Say "hola" to Hispanic business lists.

Pick a market niche... any niche among the various burgeoning industries targeting the U.S. Hispanic Market... and guess which will grow the fastest in 1995. Is it direct marketing? Is it business-to-business? Try both.

It's not that 749,000 Hispanic businesses popped up overnight. It's that reaching them, on a one-to-one basis is now possible. In Southern California alone there are close to 100,000 Hispanic owned and/or operated businesses.

The Hispanic market has come of age exponentially over the past 25 years. Over 50% of Hispanics in the U.S. live in the top 10 markets. Geographic concentration has facilitated not only the establishment of hundreds of Spanish-language media outlets, but the founding and success of hundreds of thousands of small businesses that serve Spanish-dependent customers.

The past decade has seen the advent of several publications that aim to reach Hispanic businessmen. Among them, Hispanic Business Magazine, publishes a list of the top 500 Hispanic owned enterprises. These 500 businesses alone generate over $10 billion in gross revenues. Other trade publications, chamber of commerce organizations and miscellaneous newsletters also target select constituencies.

Advertising in every single one of these vehicles could not deliver even half of the Hispanic commercial universe. Until now banks were forced to canvas their neighborhoods for clients, consultants had to rely on referrals, brokers called random numbers in directories and office supply companies banked on the assumption that their English-language advertising would generate orders from Hispanic entrepreneurs and senior managers.

Enter Direct Marketing. Now there are a variety of list sources available making it possible to directly reach well over 700,000 businesses on a one-to-one basis. The TM&S Hispanic Business Database represents the most comprehensive single-source list available. Other compiled lists are also available and brokered through a variety of sources including Hispanic Business Magazine with over 100,000 names.

Using these lists is more efficient than ever. Corporate America can now target either Hispanic-owned enterprises or Hispanic-managed businesses in areas where Hispanics comprise 20% to 90% of the population. More actionably, the segmentation capabilities of Hispanic business lists is virtually on par with general market standards. Hispanic businesses can be targeted by number of employees, revenues, management titles, type of business, addresses, telephone numbers, Hispanic area density, and other criteria.

The entry of Hispanic business lists could signal a paradigm shift in the way Corporate America targets its business customers. Multi-lingual marketing programs, customized ethnic communications and effective "barrio business marketing" are exceptions soon to become the rule.

Businesses such as telecommunications, health care, risk management, office automation, office supplies, banking, credit, subscriptions and a host of other industries can build incremental sales efficiently and in the language of their prospects.

Whereas last year, many of these industries executives asked themselves, "Why can't we reach Hispanic businessmen," now they have to ask each other, "Why not?"

Marcelino Miyares is president of Tamayo-Miyares Advertising in Canoga Park.