Puerto Rico

Ramón Díaz is “a visionary and a risk-taker,” says his grandson Alejandro Díaz Carlo. Ramón and his wife bought a 100-acre dairy farm, Hacienda Carabalí, in 1977 and added six riding horses. Tucked between the lush slopes of El Yunque National Forest and Luquillo’s golden beaches, the farm grew into the popular Carabalí Rainforest Adventure Park, with over 600 acres, 125 horses, and 164 employees that include two of Ramón’s children and four grandkids. A restaurant opened in 2007, and activities like ATV and UTV tours, go-karts, and a hayride now augment the horseback riding. Alejandro, Carabalí’s operations director, recently added a jet ski business to the mix. In 2023, a staggering 250,000 locals and tourists enjoyed adventures at the park. “We’ve done this from zero,” Alejandro notes. “My grandfather worked hard to be where he is today.”

Marketing Director Nicolás Cicuéndez joined the team in 2016, and oversaw Carabalí’s digital transformation with a new website, online booking, and a Google Business Profile. With over 6,600 rave reviews and a 26-percent increase in views, “It shows people that Carabalí has a great reputation and helps convert customers,” Nicolás says. Performance Max campaigns account for 62 percent of conversions, and YouTube Ads grew their channel’s views by 406 percent, which led to a 382 percent leap in conversions in 2023. Nicolás uses data from Google Analytics to make critical marketing decisions: He optimized the website’s mobile version after learning that over 80 percent of users come from mobile, for instance. They have new activities planned, but the great service Carabalí has provided for nearly five decades remains a priority. Says Alejandro, “People put a lot of work into saving money to go on vacation. We love that we can make them happy and create memories that last a lifetime.”

Vaca Negra’s farm-to-table artisanal cheeses and tropical-flavored yogurts are a staple in Puerto Rico, sold in 80 supermarkets and found in hotels, restaurants, farmer’s markets, and their own cheese and coffee shop, La Ubre. Vaca Negra was started by Wanda Otero, a microbiologist who provides milk analysis services to Puerto Rican dairy farmers. When farmers struggled to pay her during the 2008 economic crisis, Wanda came up with a creative solution: accept payment in milk and use it to make cheese that she could sell to cover her fees. She saw it as a way to continue providing a valuable service to local farmers–as well as home-grown nutrition to people across Puerto Rico, where 90 percent of food products are imported. Today, Vaca Negra ships its products to buyers across the island and other parts of the U.S., and offers tours at their Carrizales plant. Visitors can also make their own cheese or schedule private events at La Ubre.

From the start, Wanda has used Google tools to run and grow her business. She learned how to make cheese on YouTube (“It was my first university for making cheese,” she says), and now Vaca Negra’s own YouTube channel shares the glories of Puerto Rican queso and yogur with others. They use Google Workspace for inventory, cross-team communication, and even tour reservations. Their Google Business Profile helps new customers find them via reviews and photos, and provides up-to-date info on hours and directions. And Google Ads helps get the word out. “We use it to promote our shop and special events, and it brings us a lot of business,” Wanda says. Vaca Negra has remained successful even through natural disasters and Covid-19, providing a touchstone for other Puerto Ricans. “We’ve had so many people come to us and say, ‘You inspired us and gave us the strength to turn our business idea into reality,’” says Wanda. “That makes us very happy.”

As a student studying industrial design, Ana Cristina Quiñones was struck by how many products were still being created with plastic. So, she spent five years developing an alternative: a durable, biodegradable material containing upcycled waste from two local staples: plantains and coffee. In 2020, Ana launched Materia Madura, a San Juan-based company specializing in sustainable products, naming it after the material she created, which takes center stage in her line of furniture, home goods, and commercial surfaces. As a one-woman outfit, she designs, produces, and markets Materia Madura’s goods; raw ingredients come from nearby cafes, with each stop along the way diverting 20 to 40 pounds of organic matter from landfills on a monthly basis. From the company’s inception, Ana has used Google Workspace to create invoices, track sales, and detail processes for each standard and custom product.

With travel and in-person meetings made more difficult during COVID-19, Ana turned to Google Ads and Google Analytics to expand Materia Madura beyond San Juan. “I targeted big cities here, like Ponce and Caguas, and tried to capture some of the Puerto Rican diaspora in the U.S.,” Ana says. It worked, and sales doubled in one year. She also diversified her client types (75 percent are now B2B or B2B2C, rather than all D2C) as well as her customers’ locations (Puerto Rico and the U.S. each account for 45 percent, with 10 percent from Europe). Ana’s future plans are just as bold. She’s working on a series of custom products and collections, including for a food-sector client, and expanding her workspace to satisfy increasing demand, which also means she can hire people interested in learning the field. “Jobs in sustainable design are very scarce in Puerto Rico,” Ana explains. “We are one of the first companies to be fully committed to that area. Providing opportunities is extremely important to us.”

If your dream is to explore the underwater beauty of Puerto Rico’s coral reefs, Yilmalia Suarez can take you there. She is the General Manager of Sea Ventures Pro Dive Centers in Fajardo, a certified dive and snorkel excursion company. Founded in 1988 by Peter Seufert to help the local community, including fishermen, learn to dive safely, Sea Ventures has branched out and is committed to their mission of instilling a lifelong love of diving and an appreciation for the marine world in tourists and locals alike. They have used Google products like their Business Profile on Google and Google Ads to highlight their many positive reviews from previous customers, make it easier to find their business, and reach potential customers. The impact of Google Ads has been significant, leading to a 60-percent revenue increase in 2019.

After Hurricane Maria and COVID-19 devastated Puerto Rico, Yilmalia and her team trusted Google products to help get Sea Ventures back on solid footing. They updated their Business Profile on Google to include new business hours, detailed directions, and stunning photos of both the shop and their excursions to entice more divers to pay them a visit. The results were immediate. “Whenever people reserve a spot, we ask them how they found us. The answer is always Google,” Yilmalia says. Sea Ventures also pivoted their Google Ads strategy to include a wider array of relevant search terms, such as “Culebra all day excursion” and “learn to dive,” and to engage potential customers who have no prior diving experience and want a friendly place to learn. Despite decreased revenues and capacity limitations due to the pandemic, Sea Ventures is once again open for business seven days a week. Yilmalia is looking forward to what comes next. “Google has really helped our business survive. It has helped increase traffic to our website and improve our bookings,” she says. “We are hopeful for the future, because what matters most is that people are happy and leave saying positive things about Puerto Rico.”