Direct mailing remains the best way to contact the decision makers at most businesses. It gives you the opportunity to expose them to the benefits of your products and services. That’s why many people purchase a business mailing list.

While this can be a great opportunity for your business, there are some precautions you should take when buying a list. After all, not all mailing lists are created equal. Here are a few features you should pay attention to before you buy a business mailing list.

Most business owners still consider direct mail to be one of the most credible ways to get in contact with them. That makes marketing your services and products with a mailing list a good idea.

Business email lists are also available. However, when you buy a business email list, you risk being branded as “spam” and your mail being tossed away unread. Real, physical mail is more likely to be read, increasing your chances of getting the message out.

A good business mailing list will let you know that your marketing message is getting out there. It should contain only recent, reliable data, since a list that’s not up to par will cause you to send your mailings out to the wrong people.

Doing that decreases your credibility, and it wastes money, sending mail to people who may not be the right ones for your message. Always buy a business mailing list you can trust!

How do you know whether, when you buy a business mailing list, it’s a good one? Make sure that any list you purchase has been validated against the NCOA, the USPS’s National Change of Address registry.

Look at the number of points of contact you’re getting when you buy a business mailing list, too. More contact points is usually better, since it gives you a larger number of opportunities, and it increases the chance that the listing is accurate and legitimate.

If you have more than just the mailing address, you can follow your mailing up with a fax, phone call, or additional direct mailing. Email addresses can be helpful, too. Most of the time, when you buy a business mailing list, company email addresses won’t be included. However, they are sometimes part of the list you buy, making it worth your while to ask about them.

If you want to get the word out about your company’s products and services, don’t forget about direct mail. It’s well worth your while to buy a business mailing list that’s high quality and accurate. However, you should examine the list you’re getting and make certain that it’s legitimate, and that all addresses are current. That’ll increase your chances of success.

Instead of blowing your budget buying a list every time you need one, you can now have unlimited access to Instant Business List’s 15 Million US Business and 7 Million Business Email Marketing Lists for only $300 at http://www.InstantBusinessList.com

 



Thanks to Erik Olson for contributing this article to our Leads blog:

Get a Money-making Website

Here in the North East the weather has begun to warm. Snow is gone and plants are beginning to peak their heads up out of the soil.

If you are a House Painter, Landscaper, General Contractor, Pool Guy or any other Owner of an outdoor based seasonal business-you’ve probably got most of your year booked. But there are still some opportunities to fit odd jobs in to maximize your profitability this year.

Targeted direct mail to a pre-defined customer prospect list is an excellent way to grow your local business. Why not buy mail lists?

How Do I Do It?

Here is how I suggest you go about doing this. There are two different schools of thought you can entertain here as to how to select your prospects.

#1: The first is to look at your existing customers and come up with a few characteristics that you see as consistent amongst them. For example, is there an affluence level? If so, determine whether you want to target based on estimating Home Value, or Household Income. Is Age, Gender, or Ethnicity a factor? Once you’ve created this “existing customer profile” then you would order a mailing list that targets these elements.

#2: The second school of thought is to try to hit the “home-run” Who is your dream customer?-don’t mean one that doesn’t complain…ask for free add-ons or pays on time. Rather, what are the demographics of that huge painting job, someone who might need to re-landscape a few acres, need a new pool, want to build an addition, etc…

Of course, you can do both if your vendor can/will run your order as a two part order. One portion can be from school #1, and the balance can be from school #2.

How Do I Figure out Where I want to Mail To?

This really comes down to your own business model. How far are you willing/able to travel-even with travel expenses added on-to do a job? There is no perfect answer here it’s all your preference.

Here are some ideas of how to decide.

Do you need to stay within the towns/cities that you currently do business in? If so, order buy town or zip codes.

Perhaps you have a central zip code that you do most of your work in and are looking to expand outward. Then I would suggest doing a radius (It’s like drawing a circle around something) in terms of miles outside of a targeted zip code.

Le’ts say you are a Nursery, and there are other Nurseries in your area. You know that your customers typically only drive about 10 or 15 miles to get to your Nursery, otherwise they go to a competitor. Then I would suggest doing what is called a “Rooftop” radius. This is a bit more exact than a zip code radius. It takes the exact location of your business and draws that radius circle using your business location as the center point.

Ok, so you figured out what criteria you want for your list, and you know the geography you want to pull from. What’s next?

What are you going to Mail?

What is it you are going to mail? A letter? A flyer? A brochure? How about a nice color postcard? As mentioned in prior postings, postcard marketing offers certain advantages in the mailbox over other media. Why? Because you can see what is on a postcard without having to do anything. It gives you the best chance to get noticed.

Have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at http://www.greatmailinglists.com and I’ll be happy to assist you any way I can.



Thanks to Doug Sauerhaft for contributing this article to our Leads blog:

Telemarketing Mortgage Leads

Can you answer Dartage’s question about Leads?:

I am interested in promoting my website and services to a very targeted niche market: screenwriters and amateurs who write screenplays. But I am having a hard time finding a mailing list or opt-in emailing list for this specific group to promote to. I have checked with some of the big mailing list companies but my niche is just that-a niche. I already promote my site through Google adwords but now want to send direct mail or email.

Does anyone have any suggestions for finding lists for such a small targeted group? Thanks.

Marketing List Broker

Pulling people into your website in order to have them look at your content is something that many webmasters spend a lot of time doing. They use search engine optimization, forum marketing and article marketing in order to achieve this goal. Some of them are very successful in making sure that there is a steady stream of incoming traffic into their website. What would happen, however, if the majority of these visitors were simply coming to your website and then clicking away without really taking a look at what you have to offer? Unfortunately, this is what happens to many of us and although we can pull the traffic in initially, we need to find a way to get them coming back for more.

One of the easiest ways for you to be able to do this is by building an e-mail list from your existing traffic. Although this can be a bit difficult, there are some ways that you can make sure that people are signing up for what you have to say on a regular basis. Not only can you market to these people through your e-mail list, you may be able to pull them back in to read whatever content you are adding to your blog or website. Let’s take a look at how you can get these people to sign up for your newsletter and then what you can do once you have them subscribed to keep them coming back for more.

One of the most popular ways of getting people to sign up for an e-mail list is by using a squeeze page. Unfortunately, this cannot always be incorporated into an existing website, especially if you get a lot of traffic through the search engines. Although most people say that they **** pop-up windows, they are still a very effective way of getting people to sign up for your list. The real key is using the pop-up window in an unobtrusive way by offering something that they would be interested in for free. The only thing that you would need to test is whether you would get a better response from a pop-up window that happen when they came in to the site or one that took place whenever they decided to leave. Use a cookie to turn off the pop-up window after an individual has already subscribed.

Once they are all on your list, you can get them to come back to your website in a number of different ways. First of all, you can e-mail them a little snippet of information anytime you post something to your website. Try to make it enticing, both in the subject line of the e-mail and in the body. Many people will look forward to getting these e-mails from you and will readily click over to your website. This is one of the most effective ways of getting people to visit you on a regular basis and to keep coming back for more, every time you have something new to say.



Thanks to Guido Nussbaum for contributing this article to our Leads blog:

Sales Lead Generation

How to Choose the Correct Mail List to Reach your Target Customer

If you are going to utilize the resources of a mailing list to contact prospective customers, it is very important to make sure that you are choosing the correct mail list to help you reach as many of your target customers as possible.  If a mailing list doesn’t really market to your target customer, it is highly likely that your mailing list campaign will be much less successful than it could have been.

Work with a Company that Will Research your Target Customer

Working with a list broker that will do more than just give you access to some mail lists is essential if you really want to zero in on your target customer.  You’ll want to select a company that will help you research the available lists and your target customer base so that you can maximise the potential of using a mail list.   

There are so many companies out there that will just give you a mail list without really knowing what will be best for your business.  A company that will take the time to help you with researching the best possible mail lists to reach your target customer is an asset that will help make mail lists work for you.

Don’t Just Rent One List, Work with a List Broker that Has Access to Multiple Lists

If you end up working with a company that has access to only one or two lists, you run the risk of severely limiting your mail list campaign’s potential.  It is much more likely that you’ll be able to reach your target customers with your mailings if you work with a list broker who has access to a wide variety of mail lists in many different categories.

Some mail list brokers have taken the time to compile databases and are able to work with you to single out lists that provide information that will help you reach only your target customers.  You won’t have to waste time and money on sending mailings to people that won’t be interested in your business or products.  A high quality list broker will have access to the information that can create a mail list to reach only your target customers. 

Select a Mail List Broker that Will Listen to your Needs

Choosing to work with a mail list broker that will actually take the time to really listen to you is important.  If you end up working with a company that doesn’t take the time to really get to know your business and you’re marketing goals, the mail lists that you are sold will likely not be as effective as they could have been.

A mail list broker that does truly listen and gets to know you, your business, and your target customer may have higher rates, but, your marketing needs will be more efficiently met, and your mail list campaign will be much more successful when you work with this type of mail list broker.  Because of the support and direction they provide as well as the way they are able to meet your needs and help you find mail lists that best reach your target customer, at the end of the job, they will actually cost you less.

When you begin looking at SMS lists it can seem overwhelming.  Following these tips will enable you to make the most of your mail list campaign, thereby saving you time and money while still enabling you to  reach your target customers.



Thanks to search rankpros for contributing this article to our Leads blog:

How to Make Money Online