How to Make Mailing Lists Work for You

 

Use Direct Mail to Increase Your Sales

According to Sandra Blum of Pitney Bowes, "Your success in direct mail depends on four things: offer, copy, design, and list. Without a doubt, the list is by far the most important. When you chose a list, you choose a market. And what could be more important than your market."

There are three kinds of lists: 1. Your house file or customer list, 2. Responder lists, 3. Compiled lists. Your customer list is free and it's a gold mine. Responder lists are rented and are consumers or businesses that have "responded" to some type of offer. Compiled lists, which can be rented or purchased, are taken from sources like phone books, business directories, government databases, etc.

Building your own marketing mailing list is essential to successful direct marketing. I started out my own mailing list with all the names in my address book, primarily friends and family. I used several sources to make my mailing lists grow quickly. The single largest source of my direct mailing list came from local Chamber of Commerce's. If you are reading this article, you have access to the internet and that is exactly where I found the directories of several local Chamber of Commerce's. Another way I increased my mailing list was by making a list of friends I had lost touch with, and spending sometime searching for their most recent mailing addresses. You can use People Search of Yahoo to find their current mailing addresses. This technique has produced several key clients.

Another source of direct mailing lists is from networking organizations. Triton Jr. College offers monthly Small Business Breakfast's and publishes the names and addresses of businesses that attend its networking functions. Finally, I have also pulled business cards from restaurants and stores that I shop at and entered these names into my database.

I have grown my database of names from 0 to over 500 names and expect to be at 750 with in 2-3 months. The key to developing a successful direct marketing list is to start with friends and family. Friends and family will most likely purchase from you because they know you are honest and can provide good customer service.

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Pape Financial Services, Inc.
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Last modified: April 15, 2003