What Happens When a Bank Advertises in Spanish
Goals
New Audiences
Results
Conclusions
The Landscape
Over 41 million people in the United States speak Spanish as a first language, and the group’s economic power is growing faster than most banks’ marketing has adjusted to. Financial institutions largely still advertise in English, which means Spanish-speaking households make their financial decisions in a language their bank never uses with them.
Working with Equity Bank, we ran a test. Audience analysis showed real concentration in parts of their footprint: Hispanic residents make up 61% of the population in Guymon, Oklahoma, and 68.6% in Liberal, Kansas. So we built Spanish-language campaigns identical to the English ones, in the same markets, at the same time, and measured the difference.
Goals
The questions we asked
Three questions. Do Spanish-language ads perform in these geographies? Do they increase brand awareness and account openings among Spanish speakers? And how do they compare, head to head, against identical English campaigns?
New Audiences
Identical campaigns, one variable
With a Spanish-speaking marketing agency, we launched a series of Spanish campaigns across programmatic and social, each one identical to its English counterpart. Same geography, same budget, same creative, same offer. The only difference was language.
Results
The Spanish ads didn’t just work…they converted better
Programmatic, first two months: Spanish ads drove nearly 95% of total account openings. English accumulated 9.2 percent more impressions and 31.6 percent more link clicks — but Spanish still gained 16 percent more primary conversions. More reach, fewer accounts.
Meta: Spanish ads accounted for 85 percent of total results, with 14.8 percent more link clicks and 39 percent more conversions — despite a smaller budget and relatively comparable spend between the two.
Conclusions
Why it worked
Three factors likely explain it. The Spanish-speaking audience is relatively uncontested in advertising, which allowed the campaign to stand out. The ads carried more relevance and connection to the audience. And seeing an advertisement in their first language, from a financial institution, signals inclusion and trust in a category where both matter more than in most.
Spanish speakers are often overlooked in financial marketing. Advertising to them is a low-competition, high-intent opportunity that most banks haven’t taken.
Team Insight
In the first quarter of 2025, every conversion from this campaign came from the Spanish-speaking audience—a clear signal that this segment was both receptive and ready to be engaged. I was genuinely impressed by their strong response, and it highlights just how powerful it is to understand and thoughtfully connect with each unique audience segment.
