Q.
Where do I start?
A. First, start
by defining your “most likely prospect”. Based on your own research, what
type of person or business are you trying to reach? What are their
attributes or what specific characteristics do they share with others?
Age? Gender? Income? Family type? Business type?
Annual sales? Number of employees? Etc.
Second,
estimate your geographical marketing area. Where do these potential
customers live or do business? How far will they realistically travel to do
business with you? (or how far do you want to travel to do business with
them?)
The
Request for Quote
pages will guide you through this process.
Q. How well
does the mailing list work?
A. Although
it’s a very important part of a mailing, the list is just one component.
Most successful mailings generate a “call to action” or a reason to act now.
There should also be a deadline to receive the benefits of the offer you’re
presenting. The timeliness of your offer is another factor. If you own a
store that sells camping gear, for example, you will have better success in
May or June than in October.
Q. How
current is the mailing list?
A.
Understand that people are born, marry, move, die and divorce every day.
Businesses are formed, bought, sold, moved, merged, renamed and liquidated.
This is recorded as soon as it becomes public information but there is
usually a time lag between the event and the availability of the data. Even
a lag of just two weeks can create a 2-3% error rate. Most lists average
about 95% accuracy.
Q. How is
the mailing list priced?
A. List
prices are determined by:
