How To Promote Your Podcast To A Hispanic Audience
Author: Seth Rubinroit
There will be more podcast listeners in Latin America than any other region in the world by 2027, according to a new study published in PodNews.
How can you promote your podcast to a Hispanic audience, both in Latin America and in the United States?
In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, The Podcast Academy held a webinar entitled “How Podcasts are Boosting Latino Entrepreneurship in the U.S.”
Here are three things to consider when promoting your podcast to a Hispanic audience:
Hispanics are not a monolith
There are more than 60 million Americans of Latino origin who have roots in more than 20 Latin American countries.
“We're talking about dozens of countries here,” said Sandra Velasquez, host of The Nopalera Podcast. “We don't even all speak the same Spanish.”
The key is to be authentic, according to Velasquez, who is also the founder and CEO of Nopalera, a beauty brand built around Mexican ingredients like the nopal cactus.
“I live in New York and we have these like a lot of these ‘confused’ restaurants, in my opinion, where it's a Latino restaurant but they also serve hamburgers with fries because they want to be for everybody,” she said. “No, just be you. People want you.
Be intentional with your choice of language
Fernando Hurtado, host of Bísness School from NBC and Telemundo, went back-and-forth when deciding whether to host his podcast in English or Spanish. He even considered putting out a version in both languages.
He ultimately decided to produce the show in English to reach a younger audience.
“When I pitched the project, I felt that there was this kind of Venn diagram of audiences for NBC [in English] and Telemundo [in Spanish],” he said. “If you take it on a personal level, which I think some people listening to this will be able to relate to, Telemundo's audience is my parents, who are Spanish-dominant, and then NBC's audience is more people like me.”
Establish a personalized connection with your audience
No podcast ever reaches its entire target audience from the first episode. Rather than trying to reach everybody, focus on reaching specific individuals who can advocate for your show and help it grow.
“We have access to social media and all of these tools that make it easier for us to connect, but sometimes it feels like it's overwhelming,” said Andrea Marquez, host of the “This is Small Business” podcast. “There are so many things available to us, which is a good thing, but then it loses that one-on-one personal connection.”
Marquez goes to as many conferences as she can and hosts live podcasts to establish an in-person connection with her audience. And she always makes sure to bring swag like pins or free coffee for her listeners.
“It doesn’t matter if it's ten people or if it's 10,000,” she said. “When you're able to be there in person, I think it makes all the difference.”
Seth Rubinroit, who was named Forty Under 40 by Broadcasting+Cable and Multichannel News, is the Senior Manager of Audio and Digital Strategy for NBCUniversal Local. He leads the Digital Sports Innovation Team and spearheads the multi-platform audio strategy for the division’s 43 NBC and Telemundo owned stations and six Regional Sports Networks. He and his team produced:
• “My New Favorite Olympian,” which was named the “Best Podcast Series” at the Cynopsis Sports Media Awards
• “My New Favorite Futbolista,” which was named the “Best Podcast Series” at the WEBBY Signal Awards
• “Sports Uncovered,” a finalist for “Best Sports Podcast" at The Podcast Academy’s Ambies