The Direct Marketing Lists you choose will determine the success of your marketing campaign. But with so many direct marketing lists out there, how do you find the right lists for your needs.
It’s important to educate yourself, whether you decide to find the lists yourself or if you decide to use the services of a list broker.
First, you need to identify your target market and then you need to define your marketing campaign. This will determine the type of list you will be shopping for.
In order to determine who your target market is, you need to understand who would be interested in your product or services. While it is possible that a random person might come along and buy your product, it’s even more likely that someone who was targeted because there is some common ground between themselves and your product or service, would buy your product.
Things to think about when Purchasing Direct Marketing Lists
- Who are you trying to reach? Businesses? Consumers?
- What are you offering? What are you trying to promote?
- Where are you trying to reach? What’s the geography involved?
- When do you want your message to go out and how frequently?
- Why do you want to reach this audience specifically? What’s your objective
- How do you want to reach your audience? Direct Mail, Telemarketing, Opt-in Email or SMS/Texting?
- What’s your marketing budget for the list? Have you taken into consideration all costs involved for your project? Postage costs, printing costs etc.
Know the Different List Sources Available
- Association – Professional or trade association membership buyers. Many of these individuals also purchase other offerings from their organizations.
- Subscriber/Controlled Circulation – Magazine or continuity subscription buyers. Sometimes offered along with names of expired subscribers at a lower price.
- Buyer – Proven buyers of a list owner’s product or service. Often offered with a “hot list” or “recent buyers” sub-file at an up-charge.
- Compiled – Names of prospective buyers compiled by a third party. While not usually considered as productive as association, subscriber or buyer lists, compiled files can be effective.
- Direct Response – Responders to past offers either by telemarketing, direct mail, TV/Radio, internet/online registration.
Understand Your List Price
- Costs are determined by the list source, the select criteria, and the volume ordered.
- Lists most often have a base price per thousand names, expressed as cost “/M”.
- Options to ‘select’ other criteria such as geographic areas, job titles, industries, or other desired information are usually an additional cost/M
- Processing & Delivery by email are charged for each order. These are direct charges for processing the order and then delivering the data electronically. Cost is a flat rate usually between $50-$95 regardless of the size of the list