This page is written for colleges, school districts, and other adult education organizations who are going to offer and teach Workplace Spanish® programs in their communities.  It highlights some basic marketing insights, thoughts and successful ideas used by many of our customers.

The key subjects covered on this page are:

1.  Understand what you are Marketing

2.  Product and Delivery are Inseparable

3.  Selecting Target Markets

4.  Likely Customer Candidates

1.  Understand What you are Marketing

You are marketing the BENEFITS of Workplace Spanish® training which vary but typically include these elements:

Organizations don't invest money to create great Spanish speakers!  They invest training dollars to alleviate business problems caused by poor communication or outright language barriers which impact their capability to perform at a high level.  If they wanted Spanish perfectionists, they would enroll their employees in school.

2.  Product & Delivery are Inseparable

Your are marketing a product that consists of two key elements – our Workplace Spanish® branded materials and your instruction (the delivery of the product).  Just like Best Buy selling Sony branded TV's, there are 2 elements to what is being marketed:  a branded product and the added value that Best Buy delivers in product knowledge, inventorying the merchandise, delivering the product, and working to be sure the customer is satisfied. 

If Sony has a poor quality TV, the marketing won't work.  If Best Buy has poor salespeople or sloppy displays, the marketing won't work.  It's the same premise in marketing and delivering Workplace Spanish® – all the elements must work cohesively to satisfy the customer.  You've got to know the product and be confident of your delivery!  This is NOT Spanish 101.

3.  Selecting Target Markets

We currently offer 20 different job-specific programs and have the ability to customize any of them to meet a particular client's need.  We divide our products into 5 broad categories:

• Service Category:  Banking / Customer Service / Retailers & Supermarkets / Utility Companies
   

• Health Care Category:  currently Health Care / Pharmacists / - more to come later
   

• Supervisory Category:  Supervisors / Human Resources / Manufacturing / Restaurants
   

• Government Category:  City & County Govt. / Firefighters & EMS / Police Officers / Building & Fire Inspectors / Teachers & School Administrators
   

• Construction & Outdoor Category:  Commercial Construction / Home Builders / Golf Course Superintendents & Landscapers / Travelers & Tourists
   

You know your community and the type of businesses and organizations in your marketing area.  If you are in a metro area, you may have many target markets.  If you are in a rural area, you will need to be more selective.  If you have a competitor with a strong reputation in a particular niche, then you should focus your efforts on a different market segment. 

BE BIG SOMEWHERE!  Don't try to do everything; focus on where you can get the best return on your investment.  Maybe it's an untapped niche in your market; maybe it's a particular expertise that one of your instructors offers; maybe it's understanding someone's needs very thoroughly — whatever it is, think about what you see everyday - what you read about locally - where the needs are obvious, and offer a solution!

Consider that the Hispanic population is growing at a rate 4 times faster than the US population as a whole.  While there are many bilingual Hispanic professionals, the language barriers are most prevalent with entry and mid-level Latinos who do not speak English.  However, they work (very hard too) and have tremendous buying power. 

-  the Health Care industry has tremendous language challenges because any health care organization that receives federal funds (all hospitals) must treat & communicate with all patients, regardless of language.  Since there are never enough bilinguals or interpreters on staff, this presents an excellent opportunity for training.

-  Government must deal with Hispanics in all aspects of government – from taxes and licenses to police, emergency services, building & code inspections, and schools.  This is an enormous market.  School systems are struggling with communication between teachers, students, parents, officials.  Lots of opportunity.

-  Construction and Landscaping are obvious choices but you really need either some big companies as clients or the local trade association on your team offering your services to their members.  Construction is an easier market to penetrate, especially Commercial Construction.  Landscape and golf course programs are better left to cold weather continuing education course offerings.

- the Service industries & companies offer a wealth of opportunity – banking, utilities & telecomm; realtors; customer service – everyone wants a piece of the rapidly growing Hispanic market.  Offer them a way to achieve that with your Workplace Spanish® course.  Banking is especially attractive since the American Bankers Association selected Workplace Spanish® materials for their member (read press release).

4.  Likely Customer Candidates

Return to ResourceCenter //  Go to Role of the Instructor (#3 in the training process)