Posted by Elena del Valle on June 24, 2013
States with Majority Minority Toddler Populations 2012 – click to enlarge
For years there has been debate about the demographic face of America. Experts have estimated growth, births, deaths and juggled data to predict what our country will look like in coming decades. Newly analyzed Census 2010 information points to an unprecedented change in our nation’s racial and ethnic profile in 14 states. Data on ten of the states is represented in the graphic in this article. Four additional states were excluded to keep the graphic size manageable: New Jersey, New York, Mississippi and Delaware.
Non Hispanic whites are dying at a faster rate than they are born. This was anticipated. The speed at which it is happening is what is unexpected. Three states, Texas, New Mexico and California, have already reached majority-minority status, according to The Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization.
William Frey, senior fellow there, indicated in a recent article (Shift to a Majority-Minority Population in the U.S. Happening Faster than Expected) that the country is at the beginning of “an inevitable transition that affords us new opportunities.” Booming minority births, fewer births and more deaths among whites, and immigration are driving these changes, according to his article.
Posted by Elena del Valle on June 19, 2013
By Edward M. Bury, APR
Edward M. Bury, APR
Photo: Edward M. Bury
The numbers are astounding. And, as you read this, they continue to grow. And grow.
The subject in question is the online communications medium once known as a “weblog,” but much better known today as a blog.
Want some statistics? A site called Worldomenters.info reports that more than 3 million new blog posts are published daily. WordPress, a very popular open source platform content management system reported that it registers around 100,000 new bloggers each day.
Read the entire Four Tasks to Take On Before Launching a Business Blog
Posted by Elena del Valle on June 17, 2013
Homemade hummus, a spread made with mashed chickpeas, oil, garlic, and lemon juice
Photo: HispanicMPR
Americans like ethnic foods. That market segment is estimated at $8.7 billion for last year. Young adults and families with children like to prepare ethnic foods at home. Nine of ten adults 25 to 34 years of age in the United States who took a Mintel survey said they prepared ethnic food at home the previous month.
Among older adults 65 and older who took the survey 68 percent responded positively to the same question. Most people with children at home, 91 percent, said yes to the question compared to 78 percent among people with no children.
Mintel analysis in Ethnic Foods US January 2013 indicates the 12 percent growth in ethnic food sales between 2007 and 2009 was due to people eating in restaurants less often and dining at home more often to save money. While growth of ethnic food slowed to 4.5 percent from 2010 to 2012, according to Mintel that market segment is forecast to grow 20 percent between 2012 and 2017.
Hispanic food among survey takers was the most popular. More than half, 58 percent, said they prepared Hispanic food within the last month versus 55 percent who indicated they made Italian dishes and 44 percent who chose Asian food.
“The popularity of Hispanic food is likely due to how mainstream it has become in the US and the ease and convenience of preparing it,” said John N. Frank, category manager, CPG food and drink, Mintel, in a press release. “The endless supply of Mexican, Cuban and other Hispanic-based restaurants have given home cooks infinite possibilities for re-creating these restaurant-style meals at home.”
The largest (in terms of sales) of the ethnic food market’s five segments, per Mintel data, is Mexican/Hispanic although the growth for that type of food was negligible from 2010 to 2012. The next segment, while much smaller, corresponds to Asian food which had a 10.2 percent dollar sales increase and a 1 percentage point market share growth in the same time period.
Mediterranean/Middle Eastern foods, the third largest segment while much smaller than the other two, grew the most in those two years and is forecast to grow the most in dollar sales between 2012 and 2017. The ethnic food category, Mintel research indicates, responds to price and deals. Survey respondents exhibited low brand loyalty.
Authenticity is the top ethnic food characteristic, according to a July 2012 article (Research Spotlight: Ethnic Foods: Flying High) in SpecialtyFood.com. The article suggests that food manufacturers and marketers would increase consumer interest in their products, women and seniors in particular, by providing and promoting products with health benefits which interest both segments.
Posted by Elena del Valle on June 14, 2013
Cracking The Icon Code
Photo: David Fagan
Influence, credibility and exposure combined can act as catalysts to success for business leaders who know how to leverage them, according to David T. Fagan, author, Cracking The Icon Code Learn How to Earn an Icon Status and How to Net 6 Figures from Your Image, Expertise and Advice (On the Inside Press, $14.95). He believes it’s good to establish complimentary relationships but that at the end of the day it’s a free capitalist market and competition is necessary.
In the book, he goes on to say that people who sell a product or service for a living need to establish good contacts and show their clients what makes them worth buying from compared to doing nothing or buying from a competitor. Being bold, causing a little controversy and speaking out about a topic can be beneficial, the author points out.
The more someone can do for others the more influential he or she is, he says in Chapter 4 where he provides a test for readers to determine their Icon Influence Factor. To lead, he points out, it’s necessary to have a high score. In the same chapter he has Credibility Competency Score and Exposure Energy Score tests. He dedicated two chapters to websites as marketing tools and discusses the value of media, writing a book and other ways a reader may spread his reputation as an icon.
The 157-page softcover book published this year is divided into 40 short easy-to-read chapters. Fagan is former chief executive officer of Guerrila Marketing. Books he authored or co-authored include: Guerrilla Rainmakers, The Inside Drive, How to Raise an Entrepreneur, Secrets of Peak Performers, Mad Ads: Madison Avenue Advertising on a Main Street Budget, and Zero to Hero in 90 Days or Less.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on June 10, 2013
Hamilton Brown, senior brand manager, Procter and Gamble Company
Photo, videos: Fleishman-Hillard Miami, Procter and Gamble Company
A podcast interview with Hamilton Brown, senior brand manager, Procter and Gamble Company, is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. During the podcast, he discusses the first Gain web novela with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast. Scroll down to watch behind the scenes video of the filming of Aroma de Amor in Spanish.
Hamilton leads the Gain Fabric and Home Care Megabrand with sales of over $1.5 billion dollars. He is responsible for the delivering business, sales, volume and profit objectives, development of business strategy, advertising, and leading multifunctional teams to deliver consumer inspired innovation to the marketplace.
His previous assignment was as global brand manager of Old Spice.
Hamilton’s business leadership accelerated the brand’s global footprint through the delivery of product innovation and advertising campaigns that drove share growth around the world. He was the co-creator of The Man Your Man Can Smell Like concept featuring Isaiah Mustafa which won five Cannes Lions. Prior to his career at Procter and Gamble, he worked as an architectural engineer for four years with the SmithGroup. Hamilton is a resident of West Chester, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio.
To listen to the interview, scroll down until you see “Podcast” on the right hand side, then select “HMPR Hamilton Brown” or click on the play button below. You may download the MP3 file to your iPod or MP3 player to listen on the go, in your car or at home by clicking on “Get HMPR Podcast” above the podcast player. The podcast will remain listed in the June 2013 section of the podcast archive.
Posted by Elena del Valle on June 7, 2013
Outsource Smart book cover
Photo: McGrall Hill
Daven Michaels, founder and chief executive officer, 123Employee, believes paying consultants outside a company to do work owners and managers can’t or don’t want to do will save the company time and money. In Outsource Smart Be Your Own Boss without Letting Your Business Become the Boss of You (McGraw Hill, $22) he explains his thinking. The more an executive can delegate, the better he says in the book. And, the more work a company can hire out the more money it saves on employee costs. In his book, he proposes that for every task there is a contractor available.
The 226-page softcover book published this year is divided into twelve chapters: The Outsourcing Paradigm, The New Definition of Insanity, Outsourcing 101, How to Hire and Train an Outsource VA, Legal and Financial Realities: How To Manage an Outsourced Virtual Assistant, The Marketing Funnel: Outsourced List-Building and List Creation, Outsourced Website Creation and Maintenance, Outsourced Article Marketing and Blogging, Outsourced Video Marketing, Outsourcing the Google Ranking Race, Quality Control in Bad Times, Quality Control in Good Times.
The author reasons that an executive who is working 16 hours a day should delegate or outsource any task below his pay grade. The alternative is that he is working extra hours at minimum wage performing tasks someone else could be doing more profitably. The top outsourcing countries, according to Michaels, are India, Philippines, Canada, Ireland and Russia followed by China, Mexico and South Africa. Each region, he explains, has areas of specialization.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on June 3, 2013
Kaye Sweetser, Ph.D., professor, HW Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia
A podcast interview with Kaye Sweetser, Ph.D., APR, associate professor, University of Georgia Grady College, is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. During the podcast, she discusses using social media to build business with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast.
As an associate professor of public relations at the HW Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication Dr. Sweetser’s research focuses on the use of Internet technology in political public relations and communication. Specifically, she has researched digital tools like Twitter, Facebook and blogs with regard to the personalization they offer organizations. She has looked at this in public relations contexts as well as in political campaigns. In addition to a rich life in academia, she keeps one foot squarely in the day-to-day practice of public relations through her affiliation with the U.S. Navy as a drilling reservist. In 2011, she was deployed to Afghanistan where she worked the news desk for the war and served as a NATO spokesman for important world events such as the death of Osama bin Laden.
During her time at war, she was able to serve as an adviser to the government of Afghanistan sharing her knowledge about social media and its best practices from a government communication standpoint. She held large group training sessions with government communication officials as well as one-on-one sessions with the spokesman for the Ministry of Interior. She regularly turned to Twitter as an information dissemination tool during crisis. Kaye earned her doctoral degree from the University of Florida. She has been at the University of Georgia since 2006.
To listen to the interview, scroll down until you see “Podcast” on the right hand side, then select “HMPR Kaye Sweetser, Ph.D.” click on the play button below. You may download the MP3 file to your iPod or MP3 player to listen on the go, in your car or at home by clicking on “Get HMPR Podcast” above the podcast player. The podcast will remain listed in the June 2013 section of the podcast archive.
Posted by Elena del Valle on May 24, 2013
Innovate Products Faster book cover
Photo: TCGen Press
Developing new products does not require a slow and ineffective process. In Innovate Products Faster: Graphical Tools for Accelerating Product Development (TCGen Press, $19.95), John Carter and Jeanne Bradford, chief executive officer and principal respectively of TCGen Inc., make the case that companies can have innovation and speed. To do so, they say, it is necessary to have mastery of tools and methodologies that will support managers in making better decisions faster. They say the tools available should be those that can be quickly understood and implemented. They should be “tactically straightforward, but strategically powerful and can be applied across different industries and organizations, from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies,” according to the consultants.
For managers and their teams they propose a Product Innovation Process they have refined and tested with 50 clients. It has three checkpoints, Concept Check-In, Product Check-In, and Release Check-In, or defined interactions between the management and the core cross-functional development teams.
They serve as peer-to-peer discussions rather than critical, hierarchical, and stress-filled reviews. Carter and Bradford outlined five core disciplines and subsets of best practices for each one. The chapters, each dedicated to a single best practice, are divided into three parts: a description, a graphic and a fictional case study. The authors indicate the best practices apply to hardware, software, cloud, device or service development. They rely on three fictional companies to illustrate the case studies outlined throughout the book.
The 240-page soft cover book is divided into an Introduction and four sections: Strategy, Management, Execution, Organization, and Process. The authors suggest readers start at the Appendix where they list the solutions for the most common problems.
Carter, founder of the company, has advised technology firms such as Apple, Cisco, NetApp and IBM, over a 35-year career. He serves on the Board of Directors of Cirrus Logic. He has raised private equity to successfully execute a roll-up in the Consumer Electronics sector and has assumed senior executive roles.
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