Direct Mail Campaigns – Targeting Your Audience

The world is your oyster!  Do not limit yourself unless you must.

One of the critical components in any direct mail campaign is the mailing list.  Not “who do I want to mail to?” but “who do I want to become my next customer?”  “Who can benefit most from my offer?”

The more you can define your best existing customers, the clearer you can be about the demographics to use in purchasing a mailing list of prospects.  Always build the universe without constraints.  Only build those in as you must.  The “must” being determined by the cost and availability of the selection criteria.

Define the factors and refine your ideal model.  If it’s residential:  geography, age, gender, marital status, presence of children, household income, home value, age of home, religious affiliation, lifestyle interest, etc.  If it’s business:  geography, business category, sales volume, employee size, number of years in business, single vs. multiple locations, franchises vs. independent ownerships, etc.

As you select these direct mail criteria, remind yourself that you are not trying to reach everyone.  Of course everyone can use your service or product.  That’s not it.  Where can you have the greatest chance of the highest positive response?  Go after that.  You may pay more for your mailing list, but your increased positive response should more than make up for any additional cost.  Further, you may find that you can cut down the size of your mailing this way – saving far more than the additional cost of the mailing list in printing and postage dollars.