Circulation Booster.

PUBLISHER OF CLASSIFIED AD NEWSPAPER EL CLASIFICADO REAPS REWARDS AND AWARDS AS SHE CARVES OUT HUGE NICHE IN BURGEONING LATINO MARKET

MARTHA de La Torre thought she had a sure-fire idea for a successful small business to fill a major void in the Latino community.

She wanted to start a weekly Spanish-language classified ads publication similar to the Penny Saver to be distributed throughout major Latino neighborhoods in the Los Angeles area.

So on May 4, 1988, with money from friends, family and herself, she launched El Clasificado, a compact booklet of black-and-white ads for automobiles, furniture, home services, mariachi bands, rental properties and employment opportunities.

But shortly after the first issues were distributed, the recession got a firm grasp on Southern California. Months later, de la Torre was selling her house and car and moving in with her parents to keep her business going.

For several years it was touch and go. In between, she worked part-time as a certified public accountant to make ends meet.

"There were times I didn't think I'd see the light at the end of the tunnel," the 43-year-old recalls, sitting inside her City of Commerce office, blocks away from her core target market in East Los Angeles. "Customers who placed ads at the beginning would say, "The publication looks good, but we're not getting any results on our ads.'"

By 1992, conditions had improved. The publisher of the free publication changed her distribution plan. Instead of delivering her publication to individual homes, de la Torre arranged to have it dropped off at various locations such as local meat markets, bakeries and independent shops. Delivery costs plummeted from $35 per 1,000 copies to $10 per 1,000.

By 1994, de la Torre's husband, Joe Badame, also a CPA who had been helping part time, took over distribution and computerized the system so that each location could be monitored weekly.

"The two biggest things we did was to get a contract to distribute at supermarket locations, because Latinos -- we learned -- like to go to the supermarket every day," noted de la Torre.

Pervasive presence

Now the company owns 700 street racks and has 2,000 drop-off locations, including Kmart, Albertson's, Vons, 7-Eleven and Blockbuster stores.

El Clasificado's circulation has grown to 110,000 copies distributed to 11 zones that stretch from the San Gabriel Valley to Orange County. Next month, distribution will begin in the Inland Empire.

"The key is distribution and staying on top of it," de la Torre explained, noting that revenues have grown from $572,000 in 1995 to nearly $3 million in 2000.

With the paper's growing financial success, there have been many rewards and even a few awards. Last year, the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce named de la Torre the Hispanic Business Woman of the Year. De la Torre also was recognized last year by the Latin Business Association in Los Angeles as one of four outstanding Latina entrepreneurs. And this year, the National Association of Women Business Owners will induct de la Torre into its Hall of Fame.

"She has overcome some really, really incredible odds to establish this newspaper and gain a foothold in the Spanish-language market during a difficult time," said Sonya Levy, NAWBO's executive director in Los Angeles. "Her passion and drive and perseverance are really evident by what she was willing to sacrifice."

De la Torre actually already had a successful career prior to launching El Clasificado nearly 13 years ago.

Learning the business

Shortly after graduating from Loyola Marymount University, she started working in 1978 as an account manager at Arthur Young & Co., a predecessor firm of Ernst & Young. Then in 1986 she was hired as chief financial officer for La Opinion, the daily Spanish-language newspaper published in Los Angeles. At the paper, which is jointly owned by the Lozano family and the Tribune Co., de la Torre learned about publishing in the Spanish-language market. She also learned that there was a need for a publication that delivered just classified ads in Spanish.

After two years at La Opinion, de la Torre launched her own publication, believing the Latino community needed a free publication that arrived at their homes.

For several years, de la Torre, her husband and her family did much of the work. She remembers her father, a retired appraiser for Los Angeles County, would fill his Mercedes-Benz with copies of El Clasificado and drive around town distributing them.

Finally, when she was ready to hire part-time help in 1993, she was inspired by the movie "Stand and Deliver," to recruit computer-literate students from Garfield High School in East Los Angeles. "Stand and Deliver" was a film about a math teacher who inspired Latino students at Garfield High to excel.

Many of the students she recruited are still working for her now. De la Torre said she wants to buy out the company's minority shareholders and create an employee stock ownership plan for her workers.

She also wants to expand throughout California and maybe even to Tijuana. Also de la Tone wants to establish some Web sites. She has already purchased 130 domain names, including quinceanera.com. (A quinceanera is a girl's 15th birthday celebration.)

The El Clasificado publisher envisions using quinceanera.com as a Web situ that would have classified ads geared toward the celebration, which is very popular among Latinas.

Spotlight

El Clasificado

Year Founded: 1988

Core Business: Classified ads in Spanish

Revenue in 1995: $572,000

Revenue in 2000: $2.9 million

Employees in 1995: 25

Employees in 2000: 43

Goal: To expand to all of California and grow the Internet side of the business.

Driving Force: The growing Hispanic market's demand for classified ads