Over the two-decade span from 1990 to 2010, the U.S. population increased by 53 million. About 86 percent of this increase was driven by “multicultural” segments--mainly Hispanics and Asians. To put your practice into the flow of U.S. population growth, you should build these segments into your marketing plan. A good place to start is to get the lingo right.

Here is an example where word choice was not appropriate for the audience: During the 2012 Presidential election campaign, Republican candidate Mitt Romney attended a Latino Forum sponsored by the Hispanic television network Univision in Miami, at which he responded to a question by saying: “For those young people that are already here, that are undocumented, that were brought here by their parents and therefore are illegal aliens in this country, my view is that we should put in place a permanent solution.”

Although such language has become standard campaign rhetoric, the term “illegal alien” is offensive to many Hispanics, the fastest growing multicultural segment in America. Many prefer to describe this situation as “undocumented.” When discussing an undocumented child brought to the U.S. at a young age, they prefer the term “DREAMer” – after the DREAM Act that would offer such children a path to documentation and citizenship. Whether or not the DREAM Act ever passes Congress, the term has become a fixture in the new multicultural American vocabulary.