On a recent trip to Puerto Rico, I saw a billboard for Doritos bearing the slogan, “¿Dónde es el party?” This blew my colloquial-Spanish-thinking mind out of the water; it should have read “¿Dónde está la fiesta?”.

I asked the friend I was staying with why the difference exists and if the Doritos ad was right, or just a really poor translation. She explained to me that, “¿Dónde es el party?” is just as correct as “¿Dónde está la fiesta?”

Thus, I was introduced to dialects of the Spanish-speaking world.

Thanks to the mighty Wikipedia, there are resources available to marketers that let us know what the dominant dialect is for an area. Cuban-Spanish, for instance, is all the rage in Florida and New Jersey; Isleño is the dialect to speak in Louisiana; and Puerto Rican-Spanish is the way to speak Spanish in New York and the Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago metro areas.

This leads me to one of my favorite features of paid search marketing: geotargeting. This feature enables you to craft campaigns that focus on a particular region of the US, and additionally craft ads unique to the dialect of that area.

Things can get tricky, though. According to a recent survey, many Spanish-speaking Americans search in English but read news and articles in Spanish. Translation: Content Networks.

Yes, these networks are a fantastic way to reach the Spanish-speaking audience. Between standard contextual and placement targeting, you may carve out a unique space in this market.

Now here is the part where I plead to you. Please do not go to an English-to-Spanish online translator and think that you’ve done a great job with your ad. If you are not a native speaker, don’t try and fake it. Hunt someone out who can help you say what you want to say in the right way. This will help you to establish trust, build market share, and cultivate more meaningful profits.

Don’t be the guy who made the sign for Taco Bell you see above, take the time and do it right.

Photo Courtesy of EngrishFunny

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