As Latinas, we know we don’t need a college degree to confirm that we understand marketing, when we have known marketing since the minute we were born. Chances are that when our mother was holding us in the hospital room after giving birth, our tía was already putting her on to the next hair growth serum she bought en la estética. We were born into a culture where we understand the power of storytelling, brand visuals, tone, trust, and community. We learned the meaning of marketing before we could put a name to it. 

Marketing is more than creating a product, putting a price on it, and hoping it sells. Whether it was our tía telling us about how a new dress she wore made her feel or how she bought tamales from a lady outside a gas station, she was not only storytelling but also selling a product without realizing it. One of the goals of marketers is to highlight a product in a way that resonates with the public and gains brand recognition. Our tías may have thought they were only chismiando, but in reality, they were advertising a product to the consumer.

Vibrant visuals have always been a part of our identity and culture. Our homes are adorned with decor that represents who we are: fabric blankets in bright colors, kitchen plates that double as decor, and clothes with a unique feel of material. These things all represent our culture and what makes us feel at home.

As marketers, we understand the power of visuals and how it can make us feel like we belong. Brands want to create a product that evokes such a positive emotion that consumers become loyal to the brand. Growing up in our culture, we naturally stay loyal to products that evoke feelings of nostalgia or feel that they were made for us. It’s having this cultural understanding as marketers that enables us to create a campaign for these products around our values.

Trust-based marketing has worked time and time again in the Latino community. Instead of taking cough medicine when we get a cold, we trust in Vicks VapoRub to cure almost anything. Trust has been built with the brand throughout multiple generations. These recommendations were not only suggestions, they were our holy grail. We didn’t need fancy influencers to make us buy the product. If abuelita says to use Vicks VapoRub, we buy the Vicks VapoRub. Brand loyalty is deeply rooted in us, where brands not only serve as trusted products but become tradition. This generational trust is what marketers hope to achieve and what our culture has been embodying all along. 

We were born into a culture and environment that has shaped us into natural-born marketers without ever needing a textbook. Before marketers, there were our tias sitting around the kitchen table chismiando about how they refuse to buy any other coffee that isn’t Café Bustelo. From the stories we tell to the brands we pass on, that deep connection to a brand is what marketers aim to achieve, but to us it is simply second nature.