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Small Business Marketing

If you create a strong direct mail marketing piece with a powerful message and an irresistible offer, but send it to the wrong people, your message becomes meaningless, the offer pointless and most important, you´ve wasted your money.

If you´re not a sports fan, the mail piece—no matter how persuasive—will not convince you to buy the tickets. But, if you´re a proven fan, the offer will be appealing; even if the mail piece is not particularly attractive, there´s a good chance you might respond positively.

Obviously, the key to success in this case is mailing the offer to the "right" list—to proven sports enthusiasts —rather than to the general public.

Marketing experts generally give lists up to 60% of the credit for the success or failure of a mailing. That´s a pretty big chunk of your success riding on one component of your campaign.

So, how can you be sure to get the "right" mailing list for your business? Here are some tips:

• Stick to the major list compilers as much as possible. They usually have access to all the information you need to select the "right" list because they maintain huge, current, accurate and reliable databases.
• Involve your direct mail adviser/list provider in your business. Tell them your strategy and goals. Run your creative material and offer by them.
• Be very clear about who should receive your message.
• As you refine your audience profile, select specific criteria that recipients should meet. For example, if you´re mailing to consumers, you might want to consider their age, income and gender, presence of children in the household, or some other meaningful demographic. If you´re doing a B-to-B mailing, the type of business, annual revenue or the number of employees might be important to your effort.
• Good list research also enables you to sharpen your focus, tailor your offer and direct your campaign specifically to only those individuals who will be most likely to respond.
• Avoid off-the-shelf CD ROM lists. While they´re cheap, they´re also static and have been aging from the moment the CD was created.
• Test your list. Mail to a small segment and evaluate your response before you roll out your entire program.

In all cases you should ask your list provider the following questions:

1. How often is the list updated? Monthly? Quarterly?
2. When was the list was last updated?
3. Who are the frequent renters of that particular list?
4. What are the list´s error factors? (Current industry standard error factors are up to 7% for consumer-based data and up to 10% for a business list.)
5. Do they provide "opt-out" election? (Purge the names of people who´ve indicated they don´t want to receive unsolicited mail.)

Think of your mailing list as the workhorse of your direct mail project, and give it as much attention as you can.

This is not the time to cut corners or settle for less than what you actually need. The more it´s refined and the sharper its focus, the stronger the list.

Remember, you get what you pay for.