Jose A. Segarra joins E-Tech as Business Development Executive

E-Tech January Press Release
by Karen Sinisi karens@ethnictechnologies.com
South Hackensack, NJ

Ethnic Technologies (E-Tech) is pleased to announce that Jose Aurelio Segarra, an outstanding and highly successful Business Development, Sales and Marketing professional, has joined our firm. In his role as Business Development Executive, he will be responsible for developing new market opportunities and growing existing markets. Prior to joining Ethnic Technologies, Mr. Segarra worked with clients in a wide variety of fields, including technology, government, business and direct marketing.

Early in his career, Mr. Segarra had a very successful tenure with IBM. Later, he successfully pursued the opportunity to establish his own business in his native Ecuador. While in Ecuador, he partnered with IBM, a technology powerhouse, on a wide variety of business development opportunities and provided personalized attention for their clients. Taking on greater challenges, Mr. Segarra moved to the New York City area to work as a Direct Marketing Specialist for a Canadian Marketing company. He has also taken leading roles developing government-related business for companies in the service industry.

“When the opportunity to join Ethnic Technologies arose, I was sure it was the perfect fit for me to utilize my skills and experience and further my career working with the Industry Leader in Multicultural Marketing,” said Mr. Segarra.

Mr. Segarra’s multicultural background as well as his broad international exposure and his multilingual skills are sure to be an asset to his clients and colleagues.

“I am certain that Mr. Segarra’s expertise will be an important asset to Ethnic Technologies,” said Karen Sinisi, Director of Sales and Marketing. “We anticipate that his knowledge and skill sets will help us capitalize on our current growth as well as shape the future of E-Tech’s business success.”

About Ethnic Technologies: 
Ethnic Technologies is the Global leader in Multicultural Marketing, Research, Data Enhancement and Analytics. Ethnic Technologies’ E-Tech software solutions are the result of over 30 years of continuous multicultural, ethnic and language preference research. E-Tech's Multicultural and Language Preference selects outperform the competition in accuracy and response rates time after time. Whether using the data for digital marketing, mailing, e-mail campaigns, CRM or modeling, the same excellent results have been achieved. For more information, visit www.ethnictechnologies.com or contact Karen Sinisi, Director of Sales & Marketing, Ethnic Technologies, (866) 333-8324 ext. 117.

National Minority Health Awareness Month

South Hackensack, NJ
April 11th, 2012
E-Tech April Newsletter
by Candace Kennedy candace@ethnictechnologies.com

The National Minority Quality Forum launched the first National Minority Health Month in April 2001. Its goal is to inform and educate emerging minority populations about disease prevention and cure. Scheduled events are designed to increase the understanding of diverse cultural differences within the context of prevailing health-related values and beliefs. A national focus on disparities in health status is essential to implement changes in health care delivery. Health care is a cultural construct, arising from beliefs about the nature of disease and the human body. These integrated human behavior patterns include language, customs, and beliefs. Cultural issues are at the core of wellness, health service treatment and preventive interventions. They influence how the patient and the health care provider perceive illness, disease, causes and cures. Proven over time and still one of the best ways to reach these populations is direct mail.

Some “minority populations” are emerging as the majority in major geographic areas. By 2050, the Census reports, the United States will have no clear majority population group. Our national tapestry will continue to be woven with diverse cultural, ethnic, and racial threads. Unfortunately still, at times, these groups experience poorer disease control and limited health care options. They have the highest rates of disability and premature death. Recently the University of Texas and Brigham and Women’s Hospital both found that Hispanic women can be at three times the risk for a pre-term baby delivery. Similar statistics for African American mothers. Cancer is the second leading cause of death for most racial and ethnic minorities. It is the number one killer for Asians. African American men are over twice as likely to die from prostate cancer as White men are. Black women are more likely to die of breast cancer than any other group; Hispanic women have the highest incidence rate for cervical cancer.

These statistics reflect genetic variations, environmental factors, and the cultural and linguistic traits that create and influence specific health behaviors. However, even when minorities have similar levels of access to care, health insurance and education, they often receive poor quality care. This may be a result of inadequate patient to provider communication or provider discrimination.

One objective of National Minority Health Month is to develop a clearer understanding of cultural competence. This ability to value and incorporate the cultural differences of diverse populations can create a health care system that serves the unique needs of populations whose cultures may be different from the prevailing culture. This month also addresses the issues surrounding minority under-representation in interventional and observational clinical trials. Recruiting and retaining participants remains a problem due to lack of cultural competency by the provider and distrust of the health care system by minority group members. Hispanics are particularly affected because they are the largest minority group without medical insurance. These influencers affect valid analysis and outcomes of the studies and dilute what constitutes effective and safe care for these groups. The cornerstone of this campaign is overcoming minority group barriers through community awareness, education and involvement.

The costs (financial and human) associated with patient noncompliance are staggering and very well documented. Understanding ethnicity, language preference and country of origin can influence -- for the positive. New technologies and applications are coming, but true understanding and respect of these populations are what will continue to make a difference. National Minority Health Month hopes to raise awareness of disparity and the need to include all groups in health care education, policies, and programs. Inclusion of marginalized groups in the decision making process creates a health care system that benefits all groups well into this century and beyond -- plus it can be good business as well.

Important Dates and a Peek at our Latest Newsletter

Check out our newest Newsletter on "MULTICULTURAL MAGIC: B2B GROWTH"

Entrepreneurship is important; it spurs innovation, employment and economic growth. It is estimated that immigrants/multiculturals, create businesses at 2-3 times the average rate. Some start as SOHO (small office, home office) and grow into larger businesses which can be categorized by SIC codes, with many employees and sizable sales volumes.

A study by Duke University, University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard University found that immigrants founded almost 52 % of Silicon Valley startups launched from 1995 to 2005. A quarter of the patents filed during the same period came from immigrants.

To read the rest of this Newsletter click here

May 2011 Newsletter: A Growing Multicultural Market

South Hackensack, NJ
May 12th, 2011
E-Tech May Newsletter
by Candace Kennedy candace@ethnictechnologies.com

In 2010, The Census counted 50.4 Million Hispanics, 38.9 Million African Americans and 14.6 Million Asians living in the USA. If anything, numbers like this should get your attention and entice you as a marketer to start building a brand loyalty among these high growth segments of our population. These estimated population numbers should be used as a reference or starting point for any successful direct marketing campaign targeted towards these consumers. Remember the numbers here reflect the estimated total populations for each group and for any direct campaign your target market with be much lower. The use of highly actionable data, utilizing intelligent research and market analytics down to the granular levels of Ethnicity, Language Preference, Religion, Assimilation and Gender helps guide any successful multicultural initiative. Adding key intelligence about your consumers, both current and potential, is the main ingredient for growth.

Conventional wisdom in today’s multicultural climate says that America is a melting pot of many different races, cultures, religions and beliefs. Try mixing up ten different cheeses in a pot then try to find the different taste values of each. It is very difficult to do. The same idea applies to identifying the different races, cultures and religions that make up our nation. The segmentation system that we habitually use simply divides the population into color or racial categories: White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian. A better approach is to see the diversity in America as a mixed salad, where each ethnicity is a different ingredient and can be identified. This method, if used properly applies to the many ethnicities and different cultures in our nation and each can be identified.

Marketers, researchers, advertising agencies and the media often market to Hispanics as a separate group from Whites, Blacks and Asians. When you take an in-depth look at the Hispanic population in the United States they often associate with one or more of the aforementioned racial groups and those racial groups can be correlated to their country of origin or cultural identity. An individual or family from Puerto Rico does not exhibit the same cultural identity or buying habits as those of a family that has immigrated to the US from Mexico. If that is the cases then why do marketers, researchers, advertising agencies and the media often approach Hispanics as a whole with the same exact offers, disregard their country of origin and then complain that their campaigns were not successful? Even the dialect of the Spanish language they speak differs.

The same issues arise and in greater depth when attempting to target the Asian community, the "One Size Fits All" mentality is often the method used and low response rates and product interests are the norm. With so many different Asian countries of origin and Asian languages of preference currently residing in the US, it is the smart marketer that embraces technology that allows them to identify all ethnicities, countries of origin and languages that are available. An offer tailored to a Chinese American living in San Francisco, CA should differentiate from one being tailored to a Korean American living in Fort Lee, NJ or a Vietnamese American living in Houston, TX. Now if you add into the mix the different levels of Assimilation and Acculturation, the buying habits and traditional cultural customs the individual embraces are all over the chart.

Many ethnic and religious groups in the United States maintain a strong cultural identity. They are often attracted to communities with their same ethnicity, communities in which many traditional cultural customs are maintained. Given that the ethnic diversity in the US is far more reflective of a global landscape, it is even more important for marketers to fully understand cultural differences, language preference, purchasing habits and other socioeconomic information and integrate those variations into their everyday marketing strategies and tactics. The time for the “One Size Fits All” methodology is gone, embrace the fast growing multicultural segments within our population and build your brand loyalty now and into the future.

Schedule a meeting with your E-Tech sales representative during the All for One Marketing Summit 2011 presented by DM Days. Stop by and visit us at booth #1100.

Financial Opportunities for the Hispanic Consumer

South Hackensack, NJ
August 24th, 2010
by Candace Kennedy candace@ethnictechnologies.com

Hispanic Heritage Month is just around the corner and being celebrated nationwide beginning on September 15, 2010, the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries – Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Mexico achieved independence on September 16th and Chile on September 18th.

Financial Opportunities for the Hispanic Consumer

Some U.S. banks and insurance companies, unlike many media and grocery businesses have limited marketing their products and services specifically to Hispanic consumers. This may have made sense in the past, since the majority of the 45 million + Hispanics who live in the United States typically spend less than the average U.S. consumer on financial services but more on groceries and Spanish-language media. Sidestepping the Hispanic market made sense to financial institutions, until now.

Financial institutions could be missing out on a huge opportunity. By 2011, spending by Hispanics living in the United States will probably have risen to more than $975 billion a year, from around $500 billion in 2006. Financial services are projected to account for a substantial part of that increase. Industries that currently cater to the Hispanic market benefit conspicuously from the growing population. Industries such as housing, health care, and financial services that target middle and upper-income consumers are likely to benefit significantly as Hispanic household incomes rise.

To succeed in this diverse market, banks and insurance companies will have to do more than translate their brochures into Spanish. Financial institutions benefit from the lessons learned by other consumer product marketers. In courting Hispanics, financial-services companies must not only attract a new customer segment but also change its buying behavior. Financial institutions will have to educate the Hispanic consumers about such products as mortgages and insurance. Once educated, the Hispanic consumer will seek these “aspirational” products and services. For Hispanics, these financial products become part of “Living in America”.

The incomes and assimilation levels of Hispanic consumers vary widely. Banks should offer a choice of products at every rung of the ladder: from inexpensive services like international wire transfers, pre-paid cards and check cashing targeted at recent immigrants, to mortgages and insurance products geared toward the emerging middle class, to the full portfolio of financial services for second- and third-generation Hispanic consumers.

Clustering all Hispanics in one large category is not the most profitable approach since many different groups compose that market. Nonetheless, there are trends that can be highlighted. For example, purchase decisions among many Hispanics are driven by familiarity or lack of familiarity with brands. The bulk of Hispanic consumers, particularly those who are Spanish dominant buy products and services that they recognize and know something about. They strive to be “more” American. Once sold on a “brand” they will share their experiences with others in their immediate circle.

Marketing to the Hispanic consumer has at its core the establishment of a relationship between the seller and the buyer. Hispanics are particularly sensitive to the establishment and maintenance of that relationship. The Hispanic consumer is generally more sensitive to offers that are acceptable to family and friends as a good decision. We see both individual and external attributes that drive the decisions differently within this segment. Product and offer attributes such as price and availability and perceptual attributes such as quality, benefits, and cultural sensitivity are obviously key drivers in the purchase decision. Theses distinctions are important. Businesses cannot reap the rewards from this segment unless they understand and target it.

Hispanic Demographic Information Snapshot http://12.162.123.172/multicultural_information/etech_process/hispanicsdemo.html

At Ethnic Technologies we are here to help you understand and market to the Hispanic consumer with fresh, accurate and comprehensive data, modeling and analysis.

Ethnic Technologies will be exhibiting at 2 up coming venues in September and October 2010. Contact an E-Tech representative to learn more about our products, services at one of these events.
1. September 30th at the Hispanic Digital and Print Media Conference at The Scholastic Auditorium & Greenhouse with Rooftop Terrace NYC, NY. Portada’s Connecting National Brands to Local Audiences.
2. October 10th through the 12th at the DMA National Conference and Exhibition at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco CA.

Ethnic Technologies, LLC - Hispanic Insight

Ethnic Technologies, LLC is the platinum standard in multicultural marketing. The result of over 40 years of continuous ethnic, religious and language preference research, E-Tech allows clients to segment their database by ethnicity, religion, language preference and Hispanic country of origin more accurately and comprehensively than any other approach. The EthniCenter® offers an Assimilation Index, which distinguishes Hispanic individuals based on their ability to speak their Native Language or understand the language of their prevailing culture. E-Tech incorporates a unique approach for the different Hispanic Countries of Origin. After identifying their specific names, E-Tech does a neighborhood analysis using multi-sourced information compiled from our research team. From that data, E-Tech is able to accurately identify the Hispanic individuals' Country of Origin. The incorporation of Enhanced Neighborhood Analytics (ENA) technology in E-Tech Version 7.3 establishes a new and unprecedented level of granularity and completeness in the ethnic marketing industry. Clients also benefit from and acquire ethnic mailing, telemarketing and email lists for both the United States and Canada. The analytics department at E-TECH offers ethnic data appending services and mapping to provide businesses with an overview of new and existing markets.

E-Tech ® and The EthniCenter ® are registered trademarks of Ethnic Technologies, LLC