board member and resident of Miami, Florida, Gabriel Pascual, President of Iberica International Corporation. Pascual is joined by Corporate Chair, Senator Mel Martinez, Chairman of Florida, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean for JP Morgan Chase & Co. and HBE Chair, Henry Fleches, Co-Founder, President and CEO of United Data Technologies.

"The USHCC is especially honored to present our Convention Chairs, who are leaders in their respective fields," adds Vaca-Humrichouse, who served as the 2010 Convention Chair. "Gabriel Pascual, Senator Mel Martinez and Henry Fleches bring unique background, experience and leadership to the organization. We applaud their commitment to promoting small business in America." READ MORE

A Hispanic group is criticizing U.S. President Obama for not attending its annual meeting for three years running, despite his pledge as a candidate to do so.

Members of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials also question Obama's commitment to immigration reform, noting that deportations have increased during his presidency even as he courts the Hispanic vote, Politico reported Sunday.

The organization, which includes more than 6,000 Latino leaders representing huge voter blocs in key electoral states, opens its annual conference Thursday in San Antonio.

Obama recently invited several Latino groups to the White House, stressed his support for overhauling immigration policy, delivered a speech on immigration reform in El Paso, Texas, and went to Puerto Rico last week. READ MORE

The fan vote for the MLB All-Star Game is still going on, and if one group has its way the starting lineups will be comprised entirely of Latino players.

According to ABC 15, Dr. Rebecca Alpert, who wrote a book about baseball and is a professor at Temple University, wants fans to stuff the ballot box for Latino players.

Last summer, calls for a boycott of the All-Star Game spread across the country in the weeks after the immigration law was passed. The fervor has fizzled in recent months as the law remains tied up in federal court.

An overall boycott failed. Officials said that the game has sold more than 40,000 tickets

But Alpert said the idea is to bring Senate Bill 1070 back into discussion.

"I'm not trying to block the game," she said. "I'm trying to shine a light on it."

Alpert told News-Talk 92.3 KTAR that the push is working.

"I've been getting a lot of people saying 'yes, I'm going to go vote for Latino players just to call attention to this,'" she said.

That is something Alpert wants because she is against SB 1070, which was passed last year.

"I think that there's a serious problem with the law that has been passed in Arizona, even though I know it's on hold for now, and I think the All-Star Game is a great opportunity to draw attention to this problem because of the importance of Latinos in Major League Baseball," she added. READ MORE

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business and its Tayloe Murphy Center released the findings of a major study today that outlines specific steps for how banks and credit unions can capture billions of dollars in deposits by reaching out to Latino and other “unbanked” households across the United States.

The year-long study titled “Perdido En La Traducción: The Opportunity in Financial Services for Latinos” also demonstrates for the first time that persuading households to keep their money in banks and credit unions could lower the risk of robberies and raise property values.

Nationwide, there is more than $169 billion floating outside the formal banking system attributed to unbanked households, of which $53 billion comes from unbanked Latino households.

“This study gives the financial services industry, policy makers and market watchers information they can use and a real measurement of the scope of this hidden market. At the same time, it not only represents a significant financial opportunity, but also highlights the wide-ranging benefits for communities,” says Greg Fairchild, executive director of the Tayloe Murphy Center and Darden professor.

The study focuses on unbanked Latino households in Virginia and North Carolina. Latinos are the fastest- growing multi-ethnic group in many states, including Virginia, as well as nationwide.

Many of the findings can also be applied nationally to any household that is unbanked, regardless of ethnicity, background, geographic location or length or status of residence. READ MORE

This week, Groupon subscribers in Austin, Texas, are offered deals on rock climbing, Indian food and a produce delivery service. Meanwhile, within the same city, users of the Latino-oriented deals site Descuento Libre can buy discounted vouchers for dental care, prepaid mobile phone services and family fun pizza parlors.

Descuento Libre wants to be the Groupon for the Latino market, but its efforts also show how culturally specific such deal sites can be. Last week in Austin I met Descuento Libre co-founder and CTO Boris Portman and discussed the opportunity for his one-year-old startup, which received an undisclosed round of seed funding from Bravo Equity Partners in February.

The youngest and fastest growing segment of the U.S. population, Latinos represent a huge and largely untapped market for e-commerce. With strong extended family and social networks, this group actually uses social media more than any other group in the United States and is much more likely to buy a product endorsed by a member of their network than their white counterparts.

Latinos (both U.S.- and foreign-born) are already showing hints of their online purchasing power. At 18 percent of the U.S. population, they make up an estimated 13 percent of all online sales and spend around an estimated $22 billion on e-commerce per year, according to estimates from Jupiter Research.

Clearly, this group likes to drop dollars on a good deal online, just like everyone else in the nation. Yet only 3 percent of traffic to Groupon and other daily deal sites comes from Latinos, according to Quantcast figures for June 2011.

When starting his site last year, Portman said he was shocked to find that most Latino Internet users and business owners he spoke to hadn’t even heard of the daily deal concept. “While the rest of the country is already suffering from ‘deal fatigue,’ many Latinos have stayed away from the deal sites. They don’t know what they even are. You even have to explain the concept to the Latino business owners.” READ MORE

President Obama’s visit to Puerto Rico, the first official state visit by a president in five decades, has been widely recognized as an attempt to reach out to voters back home, where winning the Latino vote is a key part of Obama’s re-election strategy. What’s still unclear is whether his visit, the latest in a line of high-profile speeches and symbolic gestures aimed at keeping his name in front of Latino voters, can substitute for the substantive reforms that Latino have been pushing for.

New poll numbers released this week from Latino Decisions show that immigration now tops worries about the economy and jobs as well as education as Latino voters’ main concerns. For the first time in recent months more than half—51 percent—of respondents said immigration reform and the DREAM Act were the most important issues facing the Latino community, while 18 percent of respondents claimed education, and another 18 percent claimed unemployment and job creation were their chief concerns.

Immigration reform advocates say these findings should be instructive for both parties as the country barrels toward the 2012 election season.

“These are remarkable findings. It shows that immigration is the top priority among Latinos, and why this is the case. This issue is personal. It’s about family, future and full acceptance,” said Frank Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, the immigration reform advocacy group.

“Democrats should be concerned about the growing disillusionment among Latino voters regarding the party’s commitment to change in the area of immigration policy. While they’re in much better political position than Republicans, they must deliver on their promises of immigration reforms if they expect Latino voters to deliver for them.”

The calls from the immigrant community, and their congressional allies, have been clear. Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois has led the Congressional Hispanic Caucus with calls for President Obama to stop the deportation of students who would otherwise be eligible for DREAM Act, which narrowly failed to pass Congress last December.

“The President obviously sees his visit to Puerto Rico as part of a larger Latino voter outreach strategy for 2012, but one of the most important, concrete steps he can take to show Latino voters he is on their side is to stop deporting DREAM Act students,” said Gutierrez. “Right away. Today.”

“Latinos who turn out in November 2012 are going to vote two to one for Obama,” said Louis Desipio, a professor of political science and Chicano and Latino studies at the University of California, Irvine. “Obama can take the Latino vote for granted in some sense, but he shouldn’t take turnout for granted.” READ MORE

Recent census reports show Midwestern cities are shrinking and people are moving out. But at least one group is growing - the Hispanic population. For the series Changing Gears, Niala Boodhoo reports that’s a good thing for our region and our economy.

Drive down the main strip of Aurora, Illinois, a town about 50 miles west of Chicago, and strip malls like the “Plaza del Sol” are a common sight on the landscape. In the 2010 census, Aurora ranked as the state’s second most populous town – a jump boosted by the growth in the Latino population.

“Aurora’s like Little Mexico,” said Javier Galvez, who’s a month away from opening his pizza shop on the corner of New York and Lake Street in downtown Aurora.

“Everybody stops here. They’re going to take their chances here first to start their business because they know that [in] a 40 mile radius or more, there are going to be towns they can take advantage of,” Galvez added.

Aurora actually extends into four counties – two of them, Will and Kendall, had explosive population growth in the past decade.

Even if Aurora is not as well-known as other Hispanic enclaves like Chicago’s Little Village or Pilsen, its population goes back generations. (I did a story last fall looking at small businesses in Little Village.)

Galvez came to Aurora when he was two years old because his father got a job working for Burlington Northern, laying railroad track across Illinois.

Galvez started in industry, too. He worked his way up at Caterpillar, where he started on the floor, building excavators, but moved into employee training and logistics.

Then two years ago, he was laid off. So now he’s using those management and logistics skills to run the restaurant, Spizzico, which has already found success in its first location in Elwood Park. READ MORE

President Obama today becomes the first sitting U.S. president in five decades to visit Puerto Rico on a trip meant to curry favor among mainland U.S. Latinos and raise some campaign cash.

While none of the island's nearly 4 million U.S. citizens can vote in the 2012 general election, they have some political sway, both with their pocketbooks and through ties to family members who have migrated to the states where they can vote.

Puerto Ricans contributed $1.7 million to federal political candidates and committees during the 2010 midterm elections, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, with 80 percent of the funds benefiting Democrats.

In the 2008 election cycle, Puerto Ricans gave roughly $4 million in itemized federal political donations, mostly to Democrats, including at least $354,000 to then-candidate Obama, the Center found.

Obama will hold one fundraiser during his day-long visit to the island today. He will also commemorate President John F. Kennedy's official presidential visit in 1961 and meet with Puerto Rican Gov. Luis Fortuno. READ MORE

In Hollywood's chase for America's new No. 2 demographic -- Latinos -- Carmen Marron stands front and center.

Marron is an upstart director with an improbable rags-to-film-festival-success story that begins in a Phoenix public elementary school where she was a guidance counselor to struggling Hispanic youths.

Witnessing inner-city youngsters bereft of positive models and encouragement eventually led her on a seven-year journey in which she and her husband sunk much of their life savings into a little movie with a big message:

Yes, kids, you can overcome the worst of circumstances and become the person you've always dreamed to be. Just go for it.

"We spent a lot of our savings, which was challenging because I didn't know anything about filmmaking. I never wanted to be a filmmaker. It's crazy when I talked about it," said Marron, a Chicago native who now lives in the Los Angeles area.

"San Francisco, Boston, San Antonio, Texas, Chicago, New York -- wherever we were, the people all related to the story, the inspiration: Yes, you can. Si, se puede. Kick yourself out of the rut and make a change," she said. "You're always going to have obstacles."

Her film, "Go For It!" played well on the indie circuit, garnering audience awards at Dances with Film Festival in West Hollywood, California; Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival; San Antonio Film Festival; and Cine Las Americas in Austin, Texas, Marron said. The movie was an official selection of the 2010 Chicago International Film Festival.

It was an audacious debut for a director with no filmmaking experience.

But the recognition didn't end there for her film about a young Latina who triumphs over gritty, harsh experiences as she seeks entrance into a dance school.

Marron's film arrived in Hollywood just as studios were taking a second, harder look at projects with dominant Latino themes. READ MORE

A new Northwestern University study says minority youth ages eight to 18 spend more than half their day consuming media content – a rate that's 4.5 hours greater than their white counterparts.

The Children, Media and Race: Media Use Among White, Black, Hispanic and Asian American Children report released Wednesday says that minority youths are more likely to spend up to 2 hours more per day watching TV, one hour more per day listening to music, 90 minutes more per day using a computer, and up to 40 minutes more per day playing video games than do their white counterparts.

Reading for pleasure in pre-teens and teens was equal across races, averaging at 30 to 40 minutes a day. But for children six and under, it was more likely that children of white parents were reading or read to every day.

Multitasking among youth has been adopted as equal rates; around four in ten white, black and Hispanic 7th to 12th graders said that they use another medium “most of the time” they’re watching television.

Surprisingly, parental structures did not predict total media exposure. The study found that most parents do not set limits on the amount of time children can spend interacting with media for pleasure.

Within the use of these media, however, white parents were more likely to set rules for what their children could consume, including television programs watched, internet sites used, and their visibility on social networking sites like Facebook.

Co-author Ellen Wartella, head of Northwestern University’s Center on Media and Human Development, says the study is not meant to blame parents but should serve as a wake-up call. She says increased parental involvement could mitigate potential problems, including child obesity. READ MORE

Find study here.

Yolanda Miranda, mother of Mexican singer Thalia, became part of a disturbing trend among Latino women when she died unexpectedly of a heart attack last week.

Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of Latinas in the United States, but because many women do not display what are considered typical symptoms like chest pain, which is more common in men, they often go undiagnosed until it is too late.

Miranda had complained of a debilitating headache the night before her death, which occurred in the early morning on May 27, but the 76-year-old was apparently unaware that such a symptom can be connected to an impending heart attack. Her death came just two weeks before the expected birth of her famous daughter’s second child and a day before the wedding day of another daughter, Ernestina Sodi.

“Women’s symptoms can be much more subtle and challenging to diagnose,” said David A. Meyerson, cardiologist at Johns Hopkins University and a spokesman for the American Heart Association and its campaign Go Red Por Tu Corazón, which is designed to create heart disease awareness among Hispanic women. READ MORE

For 75 years, Goya Foods has grown an empire of canned beans and other Latin food staples that have been woven into the city's Latino DNA.

For Puerto Rican and Latino newcomers to the city, and second- and third-generation kids, the sight of a supermarket aisle lined with stacks of familiar navy-blue cans with the blocky Art Deco logo has long translated to "home."

Goya-sponsored floats have been a staple of Puerto Rican and other Latino parades since the 1980s. So it is fitting that Robert Unanue, president of Goya Foods, and Carlos Unanue, president of Goya de Puerto Rico - cousins and the third generation to run the company - will be parade marshals for the National Puerto Rican Day Parade on Sunday.

The company's origins date to when all immigrants from Latin America were called "Spanish." Goya's founder, Prudencio Unanue, was a Spanish migrant by way of Puerto Rico who arrived in New York in 1916, when there were an estimated 16,000 Spanish speakers in the city.

According to the new coffee-table book "If It's Goya It Has to Be Good," by Guillermo Baralt, Unanue studied business and became a customs broker. He set up a food-import business in the Financial District in 1936, just as the city's Puerto Rican population began to grow and settle on the West Side of Manhattan, in East Harlem and in downtown Brooklyn. READ MORE

Latinos are enjoying a sizzling connection with Facebook.

The Latino population is no longer underrepresented in the U.S. Companies, over the last few years, have sat up and taken huge notice of the largest minority in the U.S. and who will have a major influence on the country as a whole in the coming years.

In the Latino community, Facebook has acted as a unifier of sorts between people of Spanish descent, who typically tend to have family members more geographically dispersed.

Latinos tend to highly value ties that bind — familial or social –and Facebook is a great facilitator of banter, and also allows for the sharing of precious photos and video that are near and dear.

According to ComScore, Facebook user growth amongst Latinos is stupefying: From April 2010 to April 2011, usage grew 167 percent (versus 21 percent for non-Hispanics). Facebook has a 70 percent penetration rate among Latinos online versus 72 percent for the general population.

Why are Latinos flocking to the ever-popular friends connection site?

They Are Passionate About Their Feelings
Latinos love status updating and commenting with a no-holds barred ‘tude. They call it as they see it, with a hands-on-hips way of letting you know, exactly what they think. Since they are very gregarious, Facebook tends to bring out their social butterfly side to the fullest extent. They also don’t mind getting personal and even sharing nitty-gritty intimate details, moreso than other users.

Latin Americans Have Found Their Online Niche
The bridge from the U.S. to Latin America is now Facebook. Four Latin American countries – Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, and Peru — are among the top 10 countries in the world in terms of Facebook user growth. For those who have recently arrived in this country, they aren’t really far from home because Facebook keeps them in constant touch with their homeland’s goings-on.

Spanglish
Surprisingly, English speaking Latinos rule on Facebook. As a matter of fact, 50.6 percent of Latinos on Facebook are English-preferred, although when researchers checked the conversations on walls, Spanish was also peppered greatly into the mix. READ MORE

Maria Ramos, Karla Ruiz and Fernando Maldonado all came to Nashville from their native Mexico, looking for the American dream – owning their own businesses and creating a good future for their families.

Today, the three have realized that ambition, joining a growing number of immigrant entrepreneurs, not only from Mexico and other Latin American countries but from other nations as well, who have started their own businesses here.

Nashville is a good place for immigrants to go into business, according to Forbes magazine, which recently ranked the city as No. 3 among the nation’s best metropolitan areas for minority entrepreneurs.

The magazine noted that Nashville’s immigrant population “soared 83 percent, to 107,000, between 2000 and 2008, the fastest growth rate among the nation’s largest cities,” adding that many of them have gone into business for themselves. The city ranks fourth among the nation’s top 52 markets for Hispanic self-employment, Forbes said.

While there are a number of growing immigrant groups here, including Asian and African transplants, the biggest increase has been Hispanics, particularly from Mexico and Central America, said Yuri Cunza, president of the Nashville Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. READ MORE

The Navarro drugstore chain will soon launch its own private label, selling everything from diapers and shampoo to plantain chips and makeup.

The Vida Mía brand will debut this fall at Navarro’s 28 stores in South Florida. But Navarro’s president has ambitions far beyond Miami, where a Cuban entrepreneur opened the first pharmacy 50 years ago. In an attempt to reach the booming Hispanic market in the rest of the country, the company will also sell its Vida Mía products online and through its wholesale business.

“Nobody is paying attention to the Hispanic market,” Navarro CEO Steve Kaczynski said. “This is something unusual nobody else has done. It caters to Hispanics, which is what Navarro is all about.”

Vida Mía products will be sold at similar or cheaper prices than name-brand items, comparable to generic lines at other chains like Target, Publix and Walgreens. The main difference will be its bilingual packaging – in English and Spanish – and some specific items that are popular among Hispanics.

In its initial launch, Navarro will roll out 120 products, mostly vitamins and supplements. Within the first six months, however, Kaczynski expects to offer 300 products in six categories: food, home, beauty, body, health and baby.

If the line is successful, Vida Mía may also branch into kitchen appliances.

“We sell a number of different espresso machines at Navarro. Why not have our own Vida Mía espresso machine?” Kaczynski said. “The majority of Hispanics eat rice. Why not have our own rice cooker?” READ MORE

The official start of summer may still be a few weeks off but Mother Nature didn't get the memo with a lot of the country experiencing high temps this Memorial Day weekend.

What that means is that Latinas will be among the crowds soaking up the sun, and it doesn't even have to be on the beach or by a pool. Dermatologists say that even shopping in outdoor malls or driving around with the sunroof open or spending any length of time outside during peak sun hours, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., is enough to put a person at risk for skin cancer.

Yet, according to Neutrogena's Choose Skin Health™Campaign, too many Latinas aren't using sunscreen to protect themselves from the sun's rays because -- they think they don't need it!

According to a recent survey, about one-third of Hispanics (33%) believe they do not need to wear sunscreen daily because they have a darker complexion. Further, people of African, Asian, Middle Eastern and Hispanic decent have higher levels of melanin and therefore are prone to developing hyperpigmentation and dark marks, making it difficult to maintain even-toned skin. The first step to preventing the development of hyperpigmentation is to limit sun exposure and use at least SPF 30.
There's nothing more obvious than someone who has dark, birthmark-like marks on their face or arms. To know that it can be prevented just by using sunscreen should be a no-brainer since obviously the fact that 2 million cases of skin cancer are reported annually isn't making much of an impression. READ MORE

The latest numbers show the unemployment rate stands at 9.1 percent, with the pace of job growth slowing. When it comes to new jobs, 70 percent of those are coming from small businesses, but many of them are struggling just to hang on.

Small businesses are often responsible for filling the summer job needs of America's teenagers. CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker reports that many 16- to 19-year-olds are finding the going rough when it comes to finding work once school is out.

Nearly 14 million Americans are looking for work

The Labor Department says the unemployment rate for those aged 16 to 19 last month was more than 24 percent. Compare that to May of 2000, when the rate was less than 13 percent.

Looking for summer employment has become a full-time job for 19-year-old Ana Galindo.

"I'm worried all the time. I'm worried because I have bills to pay," Galindo says.

She has filled out countless applications, but so far, the answer's been the same.

"At the moment we're not hiring, but we're just taking applications. We'll give you a call," prospective employers say.

Yet the phone never rings. College sophomore John Reed-Torres has been job hunting since last November. He says he's often competing with older workers and college grads for entry-level positions.

"People with Masters (degrees) trying to work at McDonald's. They're going to get hired before I do," Reed-Torres says. READ MORE

In a rundown shopping center along Rancho Drive in the heart of the Las Vegas Valley there’s a tiny shop that sells herbal products for recent immigrants. It offers traditional village remedies for stomach ailments, head colds and achy backs.

The familiar Mexican and Central American brands lack the stylish packaging of popular American products. One of the more memorable products is found in a row of boxes that feature an image of an attractive couple who apparently need help to consummate their special moment. A pair of older men at the front counter look warily upon a gringo who wanders into the shop and clearly knows little Spanish, the preferred language of business in this shop.

Less than a quarter mile south sits a bright, antiseptic Walgreens. Many of the customers visiting this place will never pass through the doors of the nearby chain store. Hispanic marketing specialist Miguel Barrientos says thousands of immigrants will drive past that beacon to aging Americans in pursuit of the familiar cures.

Indeed, as with any group of people, Hispanic customers gravitate to businesses where they feel respected, understood, appreciated, valued. We rarely recognize such personal dynamics in our daily business transactions, but they are a centerpiece of our commercial decisions. READ MORE

With the much anticipated release of the 2010 U.S. Census data, it is time for businesses and franchises to gear up for the new customer demographic adjustments that will inevitably follow. The biggest news to emerge thus far is the rapidly expanding Latino population, estimated to have become a trillion-dollar customer base in the 10 years since the previous census was taken.

As with any demographic, the Hispanic population in the United States has its own unique preferences and cultures when it comes to shopping and, more importantly, when deciding where to spend their money. Learning more about this expanding base of customers is absolutely crucial to the continued success of franchisees nationwide.

General demographic information

It is not new news per se that the Latino population is rapidly expanding in Southwestern region of the United States, but some interesting information indicates that even States that have not typically been considered to have large Hispanic populations are seeing immense increases. Oklahoma, for example, saw their Latino population increase by upwards of eighty percent in the last ten years. This is why it is so crucial to review the census for customer base information - the facts may be surprising and ignoring the needs of this huge population is to ignore an equally sized business opportunity.

So, exactly how big is this opportunity? Experts expect to see the United States Latino population to surpass the fifty million mark, effectively making the U.S. Hispanic population larger than the entire population of States such as California, Texas, or New York. Texas is a wonderful microcosm for what the business climate might look like for franchisees with surges in their State Hispanic population. Latinos have contributed over seventy percent of Texas's overall population growth and ninety-five percent of all children born in the State. Given the data, this is clearly a trend that will not be slowing down any time soon.

Seize the opportunity
With a fresh and hungry new demographic now in the mix the question remains: How can franchisees ensure that they are prepared to cater to the consumer needs of this group? As always is the case with a franchise, not everything is discretionary. There is already an accepted business model in place, as well as specific requirements that franchisees must meet such as store design or product branding. Some things are just simply out of the owner's control. However, that need not dictate the decision whether or not to pursue the Latino market. Those who dismiss this market will fall behind the ball and sales figures will reflect that. Latinos are simply too large a market these days to be ignored. READ MORE