Connecting With Diverse Consumers

Businesses puzzling over ways to connect with consumers in a rapidly diversifying Southland could find answers at a conference Tuesday in Riverside.

“Marketing in a Diverse Society” will cover marketing to Latinos, Asian Americans and African Americans, as well as international marketing, e-commerce and demographics.

The keynote speaker will be Roberto Orci, president of Los Angeles-based La Agencia de Orci, one of the largest Latino marketing agencies in the country. Among the speakers will be Ramon Alvarez, a Tijuana native who changed the name of his Riverside auto dealership to Alvarez Lincoln Mercury in order to tap the region’s growing number of affluent Latinos.

Recent U.S. Census figures show that a third of residents in Riverside and San Bernardino counties in 1998 were Latino, up from one-fourth in 1990. The Asian population grew by nearly 59%, to make up 5% of the population.

Despite the Latino community’s numbers and spending power, however, a recent study published in Hispanic Market Weekly showed that Latino households across the country receive an average of 16 to 24 pieces of direct mail each year, compared with 350 pieces received by the average general market household.

The conference is sponsored by the Professional Women’s Roundtable and UC Riverside’s Office of Governmental and Community Relations and will take place from 7:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. at UC Riverside Extension Center.

The cost is $95 for preregistration and $115 at the door. For more information, call (909) 276-0992, or to register, call (909) 369-2776.

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Marla Dickerson can be reached at marla.dickerson@latimes.com. Lee Romney is at lee.romney@latimes.com.