Marketing in Latin America: What You Need to Know Before Entering the Region

My name is Kseniia Petrina, and I am the CEO and co-founder of Holy Marketing. For 13 years, I’ve worked with markets in Latin America and the USA. Holy Marketing is a full-cycle influencer agency that operates directly in five regional markets: the USA, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic. Our clients include KFC, L’Oréal, inDrive, Yango, and many others.

Over these years, I’ve seen dozens of attempts by international companies to enter LATAM. Many have failed. Most failures aren’t due to a bad product, but rather strategic mistakes at the outset. This article is my attempt to consolidate what I would tell an entrepreneur who comes to me asking, “We want to enter Latin America, where do we start?”

The main thesis of this article is: “Latin America” as a marketing market does not exist. There are 20+ individual countries with different economies, cultures, consumers, and costs of entry. Any strategy that begins with, “Let’s run a campaign for LATAM,” is doomed to fail. A good strategy starts with the question: which specific country are we choosing, why, and what will we do next? On the budget side, our full 2026 influencer marketing cost breakdown indexes US, UK and eight LATAM markets against a single baseline so you can compare countries before you commit.

Why LATAM is a Real Opportunity Now

Despite its diversity, the region has several common characteristics that make it particularly attractive for international brands in 2026.

Market Size

Collectively—over 650 million people speaking Spanish and Portuguese. This is more than the USA and Canada combined. And unlike saturated Western markets, LATAM is in a phase of digital consumption that is still actively growing.

Less Saturation by International Brands

Unlike Europe or the USA, where competition for consumer attention has peaked, the presence of foreign brands in many categories in LATAM is significantly rarer. This means less direct competition and more room for differentiation, especially if your product is unique to the region.

Openness to Foreign Brands in the Right Categories

In technology, fintech, edtech, B2B SaaS, and mobility—LATAM consumers are actively open to new things. If your product solves a real local problem, your chances are significantly higher than in saturated European markets.

Lower CAC than in the USA and EU (with the right approach)

The cost of customer acquisition in many categories is significantly lower. The key phrase here is “with the right approach.” With the wrong approach—it’s just burning budget without insights.

High Content Consumption

LATAM is one of the most active regions in the world for digital content consumption, especially video and social media. This structurally makes influencer marketing here an exceptionally strong channel.

The Key: Choosing the Right Country for Entry

This is the most important strategic decision, and most companies make it for the wrong reasons.

Mexico—the most common choice, and not always the right one

Mexico is the largest market in the region, with 130 million people, and closest to the USA. A logical first choice. But: high competition, expensive paid media, complex regulations, especially in financial verticals. If you don’t have a lot of capital for a test run, Mexico might not be the optimal first entry—you might simply drown in competition.

Brazil—a world of its own

The largest economy in the region. But: they speak Portuguese (which immediately means a separate set of creators, translations, and localization). It has an entirely separate media ecosystem. A strategy that works in the Spanish-speaking part of LATAM does not transfer to Brazil. Brazil needs to be built from scratch.

Colombia—an underrated start

The most mature influencer marketing market in Latin America. A huge density of professional creators. CPM is lower than in Mexico. A very strong infrastructure for brands that understand how to work with it. Often, this is the best first market for a foreign company, especially in fintech, beauty, edtech, and SaaS.

Dominican Republic—a niche but interesting entry

11 million people, an economy largely built on tourism, a very specific consumer. At Holy Marketing, we’ve spent many years here—we have roots here, and it’s one of the countries where our deep specialization operates. If your product is related to tourism, retail in tourist zones, or targets the diaspora—it’s an excellent pilot market. For mass-market products—likely not the first choice.

Chile, Peru, Argentina—with their own peculiarities

Chile—the most "developed" in terms of consumer maturity, but also more demanding. Peru—an underestimated market, especially in fintech. Argentina—the complex macroeconomic situation makes planning unpredictable, yet it has one of the strongest creative industries in the region.

Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Uruguay—niche markets

Each with its own specifics. In most cases—not the first market for entry, but can become part of a broader strategy after stabilization in larger countries.

How to make a decision

The main question isn’t “which market is the biggest,” but “where will my product show product-market fit fastest with minimal risks?” Sometimes it’s Mexico, sometimes it’s Colombia, sometimes it’s the Dominican Republic. A good agency helps make this choice before you start investing money in campaigns.

Universal Marketing Rules in LATAM that Work Everywhere

While each country is different, there are several things that apply across the region.

Emotional offline marketing is more important than in the USA

Latin Americans are emotional consumers. Stories, activations, events, and cultural references work better here than in most Western markets. If your strategy is pure performance, you are already losing.

A local voice cannot be replaced

Any content that feels “imported” (translated, adapted from another region, without local creators) quickly loses credibility. Creators must be local, scripts written by local copywriters, and activations designed with a local team.

Trust is built through people, not advertising

In LATAM, consumers trust a person’s recommendation much more than brand advertising. Therefore, influencer marketing here is not an add-on to the strategy, but often the main channel.

Business relationships move slower than in the USA and Europe

In LATAM, deals are closed through multiple meetings, connections, and recommendations. Not because people are lazy—but because personal connection is important. The habit of “let’s get straight to business,” characteristic of Western business culture, often misses the mark here. If you have five working days to close a deal in LATAM—you likely don’t have a deal.

Payments and Legal Issues—a Separate Complexity

Each country has its own peculiarities: taxes, transfers, company registration, contracts with creators. This is not a marketing task, but without solving it, marketing falters. A good agency helps with vetted lawyers and accountants.

Most Common Mistakes Foreign Companies Make When Entering LATAM

Mistake 1. Trying to create a “unified LATAM strategy”

I’ve said this before, and I’ll repeat it: a single LATAM does not exist. Any strategy that doesn’t start with choosing a specific country is doomed.

Mistake 2. Using one agency “for all of Latin America” that manages all countries from a single location

This is the most expensive mistake I’ve seen. Colombia cannot be managed from Miami. Mexico cannot be managed from São Paulo. Each market requires a local team with local expertise. Holy Marketing operates in five markets precisely because we have our own team in each of them.

Mistake 3. Translating content instead of creating localized content

Any translated content sounds foreign. Mexicans, Colombians, and Argentinians alike detect this in seconds.

Mistake 4. Building a strategy solely on macro-influencers

In most LATAM markets, the best conversion comes not from stars with millions of followers, but from niche micro and mid-tier creators. A good strategy is a pyramid, not a single large bet.

Mistake 5. Measuring likes instead of real business metrics

In 2026, serious marketing is measured by CPL, CPA, CAC. Likes and reach are not a report; they are a dismissal. If an agency comes with a report saying “you had 10 million impressions” without linking it to the funnel, they are not doing their job.

Mistake 6. Underestimating the time needed for real results

Many entrepreneurs are accustomed to rapid iterations and the startup logic of “launch, see, adjust.” In LATAM, 2-3 months is the minimum time to get meaningful data on campaign performance, especially when dealing with a new country and a new category. A budget of 5-10 thousand dollars for “let’s just test it” almost always yields zero results—insufficient for testing, insufficient for conclusions.

Mistake 7. Trying to replace a local team with a remote one

“We have someone at headquarters who speaks Spanish; they will be our marketing manager in LATAM.” This doesn’t work. Local consumers detect foreignness in seconds. A local team (or an agency with local teams) is not a luxury; it’s a baseline requirement.

What Holy Marketing Does for Brands Entering LATAM

The “Not one LATAM, but specific markets” approach

We work directly in five markets—the USA, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic. Each has its own team, creator network, and expertise. When a client comes to us with the goal of "entering LATAM," we help them choose the right sequence of countries—which market to enter first, which second, and what to measure before moving to the next.

Experience in Complex Verticals

We work with the most demanding verticals: fintech, edtech, B2B SaaS. These are categories where a typical agency quickly hits a ceiling because it doesn’t understand the client’s unit economics. For one fintech client, we conducted a four-month study with an anthropologist on consumer behavior related to money. The main conclusion: communication codes that work in the USA need to be rewritten from scratch in Latin America.

Casting with Cinematic Criteria

Holy Marketing originated from casting for film and TV—we did casting for Hollywood and European producers filming in the Dominican Republic. This is a completely different discipline than "matching by follower count." We evaluate a creator by their screen presence, consistency, and chemistry with the brand—things that cannot be automated. In LATAM, where the audience is particularly sensitive to foreignness, this discipline is a critical advantage.

Creator Factory as an Alternative to the Classic Scheme

The main conversation that should happen with any agency in LATAM is: do we rent other people’s audiences or build our own?

The old model of “pay a big creator, they publish, repeat next quarter” is becoming less effective. CPMs are rising, trust is falling, algorithms favor frequency, and big creators get saturated with sponsorships faster than ever.

What we are building more and more for clients in LATAM is a Creator Factory: proprietary brand accounts, niche thematic content, high publication frequency (5 videos a day), and viral segment syndication through an architecture of many accounts. One of our clients scaled this to 800+ proprietary brand accounts. This is not influencer marketing in the classic sense—it’s an owned media infrastructure.

For foreign companies in LATAM, a Creator Factory is especially valuable because it removes a key risk: dependence on individual large creators and the volatility of specific audiences. You build an asset that works for months and years.

Volume and Infrastructure

8000+ collaborations with creators per year. 5000+ content units per month through our Creator Factories. 60,000 creators in the USA and LATAM in our database. This infrastructure is what distinguishes an agency truly working in the region from an agency that merely rents resources for each project.

Active Industry Position

I write columns for Campaign US and The AI Journal; Holy Marketing is featured in Digiday, Forbes, Inc. Magazine. This is important not as a list of accolades, but as proof that we participate in the industry conversation and don’t just sit on the sidelines.

How Much Does It Cost to Enter LATAM?

I won’t provide a specific range, as that doesn’t make sense without understanding your objective. But I will offer guidelines to help you think in terms of reality, not marketing hype.

A budget of 5-10 thousand dollars for “trying it out” is insufficient. A realistic pilot that provides data for decision-making requires a different order of magnitude and a focus on one country, one vertical, and one task.

A realistic pilot in a single country usually takes 2-3 months and requires a budget that allows for 8 to 20 collaborations with creators of various levels + basic paid support. The exact figure depends heavily on the country and vertical.

Building a Creator Factory is an investment in infrastructure with a 6-12 month horizon. The first 90 days are the construction phase. Real business results appear from months 3-4. This isn’t a quick fix, but it’s an asset that endures.

A full-fledged multi-country launch (Mexico + Colombia, for example) is an entirely different order of magnitude and is discussed separately with a clear understanding of the objective.

If someone promises you entry into LATAM “in a month” or “with 5 thousand dollars”—that’s not true. It’s better to find another partner immediately.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which LATAM market is best for a foreign company to start with?

It depends on your vertical and product. The most common good first markets are Colombia (for most categories), Mexico (for mass-market with a large budget), Dominican Republic (for tourism and diaspora focus). Brazil is a separate story, requiring a separate decision.

Can we work with Holy Marketing if we don’t have a local legal entity in LATAM?

Yes. Many clients start before registering a local entity. We openly discuss what work formats this limitation imposes.

Which industries are most interesting to you?

Fintech, edtech, B2B SaaS, mobility, beauty, premium consumption, e-commerce. We work with both global brands and early-stage startups.

Do you create AI-generated creators?

No. This is an editorial stance: synthetic content does not scale as a sustainable acquisition channel, and platforms are structurally working against it. We use AI in internal processes—matching, analytics, workflow.

How long until we see meaningful results?

A classic influencer campaign—4-8 weeks for decision-making data. A Creator Factory—90 days for the build-out phase, with business results from months 3-4.

Do you assist with legal and financial infrastructure?

We are a marketing agency, not a legal one. However, over the years, we have built a network of vetted lawyers, accountants, and operational partners who work with international clients in LATAM. We can provide introductions.

Let’s Talk

If you are considering entering Latin America—write to me directly at: kseniia@holymarketing.agency. You’ll be speaking with me, not an account manager. This is a position we intentionally maintain at Holy Marketing.

— Kseniia Petrina, CEO & Co-Founder, Holy Marketing, holymarketing.agency