Technical Writing

1. Marketing to the Costa
Rican People Notes
Erik levanger, shawn turley, and shane gillman

2. About Costa Rica
• The Republic of Costa Rica is a Central American country bordered by
Nicaragua, Panama, the Pacific Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and
Ecuador.
• Population of 4.5 million people with a quarter of them living in the
capital of San José.
• Cited to have much higher human development and inequality ratios
than other countries at the same income level.
• Extremely environmentally conscious, being the only country to meet
all five of the criteria to measure environmental sustainability.
• Plans to become the first carbon neutral country by 2021.

3. Economy
• GDP per capita is US$12,874.
• Unemployment rate of 7.8%.
• Major corporations in Costa Rica: Intel, GlaxoSmithKline, and Procter
& Gamble. In 2006, Intel’s facility alone was responsible for 20% of
Costa Rica’s exports and 4.9% of the GDP.
• Pharmaceuticals, financial outsourcing, software development, and
tourism are the major industries within the Costa Rican economy.
• Costa Rica is the most visited nation in the Central American region.
• Ranked sixth in the worldwide natural resources pillar.

4. General Culture
• Costa Rica is a very religious country. Specifically Roman Catholic, the
Costa Rican people bring the values and culture of the religion into all
aspects of life. Picture is the Basilica Los Angeles, Cartago, Costa Rica.
• Timeliness is a bit of a joke in Costa Rica. Being thirty minutes late to
meetings or appointments is considered normal and to be expected.
• Generosity abounds within the lives of the people. Visiting a family
for lunch, dinner, a party, or just coffee time includes bringing a gift of
some kind.
• Dancing and singing are the most common types of social
entertainment. Especially the Salsa.

5. Culture Cont.
• Soccer (football, not futball in Costa Rica) is the most popular sport by far.
They live for soccer whether playing or spectating.
• Costa Rica is considered to be a major exporter of professional footballers
within Central America.
• In 2006 there were 19 footballers playing in European professional football
leagues.
• Very male dominant country, women are expected to take care of the
home and family. Cleaning, cooking, and watching the kids.
• Men wear a dark suit, but on hot days the jacket is optional.
• Women wear a dress or skirt for formal occasions and dress pants for
normal business.

6. Education
• The literacy rate in Costa Rica is 96.3%, which is one of the highest in
Latin America.
• Costa Rica has “an army of teachers” to battle for higher education.
• Universal public education is in the constitution, meaning preschool
through high school is free for citizens.
• There are few public and private universities in Costa Rica, but the
public universities are considered the best in the country. Here is a
picture of the University of Costa Rica

7. Health
• Health is important in Costa Rica, where the average life expectancy is
80 years old.
• However it is considered to be one of the five Blue Zones in the
world, where people often live active lives past the age of 100 years
old. The other four Blue Zones are: California, Italy, Greece, and
Japan.
• Costa Rica has been ranked number one in the NEF (New Economics
Foundation) Happy Planet Index, which measures the health and
happiness against how environmentally friendly they are.
• Considered to be a popular destination for medical tourism due to
the high quality of services and lower medical costs.

8. Societal Norms
• The core family is what really matters. Costa Ricans don’t try to make
friends outside the family as much as they like to be surrounded by
blood-relatives.
• Shaking hands is only done by men, once in the morning and once in
the evening. Dead fish or limp handshakes are to be expected in non-
business settings and are not to be considered rude.
• Women give and receive one peck on the cheek in the morning and
the evening.
• Plan for tomorrow. Costa Ricans don’t plan ahead. They live for today
and worry about tomorrow, nothing more.

9. Taboos
• Being a Catholic country, religious values are respected and expected.
• Topics like sex, abortion, and gay marriage should be avoided. Good
conversation topics would be children, history, art, or surprisingly,
politics.
• Never raise your voice or put your feet on any furniture.
• Public displays of affection should be kept private.
• Making a fist with the thumb between the middle and index fingers is
obscene, known as the “fig”.
• Most North American gestures are known as well.

10. Basis of Marketing
• This applies to most scenarios, but for Costa Rica specifically. Be
passionate about what you are selling. They are passionate people
and will feed off of your excitement.
• Don’t be perfect. Perfection will come off as egocentric and selfish.
Just be excellent and you will succeed.
• Embrace “pura vida”, the country’s slogan. It means pure life, but in
Costa Rica it’s used to say “no worries” or “don’t sweat the small
stuff”. When meeting with business professionals in Costa Rica, it
doesn’t always have to be so serious. If you make a mistake, laugh it
off and keep on moving. You’ll be respected for embodying the
essence of Costa Rica.

11. Marketing Cont.
• The purchase pathway for most Costa Ricans is to compare price, quality,
and convenience to the local product support.
• Price your products competitively, Costa Ricans are not wealthy people.
Make sure the price is worth it to the consumers, they value items that
look like they took time to make.
• Maintain relationships and grow with the local Costa Rican companies that
you plan to do business with. Meet periodically and communicate
frequently.
• Hire translators to make sure your product brochures or descriptions are
accurate in both English and Spanish. Two translators should be used to
minimize errors.
• If your product is expensive, make sure you have adequate payment plans
available.

12. Marketing Cont.
• The most effective way to sell something in Costa Rica is with direct
marketing. There is no law that regulates direct marketing. You may mail
any propaganda excluding drugs and adult material to any address. There
are some stipulations with direct marketing. In Costa Rica all products must
have at least a one month warranty, not compete with the state, clearly
state whether it is a new or used product, and state expiration date with
ingredients or components.
• For smaller companies, door-to-door sales is successful in Costa Rica.
Companies may hire two or three salesman to advertise their product.
• Finally there is common advertising through newspapers and web sites.
Magazines can be an efficient way to market some products.

13. Summing Up
• To conclude, Costa Rica is a great place for any company to expand.
The people are friendly, happy, and they live for the moment.
Although some of their customs would be considered rude in most of
America, don’t take it personally. Because they live pura vida, they
will do, or buy whatever will make them happiest today.
• Any questions?

14. Sources
• Admin. (2013, 17 September). Tico Social Norms [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://tipscostarica.com/tico-social-norms/
• Blanke, J. & Chiesa, T. (2011). The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2011. Retrieved from http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_TravelTourismCompetitiveness_Report_2011.pdf
• Buettner, D. (2007). Report From the ‘Blue Zone’: Why Do People Live Long in Costa Rica?. ABC News. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/LivingLonger/story?id=2843049&page=1
• Bunrett, J. (2008). Costa Rica Aims to Be a Carbon-Neutral Nation. NPR.org. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19141333
• Casselman, A. Long-Lived Cosat Ricans Offer Secrets to Reaching 100. National Geographic News. Retrieved from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080414-longest-lived.html
• Central Intelligence Agency. (2014). The World Factbook. CIA.gov. Retrieved from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cs.html
• Costa Rica. (2015, March 24). Wikipedia.org. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costa_Rica
• Costa Rica Demographics Profile 2014. (2014, August 23). Indexmundi.com. http://www.indexmundi.com/costa_rica/demographics_profile.html
• Costa Rica: Low Cost custom Vacations & Destinations. (2015). Retrieved from http://costarica.com/
• Culture In Costa Rica. (2002). Costarica.net. Rtrieved from http://www.costarica.net/features/culture.htm
• Intel Supone El 4.9 Por Ciento Del PIB de Costa Rica. (2006, October 6). Eleconomista.es. Retrieved from http://eleconomista.es/empresas-finanzas/noticias/81837/10/06/Intel-supone-el-49-por-
ciento-del-PIB-de-Costa-Rica.html#.Kku8iZu7ZtOmVvr
• Klugman, J. (2010). Human Development Report 2010. Web.archive.org. Retreived from
http://web.archive.org/web/20101108160356/http:/hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2010_EN_Complete.pdf
• Klugman, J. (2011). Human Development Report 2011. Web.archive.org. Retrieved from http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/reports/271/hdr_2011_en_complete.pdf