Investment in digital marketing in Latin America increased by 67% in the last year.¹ This immediately raises the question of what the most appropriate strategies are to maximize the potential that the Latin American economy represents for businesses.

With this in mind, a recent study by NTT DATA² revealed the top strategies used by Latin American companies. But what metrics do they see as most important? Why do they use these strategies? In this article we will explore the five digital marketing strategies currently used by companies in Latin America and how they are being implemented.

Top digital marketing strategies in Latin America

According to the NTT DATA survey, these are the top digital marketing strategies used by Latin American companies in Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and Argentina:

• Social media strategy, used by 93% of organizations in Latin America

• Email marketing strategy, used by 72% of organizations in Latin America

• SEO strategy, implemented by 67% of organizations in Latin America

• Advertising strategy (SEM, retail media, others), implemented by 64% of organizations in Latin America

• E-commerce strategy, implemented by 44% of organizations in Latin America

1.   Social media strategy in Latin America

In Latin America, 9 out of 10 companies use social media as a channel for sales and digital marketing. Social media is present right across the board in Argentina, Chile, and Mexico, while in Peru and Brazil it is used by just 85% and 73% of companies, respectively.

As for specific actions within the world of social media:

• 1 out of 2 organizations interact using filters and augmented reality

• 3 out of 5 Latin American companies create their own content, images, or videos for their social networks

• Only 2 in 5 Latin American companies take advantage of hashtags

• 30% of companies promote their products or services with personalized direct messages and private conversations

Social media as a digital strategy takes on much more importance for microenterprises, whereas just 3 in 5 have a website of their own, according to the NTT DATA survey. Now, if we include solo sellers from Latin America in the SME equation, we find they represent an astonishing 88% of the total number of companies in the region, according to analysis from PCMI.

Which channel do these microentrepreneurs sell through? The answer is almost obvious: social media, using what is known as social commerce. The emergence of this business medium is also the result of consumer attachment or acceptance. In Latin America, an estimated 8 out of 10 online shoppers make purchases through social media, particularly Facebook and Instagram.³

2.   Email marketing strategy in Latin America

Roughly 7 out of 10 Latin American companies have email marketing as one of their main digital marketing strategies. According to NTT DATA, email marketing is more relevant than ever when used as a means to achieve hyperpersonalization. According to data shared in its report, 91% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands that offer personalization and relevance.

Another study, this time by QuestionPro and Benchmark⁴ reveals the true value of email marketing strategies in Latin America: ROI. It reports that email marketing yields US $38 in ROI for every US $1 spent. This positions email marketing as the most profitable digital channel.

Looking at the reasons Latin American companies have for implementing email marketing, it finds that—contrary to what might be expected—generating sales and leads is not a priority:

• To increase consumer engagement with my brand (23.77%)

• To increase the visibility of my brand (25.05%)

• To generate more leads (19.6%)

• To get more conversions (16.33%)

• To grow my list (14.34%)

• Other (0.921%)

In fact, the same survey reveals that only 17% of emails have transactional intention, while most emails (23%) are communicated by the companies, followed by newsletters (18%).

3.   SEO strategy in Latin America

Nearly 7 out of 10 companies implement SEO as a digital strategy. However, organizations have deprioritized it. Between 2023 and 2024, the use of SEO tools dropped significantly, from 72% to 48%.

Analysts at NTT DATA note that SEO is primarily used for measuring organic traffic and click-through rate, while other more sophisticated metrics are in last place. In addition, just 1 in 5 companies (18%) consider SEO plays an important role.

However, when analyzing the use of SEO strategies in Latin America, we find that, broadly speaking, this is much more relevant for B2C companies than B2B companies. In addition, SEO is far more important among companies with more than a thousand employees, where penetration reaches 70%. Lastly, all companies surveyed in the banking sector and CPG sector implement SEO, while only 2 out of 5 companies (41%) in the technology sector do so.

It is possible that in the next four years investment in SEO strategies will be further reduced or at least the scope of current SEO tools will change. According to Gartner,⁵ brand traffic coming from organic searches will decrease by 50%, perhaps more, as consumers adopt search attitudes through generative AI. In fact, at the end of July 2024, OpenAI—the company that created ChatGPT and DALL-E—announced the development of a search engine based on artificial intelligence that could compete directly with the Google search engine.

This leaves companies in Latin America and around the world wondering where they stand regarding the reliability of their current SEO strategies and the need to incorporate new digital marketing strategies that are also based on artificial intelligence. Currently, these types of AI strategies have only been adopted by 26% of companies in Latin America, according to NTT DATA.

4. Advertising strategy in Latin America

Sixty-four percent of Latin American companies implement advertising in their digital marketing strategy. That means it is less than the implementation of organic strategies such as SEO or social media. However, for the largest companies (more than 1,000 employees), the use of paid media/SEM reaches 72%.

Digital advertising investment in Latin America will continue to grow. In 2024, digital advertising now accounts for more than 55% of total ad spending, and is projected to reach 63% in 2028, according to EMARKETER. Mexico and Brazil will be the countries with the highest advertising investment in the region.⁶ Today, digital advertising spending in Latin America now exceeds spending on television. Digital advertising investment in Latin America will reach US $25.14 billion in 2025, according to EMARKETER.

As for the advertising formats companies use the most, SEM and display are still the most important. Display, for example, commands no less than 60% of digital advertising investment, according to EMARKETER. However, since 2020, a new format has emerged in Latin America promising extensive growth: retail media, which we explain in more detail in this article.

In terms of digital advertising strategy execution among Latin American companies, on a scale of 1 to 5, we find the following (NTT DATA, 2024):

1. Highly specialized digital advertising. Only 10% of Latin American companies have advertising campaigns running continuously, in addition to hypersegmented temporary campaigns, ongoing optimization plans, and sophisticated techniques such as DCO

2. Specialized digital advertising. Many companies (33%) have advertising campaigns running continuously, aimed at the various stages of the sales funnel, with segmentation and retargeting strategies

3. Moderate digital advertising. 23% of companies in Latin America carry out seasonal campaigns, with a robust media mix that includes social media, SEM, and programmatic advertising

4. Minimal digital advertising. 25% of companies in Latin America have a small budget and run paid campaigns sporadically

5. No digital advertising. 9% of companies in Latin America have no paid digital media strategy

5.   E-commerce strategy in Latin America

Lastly, the fifth most widely used digital marketing strategy by companies in Latin America is e-commerce. In fact it is also the sixth, if we include the presence of a website as a digital marketing strategy in the ranking. All told, 44% of Latin American companies rely on e-commerce or digital commerce strategies to improve their sales. For clarification, the NTT DATA survey included a mix of companies from multiple sectors, of which just 3% belong exclusively to the e-commerce sector; but also: technology and software (17%), communications (10%), education (10%), banking (9%), retail (8%), telecommunications (8%), professional services (6%), consumer packaged goods (CPG) (5%), pharmacy and wellness (3%), insurance (3%), and public or private health (2%).

That said, NTT DATA’s analysis finds that companies in Latin America are still at the very early stages of e-commerce adoption, with companies reporting just 8% of their sales attributed to online purchases. Broadly speaking, it identifies five stages of adoption:

1. No functional digital commerce: 39% of companies in 2024

2. Little technological infrastructure and investment, and no information on market behavior: 15% of companies in Latin America 2024

3. Moderate investment and infrastructure, where digital commerce has a medium-to-low impact on the organization: 33% of Latin American companies

4. Personalized shopping experience, implementation of integration, robust infrastructure, and commercial relevance: just 7% of Latin American companies

5. Vision focused on digital commerce, with strong investment, as well as disruptive: just 6% of Latin American companies

In Latin America, digital commerce still has plenty of room for growth. An estimated 33% of companies in Latin America still operate with rigid structures in which no dialogue between traditional and digital business exists, although a significant 54% have now adopted hybrid structures. Regarding the technological maturity of digital commerce, 40% of Latin American companies say they are at a novice level. Another 17% consider themselves at an advanced level of technological maturity, to the point where they have already implemented digital marketing automation, use artificial intelligence, and are integrated with social media and marketplaces.

Sources:

1. NTT DATA (2024). “Marketing Digital en América Latina 2024” ↩︎
2. NTT DATA (2024). “Marketing Digital en América Latina 2024” ↩︎
3. BekeSantos (marzo 29, 2024). “Los latinos somos los reyes de las compras en Redes Sociales” ↩︎
4. QuestionPro & Benchmark (s. f.) “Uso de canales de marketing digital en Latinoamérica” ↩︎
5. Gartner (2023). “Gartner Predicts 50% of Consumers Will Significantly Limit Their Interactions with Social Media by 2025” ↩︎
6. EMARKETER (2024). “Latin America Ad Spending 2024” ↩︎