List Broker

List Brokers are key to several advertising mediums, but none more than direct marketing.  Whether you are marketing via direct mail or email, procuring effective, targeted mailing lists is absolutely crucial to your marketing campaign.

In fact, only the offer of your mail piece is as important as the list you use to send out your direct mail/email correspondence.

Locating a list broker, willing to sell you names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses is not very difficult at all.  Finding a list broker who can match your direct response campaign to a list of individuals who somehow match the product or service your are offering proves to be more difficult.

Smart direct response marketers will perform what is called “A/B testing”.  Simply put, all other factors being equal (mail piece, offer, colors, etc.) you test “list A” against “list B”.  If one list performs above another, you then test that list against another and so on.

List broker services may include research, selection, recommendations and subsequent evaluation.

Here are some tips when choosing list brokers:

Use a good list broker. Good list brokers have access to all the necessary information for finding and renting the best mailing lists. Just tell him or her to whom you want your mail to go. Provide a "wish list" of selection criteria that includes demographics, SIC selections, desired income or sales, number of employees, age, sex, and on and on it goes. The broker's services are generally free to the list renter.

Choose your broker with care. Some brokers and list owners will do anything to sell you the lists that make them the most profit. They care little about your needs. Avoid these people at all costs. Always check references when selecting a broker.

Always mail to a person. There are a lot of mailing lists out there that have no individual name on the files. So, mail gets addressed to "proprietor" or to "homeowner." Avoid these lists at all costs. Sure, they're cheap. But, they don't pull much response, either.

Explore the possibilities. Some mailing lists include information that can be used to increase your response rates when incorporated into the message. For example, if you are mailing to small "mom and pop" retail businesses, and your list contains the type of product or service being sold, you can mention it in a computer filled letter. Say something like, "I know it's tough selling vacuum cleaners in Skokie in this day and age" to a vacuum cleaner store owner and you'll make a friend for life. You get the picture.

Test, test, test. You can test mailing lists just as easily as you can test creative efforts. And you should. A ten percent increase in response due to choosing a better list is like finding silver dollars in the sofa.

Avoid CD ROM lists. Forget about them. They are "static" in nature and, in my experience, they almost never work. Sure, they're dirt cheap, but you get what you pay for when it comes to lists.

Rent updated lists. Always seek out lists that are updated regularly. When you consider that about 20% of the population in America packs up and moves every year, it just makes sense to use mailing lists that are updated at least twice a year. Quarterly or monthly is even better.