Are you searching for Mailing Lists?
Reach your target market.
Although much of the database marketing business is handled via compilers, and the SRDS directory is now available to subscribers online, the two main ways people gather information about compiled or direct response lists are st on paper. Companies that compile lists publish their own catalogs of lists, whit you can usually obtain for free with a phone call. Direct response leads are rented by list managers who issue separate data cards explaining each list.
Direct response and direct marketing mean the same thing. Direct response seeks an immediate action on the part of the reader. This could be to call a toll-free number, visit a showroom, try a product, mail a reply card, go to a home page, or see a demonstration.
As you will see, one of the basic premises of this book is that virtually all business-to-business marketing communications can be made more powerful, effective, and profitable by converting them from conventional communications to direct-response communications.
If you sell products or services to accountants, the list in Figure 4.1 might be beneficial to you. Look at the long list of specialties. These unique categories let you focus on accountants who specialize in small business consulting, cost accounting, or some other area. If, however, you were simply selling seminars to accountants and other business people, a direct response list of past seminar attendees—who were sold via direct mail—would be a better list.
Similar sources probably aren't updated as often as even some of the more neglected compiled lists, you can update your own list using the telephone—providing the list you have has phone numbers. To promote the business writing training programs I conduct, I once created my own list of meeting planners from associations that had scheduled their annual conventions near where I live. I obtained the information from a local chamber of commerce, a directory of association executives, and from two association trade journals.
Some people prefer to receive the postings in digest form; that is, all the messages for that day are compiled into one e-mail sent to the recipient at the end of the day. At the beginning of the e-mail, the digest provides a listing of all the messages with the "From" and "Subject" identified, followed by the complete messages.
You can even use news publications to collect the names of people who are mentioned, then use phone books, city directories, or other sources to obtain addresses. The advantages of compiling your own list include the list's uniqueness. No one will have a list identical to yours. You can also include only those people to whom you wish to mail. A considerable amount of labor is involved in researching and entering your list on a computer. If you don't count your own time, it's inexpensive.
Most small business people would be better off having someone else do the typing for them. While member-
More about Mailing Lists . See also: Marketing Plan and Marketing Solutions .
Response Makers - Mailing Lists