Nearly 30 million Hispanic residents make the United States the fifth-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world and represent a fast-growing and lucrative market.
Database Management, the Hispanic and ethnic division of list company Stevens-Knox, New York, has introduced two lists that access this huge consumer segment. Music Marketing Network Hispanic Buyers, a file of mail-order music buyers and questionnaire respondents; and Salud Y Belleza, a file of mail-order buyers of health and beauty products, furnish more than 203,000 combined names.
“The Hispanic market has seen a tremendous increase,'' said Cindy Lin, assistant vice president of Database Management. “Five years ago, there were only two Spanish lists on the market: Salesian Missions mailers, buyers and donors; and Editorial America Spanish-language subscribers. Now it's up to 90 different lists.''
Rick Korn, CEO of list owner Music Marketing Network, Red Bank, NJ, segmented the list to identify Hispanic respondents and has plans to further identify Spanish speakers. The company builds databases for record labels through survey cards inserted in compact discs.
Hispanics tend to respond better to mail-order buying than the general population and are a little more open to building a relationship with their favorite artist, Korn said.
As Spanish-language music is not as readily available at stores as, say, alternative music, smaller niche labels are turning to database marketing to reach their consumers. Music Marketing Network makes a conscious effort to target Hispanics and wanted a list manager that did the same, Korn said.
“[Database Management] are probably the best at building databases and lists for the Hispanic market,'' Korn said.
Database Management oversees 78 Spanish-speaking lists, 26 lists of Hispanic English speakers and 15 Latin American lists. It also handles 34 files for targeted offers to African-Americans, Arab-Americans and specific segments of the Asian-American community.
“The growth [of ethnic lists] has been not as great as in the Hispanic market,'' Lin said. “There definitely is an increased interest and awareness and therefore more lists on the market.''
