You need leads that are pre-screened to determine if their interests, age, income, and other socioeconomic factors match that of your target market. Because your direct marketing will only be successful if you market to the right people, you need to know things like:

• Gender
• Age
• Date of Birth
• Income
• Net Worth
• Affluence
• Education Level
• Presence of Children
• Marital Status
• Ethnicity
• Homeowner status
• Buying Habits
• Special Interests/Hobbies
• Donors/Contributors
• Pet Owners
• Travelers
• Presence of Credit Cards
• Investors
• Health Info
• Magazine Subscriptions

It is essential to compile targeted leads for your marketing campaign. WholesaleMailingLists.net provides the finest consumer mailing lists and residential mailing lists. With regularly updated files, we guarantee to have the freshest, most accurate records found anywhere. Our expansive mailing list databases contain over 250 million consumers in over 150 million households. We can specifically model a custom mailing list for you.

Who is your customer?  Are they male or female?  Young or old?  Wealthy, middle class or poor?  What else do they buy?  If you don’t have the answer to these questions you have no business in direct marketing or any other kind of marketing for that matter.  And if you don’t have a mailing list that targets the exact people that want to buy your product you are wasting a lot of time and money.

Knowing your demographic is a vital first step towards creating a direct marketing campaign.  You need to know your customer inside and out and then make sure that every portion of your advertising campaign is aimed directly at them.  Then you need to reach these customers, as many of them as possible.  The more targeted your mailing list is, the higher your ROI, return on investment, PERIOD.

How do you get the most highly targeted mailing lists at wholesale prices?  That’s as easy as visiting WholeSaleLists.net for a free mailing list quote.  Let us show you where your customer lives so you can target and deliver your message straight into their laps.

If you send a piece of mail that looks like junk mail it is far more likely to get thrown in the trash.  In fact, I read an article that stated that the post office admits that up to 20% of “junk mail” gets thrown out by mail carriers!  They figure they can save themselves time and avoid carrying a heavy sack by eliminating items they deem to be junk.

Next, a lot of recipients will throw away items that look like “junk” before they even read your headline.  The key is to make your mailer look important so that you can get the mail carrier to deliver it and your recipient to open it.  One common tactic that yields a lot of success is creating a mailer that looks like a check because who doesn’t want to open a check?  The check is actually a coupon that the customer can use to purchase your products.  Be sure to make the offer compelling and you are sure to yield a high success rate with your next direct mail campaign.

No matter which method you choose for direct marketing your product or service to the public there is one thing you will need—a good list.  Whether you want to send emails, postcards or call customers directly you have to have a list of customers to contact with all their pertinent information.  Best results are usually achieved when you purchase this list from a reputable wholesale list provider like us.

By properly targeting your list and sharpening your marketing skills for the direct marketing method you pursue, it is possible to make a lot of money even in a difficult economy.  Achieving success in direct marketing boils down to a matter of trial and error sometimes, but once you find what works for your products and narrow your demographics down you can just duplicate the same process over and over to achieve your goals.  No matter which method you choose, remember that your results will only be as good as the list you use so be sure to choose your list broker and your target market carefully so you can get the results you want at a reasonable cost.

Your first goal in telemarketing is to connect with your prospect.  Before you can do that, however, you will have to catch them off guard and get them to talk to you…get them to talk first.  You should never start off a telemarketing call by announcing who you are and the nature of the call, as in, “Hello, this is Dave from XYZ Company and I’m”…click.  Start by asking for your prospect by name as if you are a friend, “Mary?”  if it is Mary she starts off the conversation by saying “yes” so you are off to a good start because the more times you can get your prospect to say yes during the call the more likely they are to say yes at the end of the call.

Adapting a script that gets your prospect to open up, do a lot of the talking and say “yes” as much as possible will make a tremendous impact on your sales numbers.  Of course, starting with a well-priced and highly targeted wholesale telemarketing list doesn’t hurt either.

If you are looking for a dramatic increase in your business you are going to have to do something dramatically different.  If you aren’t using direct mail, maybe it’s about time you got started.  If you are using direct mail, maybe it is time to amp up the volume and take it to a whole new level.

Whatever you do, don’t use the “poor economy” as an excuse to coast along.  History has proven that in an economy like this you are either going to have to sink or swim, there is no treading water.  During The Great Depression people either became incredibly rich or completely broke (does the name Rockefeller ring any bells?).  Which path will you choose?

In any event, you have nothing to lose from filling out the free quote request on our website or giving us a call at 805-267-1525 to find out what we can do for you.  Remember, these are wholesale mailing lists which means you get the best bang for your buck.

1. Failing to purchase a list.  A lot of direct marketers make the mistake of doing a bulk mailing to a particular zip code rather than buying a list.  This is a mistake on so many levels.  First of all, it is impersonal and secondly, the large majority of people who receive this type of mailing aren’t at all interested in your product.
2. Not purchasing a targeted list.  If you are selling sports cars you might think that sending your mailing to men over 18 would be a good idea, but you can get much more specific.  You would probably do much better targeting men from 24 to 62 years old who make at least $40,000 a year, for instance. 
3. Inconsistency.  Some direct marketers will do a one mailing and then sit around waiting for the phone to ring.  It is a much better idea to use mailing lists on a consistent basis to keep a steady flow of calls coming in.
4. Poor quality mailing.  Your mailing has to grab the customer’s attention, present them with a good offer and then give them an easy way to follow up and make the purchase.
5. Failing to test market.  It is a good idea to send different mailings to the exact same demographic in similar areas to see which mailings yield a better response and continually test and refine to keep improving the results.

By simply avoiding these five errors when using mailing lists for your direct advertising campaign you will be able to significantly increase your sales and profits.

If sales are down you might consider ways to amp up your marketing campaign.  Perhaps you need to increase the number and frequency of your direct mailings?  You might need to buy a more targeted mailing list or even a response list.  Maybe you need to improve the quality of your mailings in either appearance or copy?  Or maybe you need to consider what your customers want and make an improvement to either the product or the offer.

Taking the time to see things from your customers’ point of view will help you create better products as well as understanding how to market them more effectively.

According to the study, the people that do read direct mail frequently are “more likely than the average adult to be spending money on home remodeling, consumer electronics, and new furniture” Find more here: http://qviews.typepad.com/qviews/2009/07/people-still-check-the-mail-box.html and while you are there click the link to the newsletter and scroll down for the story called “Direct Mail Use Increasing despite Competition”.

And then stop by our website for a free quote.

So, how does this fit into a blog about direct marketing, direct mail and telemarketing lists?  Simple.  You need to understand how people think in order to be successful in direct marketing.  Don’t send your information to random people and hope for the best.  That is like throwing sand into the wind.  You need to send your information to the people who want that information.  Remember that sales is simply giving people what they really want and need and that your job as a direct marketer is to figure out who wants and needs your product or service and direct your advertising towards them.  I went into some detail on that subject in yesterday’s blog on How to Choose a Telemarketing List that Works.

Please visit our website for more information about our lead lists.