September 26, 2008
Interview

How to Reach Millions of Hispanic Business Owners, Professionals

SUMMARY: You want to grab the attention of the Hispanic business community. Then listen to what Jeremy Nisen, online editor of HispanicBusiness.com, has to say about pitching story ideas to him. Getting seen on the site can put your client or company in front of millions of Hispanic business owners and professionals.
Contact Information

Jeremy Nisen
Online Editor
Hispanic Business Inc.
425 Pine Ave.
Santa Barbara, CA 93117
http://www.hispanicbusiness.com/
Jeremy(dot)Nisen(at)hbinc(dot)com

Background

Nisen has been Online Editor at HispanicBusiness.com since last winter after spending five years as an editor at Standard & Poor’s. Nisen has been a writer and copy editor, mostly for trade publications. He has worked also at American Lawyer Media and PR Newswire.

Viewership/Readership

Readers:
- Most have an average household income of at least $80,000.
-30% first-generation Hispanic
-30% second-generation Hispanic
-30% third or higher generation Hispanic
-10% other ethnicities

Site Statistic Averages (July 2008):
Avg. monthly visits: 1.1 million
Avg. monthly unique visits: 352,000
Avg. monthly page views: 3.9 million
(Source: NetTracker)

“We have a very high proportion of executive managers, professionals, operations managers,” says Nisen. “A large chunk is involved in marketing and sales.”

Editorial Coverage

HispanicBusiness.com covers any news of interest to Hispanic professionals. But Nisen looks for stories, in particular, with a business angle. Nisen writes and assigns the following types of original stories for the website:

-> Market studies about minorities, specifically Hispanics

Example: He recently wrote a story about a Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation survey of minority-oriented private equity funds. In the “Rankings” section, there’s also a story about Hispanic representation in board rooms.

-> Profiles of Hispanic entrepreneurs

Example: Nisen recently wrote a profile of Altura Capital, a Hispanic-owned finance company helping small-time investment managers connect with big-time hedge funds, private equity firms, and other types of money managers. These types of stories appear in the “Entrepreneur” section of the website.

-> Product reviews

Example: The website has a few product reviews in the “Technology” section. Nisen recently reviewed a Casio camera. In addition, studies show that Hispanics are adopting mobile technology at a lot quicker pace than other U.S. ethnic groups. So, Nisen is looking to review more mobile technology-oriented products.

Tip: Nisen says he’s also open to reviewing gadgets of use to business professionals.

-> Political stories involving influential Hispanics

-> Career-focused events and advice

Example: The “Entrepreneur” and “Career” sections offer career advice stories, such as “Five Ways to Prevent Career Burn Out” and “Six Things You Should Know before Buying a Franchise.” Nisen is open to interviewing career experts on these types of topics. He is also open to hearing about career events of interest to Hispanic professionals.

How Not to Pitch

As with most publications, blogs, and websites, there are some simple rules for pitching to HispanicBusiness.com. Read the content tops the list, especially the original content on the website. Make your pitch relevant to what Nisen is likely to cover.

Here are three “don’ts” when pitching Nisen:

Don’t: Send a pitch in Spanish only

Often when people see “Hispanic Business,” their first assumption is that it’s targeted to Spanish speakers only, says Nisen. In reality, the publication/website does not focus on being a resource for Spanish speakers. None of the stories are translated into Spanish.

Don’t: Send a pitch about how your company is marketing to Hispanics

These are the classic pitches Nisen receives and deletes on a regular basis. The site doesn’t cover prominent U.S. companies dealing in Spanish media, he says. For example, it doesn’t cover commercials targeting Hispanics by using the Spanish language.

Don’t: Be excessive about follow-up

What works best is to pitch a story to Nisen, and then wait for his response. If he tells you he doesn’t have time now, it’s okay to touch base every few weeks. What he doesn’t want is to be bombarded with follow-up calls telling him he’s missing a wonderful opportunity after he’s already responded to a pitch.




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