AZ Arizona Business Blog

When creating a solid marketing strategy, the first thing that should be determined, aside from the actual product or service you plan on providing, is the target market you’re selling to. There are a multitude of companies accessible on online that can provide consumer mailing lists based on just about any demographic or psycho-graphic data you’re looking for. These companies have databases with literally millions of names to help you target your sales efforts. If you should choose to reach your target via email versus direct mail, there are eeven companies that offer broad bases of targeted opt-in email prospects.

When deciding on the type of consumer mailing list to put together, it is advisable that you consider some key elements to your strategy. Many companies simply gather lists and do mass mailings in hopes to get their typical 2% response rate. If you’re going to order a list, make it very specific to your product or service and to your strategy. For instance, if you’re marketing an assisted living facility your company just built, your target audience may be households with seniors that have medical issues within a 50 mile radius of your facility. While this may be a simple example, you can see that it wasn’t just the type of audience I was referring to, but it also was tageted with a geographical market penetration strategy in mind.

The more specific you are when creating a consumer mailing list the better your response rate will be. There’s no reason to settle for a 2% response rate. As I stated, the more you can align your product or service with your target market, the more successful your efforts will be. The next key to success when embarking on a marketing strategy is creating a solid tracking / follow up plan. Surprisingly, this is where many businesses fall short. When working a consumer mailing list, you do not simply want to touch your audience once and not have a plan to keep track of your success or follow up because your response rate will suffer.

If you’re going to go through the effort of making sure your consumer mailing list meets all of your criteria and you’ve shelled out the expense to not only purchase the list, put your collateral material together, and pay for postage, you should maximize your chances by touching that audience a few more times. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that once you do your first mailing that your phones will start ringing off the hook. Put in the effort to follow up and follow through with your plan and understand that direct marketing requires ample repetition.

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