Background:

The state-run Department of Emergency Management is responsible for disseminating all essential emergency preparedness, prevention, and protection information to residents throughout the state. Marketing Doctor was tasked with providing strategic media planning and buying for the Department’s statewide Hurricane Preparedness Campaign. The campaign focused on greater prioritization of Spanish-speaking residents, and residents at highest risk of being affected by hurricane-related emergencies. Our job was to ensure community members knew their hurricane risk levels, emergency kit needs in light of the pandemic (e.g. masks and hand sanitizer), and new evacuation destinations, as previous locations may no longer be open or safe. It was critical that we reach audiences with accurate, accessible information in an equitable manner.

Approach: Our overarching multilingual media buying strategy included:

• Market research to meaningfully connect with Spanish-speaking residents
• Location targeting
• Strategic digital platform placements to encourage communities to take hurricane preparation seriously
• A focus on ultimately increasing traffic on our client’s website and the campaign-specific landing page

Solution: Marketing Doctor’s multilingual marketing solutions included:

• Conducting market research, including reports regarding the media consumption habits and preferences of Latinx consumers, such as higher indexing for mobile devices than desktop devices.
• Developing and implementing specific strategies across Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat–platforms which are particularly strong among mobile device users.
• Allocating budget appropriately to support:
  • Increased specificity with location targeting based on population data
  • Campaign focus on Spanish-speaking residents
  • Prioritization of mobile ad delivery
  • Increased overall frequency and message recall
  • Development of Spanish creative and written campaign elements to be used in existing and future campaigns
• Incorporating active data analysis and measurement tools to assess campaign performance and deepen audience behaviors
• Fostering a personal connection with Spanish-speaking audiences via collaboration with a local, trusted community influencer.

Results: 

Marketing Doctor achieved strong, sustained engagement over two years of running this campaign, resulting in enhanced messaging recall. While Latinx community members make up approximately 12% of the state’s population, the Spanish Click-Through Rate (CTR) outperformed industry benchmarks by an average of 90% throughout the campaign. Additionally, the influencer campaign resulted in a CTR 128% higher than the industry benchmark. 

The campaign received positive feedback from state residents, including a social ad comment from a resident who said, 

“Thank you for making this message in Spanish. I am proud of my state for promoting diversity.”