Not All Mailing Lists Are Created Equal - Maximizing Your Return With Mailing List Savvy

It's ironic, really. The lists that we struggle to be removed from are also the same lists our companies strive to obtain. The truth is, for many businesses, targeted mailing lists are the bread and butter of their marketing efforts. Being able to create niche-marketing materials and then putting those materials into the right hands is essential to a company's survival.

Not all mailing lists are created equal, though. Understanding the different types of mailing lists is critical in maximizing the return on your investment of content and quality marketing materials.

Consumer Mailing List

Consumer mailing lists are comprehensive lists of people associated with their demographic, economic, and psychographic information. The consumer mailing list helps your business target individuals with very specific profiles for maximum return on investment. Typically, you can choose to filter these types of lists by the following data:

- Gender
- Age
- Ethnicity
- Marital Status
- Estimated Household Income
- Children Present
- Home Value
- Single or multiple family homes
- Hobbies and Interests

Consumer mailing lists are more expensive than say, a neighborhood mailing list, but your ability to filter out non-ideal recipients can make your investment worthwhile, especially for high-quality mailings such as multi-page letters, brochures, or large, high-quality postcards.

Neighborhood Mailing List

Neighborhood mailing lists are by far the most cost-effective list you can get. Many local businesses will target specific neighborhoods within a particular zip code or geographic location that falls within a specific radius of their business location.

This type of list is effective for obtaining new clients, particularly if your business wants a broad reach without regard to specific demographic or psychographic categories. Deliverables commonly associated with this type of mailing list include coupons, smaller postcards, and tri-fold 20# paper-stock brochures.

Business Mailing List

Business mailing lists are the "Holy Grail" for B2B companies, enabling them to maximize new targeted opportunities. This list type includes data pertaining to:

- Business Type
- Number of Employees
- Annual Sales
- Credit Rating
- Geographic Location
- Executive Names
- Phone Numbers
- Years in Business
- Owner Gender
- Public vs. Private

By targeting specific business data points, your company can identify and market directly to your ideal clients. You can also use the data points to differentiate the type or content of your marketing materials. For example, if you are a woman-owned business wanting to connect with other women-owned businesses, this type of list can help you do that, while still allowing you to send similar content to non-women-owned businesses with a different slant.

Specialty Mailing List

Specialty mailing lists are, just like they sound, lists of people filtered by special categories that you determine. Common types of specialty mailing lists include:

- New Parents
- New Movers
- New Homeowners
- Homeowners
- High-income Homeowners
- Renters
- Investors
- Health Conscious
- Green Consumers
- Sports Enthusiasts
- Voters (by political party)
- Seniors
- Consumers by Hobby

The list goes on. Essentially, if you can think of a niche that you want to market to, you've got yourself a specialty mailing list.

Truly understanding the individuals and businesses that your product or service is ideal for is the key to success. Combining a highly targeted mailing list with marketing materials that speak directly to the people or businesses on your list will boost your chances of making that next sale.

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