Topic: Reaching out to the Spanish-speaking market through rental ads

Los Angeles, CA, I have a building mainly spanish speaking tenants. We like the building direction, but don't know how to reach out to the spanish market through rental ads? any ideas? thank you

I had several properties with the same resident profile. A Spanish banner on the property stating the special worked best. and of course Word of Mouth. We also did very well with an ad in the Spanish newspaper.

This is an ever growing market and should not be ignored. I commend you for looking into new ways to advertise this community. I know that for my clients, many say that they have properties that are mostly spanish speaking. We try to send in spanish speaking mystery shoppers when we can to really get a good feel on the how well the leasing team is doing with these prospects. I am curious to hear other's ideas on promoting their communities. Most of my clients are in DC.

well the hispanic population by a great degree happens to use smart phones as a primary method of search and engagement. not to profile (FYI I am first generation American with both parents from Colombia, South America), but the stats show that this tends to be the case b/c of how inexpensive it is to own a smart phone than it is to own a PC. So, I would look at ways to market through mobile. second, make sure that you have teams that are spanish speakers. third resident referral. fourth resident parties around national liberation day (chicago does a great job with these types of events). fifth host world day at your community and have residents from different parts of the world showcase their favorite national dishes. let the event be open to their friends/family. sixth host latin dance classes with friends/family invited. advertise these events on FB for them to share with their friends. mix it up, have fun and happy leasing. :)

Not certain if the building is commercial or residential. Laws will differ...........I would advise you to be careful in the context of using Spanish language (or any other language) to market or lease to residential renters. There are discrimination compliance issues that will potentially open you up to legal problems that you should be aware of. Would definitely consult an attorney before implementing marketing/sales programs.

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.

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...

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.

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!

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?"

Hi,

Can you please send me the bilingual telephone techniques?