MCM Event Connects Businesses, Hispanic Community (Video)

With the Hispanic population in Montgomery County growing in record numbers, a recent networking event at the Montgomery Community Media studios in Rockville focused on helping businesses reach out and connect with those diverse communities.

In this MyMCMedia report, Valerie Bonk explores advice presented by National Hispanic Communications Group President and CEO Lorna Virgili during the event.

Virgili’s talk focused on helping local business owners identify and reach out to the different cultural groups within the Hispanic community.

“Whether you’re a small business owner or you represent a government agency, or you work for a fortune 500 company, it is obvious that you can’t ignore the Hispanic market anymore,” Virgili said. “You need to know who the Hispanics are in the community because we are not all the same.”

For local business owners, the event gave them ideas of how to engage and communicate with the rapidly growing Hispanic community in the County.

“It was nice to actually be able to hear specific strategies that we should do, you know, going to census dot gov, contacting the big news media outlets that reach that community and really starting to build relationships,” said Kelly Leonard of the Taylor-Leonard Corporation.

“It is different because we are from different places,” said Mayra Bayonet, Director of Community Outreach for the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Montgomery County. “Even though we talk and speak the same language, we have different, we like different things.”

And when it comes to tapping into the Hispanic market, it’s all about finding your niche.

“The vast majority of Hispanics that we have in Montgomery County come from El Salvador,” Virgili said. “So with that being said, and knowing perhaps that the rest of them the vast majority come from Central America, your advertising has to cater to that community in this region.”

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Small Business Networking at MCM (Photos)

Montgomery Community Media hosted the Small Business University’s networking event on March 20. The keynote speaker was CEO & President of the Hispanic Communications Group, Lorna Virgili. Related:

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About Valerie Bonk

Valerie Bonk is a multimedia reporter and community engagement specialist with Montgomery Community Media (MCM).

View all posts by Valerie Bonk