Direct Mail Lists Still #1 with Advertisers

With the rise of internet, email, and social media marketing, may marketing professionals are proclaiming that direct mail list mailing is dead.  Reports and studies show the complete opposite and show direct mail list and telemarketing rates staying the same or failing a small amount.

An April 2011 study shows that in 2009 direct mail list marketing accounted for 31% of advertising spending with telemarketing coming in second place with 29%.  This in depth study showed that direct mail list marketing still remains the best, most profitable way to market your business.  Social media and email marketing should not be forgotten though, as you are able to target consumers that a direct mail list might not capture.  Businesses should use social media and email to compliment their existing direct mail list campaign.

Definition of an Excellent Mailing List Company

When searching for a mailing list company for your businesses marketing needs you should be sure that you are selecting a company that provides many type of data services.  In the ever changing world of marketing, choosing a mailing list company that is multifaceted will allow your business promote itself across many different forums.

A good mailing list company should, of course, provide mailing lists.  An excellent mailing list company should be able to provide your business with consumer, business, resident occupant, ailment, educational, licensed professional, and a variety of specialty lists.  There are thousands of mailing list options available in today’s market.  An excellent mailing list company should be able to provide you a list for any marketing situation you come across.

An excellent mailing list company should also provide email marketing service, social media marketing service, and telemarketing lists.  Any reputable mailing list company should also provide data hygiene services such as NCOA and data append services such as phone or email appends.

Tracking Direct Mail Marketing Results

Direct mail marketing is one the best, proven ways to generate viable sales leads and buzz about your business.  Businesses wishing to use direct mail marketing to promote their business should do research before starting any kind of marketing campaign.  Finding your ideal target audience and having a great mail piece can make or break your campaign.

Measuring the results of your direct mail marketing campaign is critical. Have your printer add a promotional code to your mail piece for easier tracking.  Tracking the results of your direct mail marketing campaign will allow you to understand what geographies and demographics are ideal for your campaign.

Information on Mortgage Leads

Mortgage leads are a hot commodity to the mortgage lender.  Mortgage leads are typically sourced from the county courthouse public records and can be selected from a variety of both mortgage and property selects such as home assessed value, year built, loan date, loan amount, type of loan, type of interest date, dwelling type, and number of loans on the home.  Depending on which county a mortgage lender is wanting to market to, additional information is provided such as square footage of the home, floor covering, and construction information like frame vs. block construction in the mortgage lead list.  There are still other mortgage lead files which attempt to predict the likelihood of a potential refinance and offer information like estimated home value, modeled interest rate, and ARM reset date.

Credit Score Mailing Lists for Auto Dealers!

Auto dealerships use direct mail such as a credit score mailing list to advertise to their ideal audience.  Typically, prescreen credit data is used to attract qualified new customers and is contained in a credit score mailing list.  More than ever, auto dealerships need to qualify who they mail.  There’s nothing worse than attracting a potential customer to the showroom, get them interested in a new car, and then find they are not qualified for the financing.  Prescreen credit data on a credit score mailing list takes care of this issue in that it identifies the only those potential prospects who will qualify for the new car financing.  This ensures that your sales and finance department representatives focus on only quality prospects.

Opt-in Bulk Email Lists

Many times we hear of list owners calling their bulk email lists “double opt-in”.  This isn’t really true.  Most all valid email providers aggregate their list of email addresses from a multitude of sites.  The individual who visits the site will usually have an opportunity to “opt-in”.  That’s an opt-in bulk email list.  If they have an opportunity to opt-out, and choose not to, that’s not an opt-in.  Reputable bulk email list owners will then broadcast to the list of newly “opted-in” emails and request that they validate their permission.  This is done by sending them an email with a request to “opt-out” of receiving marketing emails.  If there is no reply, the email is considered “opted-in”.  Be sure your next bulk email list campaign is handled with an experienced professional.  Doing so will not only increase your chances of a profitable response, but also keep you within the law.

 

In Email Marketing Creative Design is Key!

When reaching out to your customers using email marketing, there are several important points to remember.  The subject line in the email marketing blast has one job and that is to get the receipt to open the email and view what’s in it.  The body of the email marketing blast has only one job, and that’s to get the receipt to click on the link.  And the landing page that’s linked to email marketing blast has one job and that’s to get the visitor to convert from visiting to responding or buying.  When creating an email marketing campaign, keep these points in mind.  Don’t include more content or graphics that necessary.  More information isn’t always better.  If the email marketing blast has successfully caused the recipient to click on the link in the email, the landing page should either collect the information or ask for an order.

Rules for Direct Mail List Marketing

Please consider the following rules when using a direct mail list:

Rule #1: The business of direct mail lists is to create customers not sales. This means that making a profit by selling customers something new over and over again.

Rule #2: Anything can be sold via direct mail lists, but there may be a cost associated with selling something.  With direct mail lists there are no guarantees that your return on investment will be positive.

Rule #3: Recognize for all practical purposes that there are only two kinds of direct mail lists: those that work and those that don’t.

Choosing a Consumer or Residential Mailing List

Many mailers wanting to mail to a home address have the choice of mailing to a consumer database or a residential mailing list (aka. resident/occupant mailing list).  The primary different is that the consumer list has many choices for selects to filter and create your targeted audience.  The residential mailing list has little in the way of selectability.  The residential mailing list database does have the highest concentration of records and is sorted in carrier route walk-sequence.  This allows the mailer to save the most on postage and reach the greatest number of occupied homes in a given market.  So for mailing to a segment of the population, choose the consumer database.  When you want to saturate a given market, choose the residential mailing list database.

 

For or Against Email Append Services?

Email append services are frowned upon by some marketers, but there is no denying the usefulness of a well done email append. The practice of email append services is endorsed by the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) as long as it follows the following guidelines. First, there must be an established relationship with the named consumer, either online or offline. Secondly, the data used in the email append service must be from a source that provided notice and choice regarding the acceptance of receiving third party email offer and the named consumer did not opt out. When using email append services the email addresses must never be harvested, guessed, or manufactured and although, not required, a welcome email should be sent.

Detractors of email append services aren’t swayed by the DMA’s endorsement. They argue that a consumer that completed an online survey and provided consent for third party email offers, didn’t realize that their email could be sold and used for emails append services.

Supporters of email append services disagree and say that consent is consent, period. Whichever side of the email append service debate you chose to side with study up on the views of both sides.