Hispanics Reversing Population Decline of Fading Towns
Ask any rural small town councilman what one of their biggest concerns are and most will say it’s keeping their tiny towns alive. More residents are leaving the small town way of life while more residents die than are born each year. Schools consolidate with other small communities or close all together and businesses on main street are boarded up. For generations, rural towns in the Great Plains have been slowly dying.
But a recent article from the New York Times shows a demographic trend gleaned from the 2010 census: Hispanics are breathing new life into some of these towns as they arrive in numbers large enough to stem or offset the decline completely. Hispanic-owned businesses are opening in the shuttered storefronts, and their children are keeping the school system numbers stable.
Of course, there are bound to be growing pains when small towns see a quick influx of outsiders, especially when town residents have been historically white. But councilmen agree that their towns must change or die. Whether or not the strong Hispanic presence will be enough to save the small towns remains to be seen.
At the same time, the marketing implications of this trend are interesting. Diversity marketing means targeting a demograhic in a way that appeals to them emotionally. So urban residents will probably be targeted differently than rural residents. Hispanics should be marketed to differently than their non-Hispanic counterparts.
But we’re also looking at subsets of subsets. Now we must consider marketing to rural Hispanics differently than their urban Hispanic counterparts. We must ask ourselves how these subsets are different, and how they are the same if we want our marketing message to hit home.
Graphic: Queens College Department of Sociology
2 Responses to “Hispanics Reversing Population Decline of Fading Towns”
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If you could grow your business simply by marketing to your existing customers, making money would be a cakewalk. But to generate new revenue, you have to win over the customers you’re not getting. Who are these mystery customers? How are they different from your current clientele? Most importantly, how do you forge a bond with them across these differences?
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About the Author
Kelly McDonald
Kelly McDonald is a marketing and advertising expert with more than 20 years of global advertising agency experience.
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You've got a great newsletter, Kelly. Full of such amazing information! You do an amazing job and I can't wait to hear you again in June. Barcelona, Spain? You Rock, Lady!
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December 1st, 2011 at 1:49 pm
Do you have the demographic change map for Texas?
December 5th, 2011 at 4:06 pm
Alan – Kelly will get in touch with you offline regarding your request. Thanks for reading our blog!