Direct Marketing

When you are planning to do some direct marketing, the most important aspect is the targeted list. These lists usually involved not only names, but addresses, phone numbers, and other data relevant to the type of audience you are trying to target. For example, if you are trying to reach housholds in a certain area that have an annual income of more than $100,000, then your list will also likely contain income data as well. There are many, many different criteria you may want to use to target your audience. For example, if you are an interior decorator, you may want to target those willing to pay you consulting fees (not just commission on your sales), so you may target a certain income or neighborhood in your area.

There are many different ways you can build or obtain lists – from companies that specialize in maintaining lists to building your own from a promotion or giveaway. The costs involved in purchasing a list depend upon the amount of data and targeted information you want. When you buy a list, it usually shows up as a group of csv files. These CSV (or comma separated values) can be looked at using a program similar to this one – www.csvreader.com/csv_format.php – or they can also be provided directly to your print or email vendor. Advances in printing technology will now even let you customize your message based on specific criteria held within the csv files. So, for instance, you can show a more expensive item on a direct mail piece to those with higher incomes, and a lower cost piece to those with lower incomes.