The Right Mailing List
So, you want to build your own Direct Mail list. You have an idea who you want to send to but you don’t know their address, or if they have neighbors who have the same statistics as your target. The list could be long and take a lot of work and time to develop. So how do you get this list down to a fine science for excellent results? There are steps that you can take to develop and then tweak the right target audience to receive your message.
Direct mail was responsible for over $2 trillion in sales last year. And 70% of Americans say mail is more personal than the internet. The first step in reaching those Americans and become a part of those sales is to figure out which services you are promoting. You do not want to waste your time marketing a farm to a city dweller or a commercial factory to a single family home owner. You need to identify your demographic. If you have a variety of properties on the market, or services that apply to multiple demographics, you should segment each distinct offering. You need to make your offers relevant to the audience.
Once you have figured out the type of person/family that is interested in the product or service that you are offering, then you can establish the demographic numbers. In Real Estate, you work within a geographic area that fits into your numbers. People of like backgrounds, interests and incomes, tend to live in the same area. You should also take into consideration the price of the property you are offering and then target towards that area that can afford it. If the property is perfect for a first time home buyer or a downsizer, then you need to develop your list for areas that have renters or those that have the huge family home
There are sources out there that you can find the statistics and demographics that will help in developing your list. Public records at city hall can provide you with eviction records and the landlords name and address. They may be ready to sell the house. There are tax records with absentee landlords names; foreclosure records and derelict properties that are all the types of properties that you can target the absentee landlords or reach out to renters who may be interested in purchasing a home. Also, look into the divorce records and tax defaults.
While you are at the courthouse, look into probate records. Often times, the inherited property is not completely embraced by the family. Although this is a tender subject and you are entering emotional areas, the family maybe happy to have a way to so quickly sell the property.
Sunday afternoon driving is another great way to get addresses on a list. Look for properties that are for sale, abandoned or otherwise distressed. You may also want to note any houses that have “for sale by owner” signs.
Probably the easiest way to develop a list is to go to a list broker. They will create lists for you based on desired criteria. Addresses within a specific zip code, families within an age or income range, Home values and a wide variety of data points used for filtering will provide you with a higher quality list of leads and save you time.
Price for these services must always factor into your bottom line. Pricing for list broker services will be based on the complexity of your list filtering criteria.
Direct mail marketing to your lists, starts out slowly. You may get some calls from the first mailing. But, by the 5th or 7th mailing, you are receiving qualified and interested parties.The endgame is to mail enough times and with consistency, that you are generating leads regularly. Do not stop mailing out when you only received one or two calls in the beginning. It takes time for someone to become familiar with you from their mailbox.Your campaign will need time to grow and be nurtured by consistently mailing prospects every month. As you begin to touch the same prospects over and over again throughout the year, you will begin to build a critical mass.
At Everest Direct Mail and Marketing, we can provide highly-targeted mailing lists for your direct mail campaign. We base the lists we aggregate for you on your desired zip code or general area and the types of prospects you’d like to target for mailing. Our mailing lists are highly reliable and contain the most up-to-date addresses as provided by the United States Postal Service. And best of all - our mailing list costs are some of the most affordable out there! No high per-record fees or hidden charges.
We also offer the service to run your mailing lists through an NCOA Update, which takes the names and addresses in your lists, scrubs it again the available USPS data, and updates all your records with appropriate forwarding addresses, as well as appending Zip+4 codes. We pride ourselves in providing mailing lists that are highly accurate - resulting in less return mail, fewer wasted material costs and spoiled postage - and ensuring your direct mail gets delivered to the right house every time!
