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Had it not grown, he said, the overall population of Pennsylvania would have declined. "The question is not whether or not we're going to have a Latino marketing strategy," Collazo said. "The question is how robust is it going to be." Collazo discussed how to build relationships with potential Hispanic clients — such as knowing that they prefer to nurture lifelong contacts with potential advertisers over cold-calling. "There is not a one-size-fits-all approach," Collazo said. Javier Suarez, vice president of strategic partnerships for the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, said drilling down to find specifics in the target audience has to be part of the strategy. The session allowed audience members to seek practical advice. Kip Hartman, who works in sales for JetPay payroll service in Upper Saucon Township, asked how to best reach Hispanic business owners about helping "unbanked" employees who use convenience stores and check-cashing businesses to cash paychecks. Such a practice can carry high fees. Panelists said education helps. "Create a pipeline, and give people access to the pipeline," advised panelist George Fernandez, CEO of the communications company Latino Connections in Harrisburg. Hartman later said the advice made sense. "The big takeaway for me was the concept of ... invite us," he said. "Maybe we're not taking the message that we are really interested in the Hispanic market." The IronPigs' DeAngelis expressed concern about drawing Hispanics to a stadium then not having Spanish-speaking staff to help them. "I don't want to market to everybody and then have 100 kids at the gates and will-call window where they don't speak Spanish and they're unable to complete the transactions," DeAngelis said. Panelist Matthew Braccili, owner of Gray Matter Broadcasting in Allentown, told him Hispanics would have no problem figuring out how to pay for tickets. "Buying four seats to a game, that's an easy transaction," Braccili said. "It's different from buying a home or a car." Afterward, DeAngelis said the panelists' suggestions helped. "Once you start to identify those things and identify the fans we would typically draw, we could better put together ticket packages," he said. Others panelists were Kevin Arndt, general sales manager of WFMZ-TV, and Rogelio Castillo, who owns a New York marketing firm called Black Square Group. Read the original article here.