Hi,

Can you please send me the bilingual telephone techniques?

Yes, I said that! It is my understanding that we are allowed to affirmatively market to protected classes; it is also my understanding that failure to market to a group that is a significant portion of a market could be construed as discrimination. For example, if you only run English language ads in a market with a large Hispanic population, how would you answer the question, "Why are you only running ads in English?"

Being in south Florida, especially in the Miami market we deal with a large Spanish market. The local ForRent magazine has adapted a Spanish book called “Para Rentar”, which is a bit effective in generating leads, almost same results as putting an ad on the local Spanish newspaper. However, it is my personal experience that similar to the “Haitian” clientele, the best source of advertisement is word of mouth. Spanish and Haitian typically feel more comfortable around their own heritage, so they believe in the inner communication network, where they give each other reference on housing and work. So, I would suggest to ramp up your resident referral program and activities, this should really generate additional leads.

Good luck!

correct. Hispanics are a protected class Brent and you can direct messages to them to effectively market to them. The same applies to education and workforce.

Steven, I cannot remember who told me, although I think it was Doug Chasick, that you are allowed to actively target Spanish-speakers without any Fair Housing implications...

Marketing to the Spanish speaking demographic can be a little difficult if you are not bilingual. But it is definitely worth the effort. Statistics show that the average Hispanic renter stays an average of 18 months (vs. the industry standard of 9 months) and refers an average of 5 people. The Spanish speaking community refers to word of mouth communication. Creating a resident referral campaign in Spanish would be a very good idea. In addition, there are online sources and print like Para Rentar and pararentar.com (a For Rent product). The Spanish newspaper is normally read regularly and accepted as trustworthy. Consider also marketing at the Mexican Consulate in your city. I would also make sure that all of your marketing material is available in both Spanish and English. If you would like some more ideas or resources, please feel free to call me. I also have a bilingual telephone techniques sheet that can be helpful.