The Truth About Buying a Zip Code Mailing List
Introduction
rnrnYou've got a great idea, and you know it's going to succeed. You just needrnto find the right audience to sell it to. So you do what any good marketerrnwould do: You go online and buy a zipcode mailing list.
Sounds easy enough, right? But before you click "purchase," therernare some things you should know about how these lists work—and how they can bernthe difference between success and failure for your business. Here's what Irnlearned from my own experience with buying mailing lists:
A list of zip codes isn't what you need.
rnrnZip codes are not the final destination when it comes to mailing lists. As arnmarketer, you need to know more than just the zip code (say, 12345) in order torntarget your audience accurately.
You need demographics like:
· rnThe number of households in this zip code
· rnThe number of businesses in this zip code
· rnThe number of residents in this zip code
The best mailing lists use demographic information.
rnrnA zip code mailing list can bernused to get your advertising into the hands of people that live in a particularrnarea. The most effective way to use your zip code mailing list is by targetingrncustomers who live near each other and have similar characteristics. Forrnexample, if you're selling luxury watches, you'll want to find buyers who arernlikely to purchase those products because they live in an affluent neighborhoodrnwith lots of well-to-do residents. These types of people tend to sell theirrnhomes for high prices, so the value of their property would make them primerntargets for your ads about luxury items.
By using demographic information instead of just a zip code, you can targetrnspecific groups based on factors like age range or gender—which means betterrnresults from your marketing campaigns!
You can buy a mailing list, but how do you know if it's any good?
rnrnThe data in a mailing list is often gathered from a variety of sources. So,rnit's important to make sure the company that you're buying from has accountedrnfor this and can provide you with the information about where the data camernfrom.
Look for lists that have been cleaned and validated. In other words, ifrnthere are people on the list who aren't your target audience, their informationrnshould be removed.
Additionally, look for lists that are regularly updated and backed by arnquality customer service team. This will ensure your emails reach theirrnintended recipients every time!
What's the difference between purchasing a mailing list and buying data?
rnrnWhen buying a mailing list, you’re basically paying to have your name andrnaddress added to the bottom of a stack of letters. This is fine if you want tornsend promotional materials, but it’s not going to help you if you want peoplernwho are interested in what you have to offer.
If there's one thing that separates great marketers from those who aren'trnsuccessful at all, it's their ability to prepare great offers for theirrnreaders. No matter how hard they work on the actual marketing piece itself (thernad), they can still make mistakes with their list by not targeting peoplerncorrectly or asking them questions about themselves before sending out anrnoffer. This will lead them down an expensive path because they'll waste moneyrnon unqualified leads again and again until finally giving up altogether whenrntrying new things doesn't work either (which happens all too often).
Conclusion
rnrnIf you're looking for a mailing list, you need to make sure that it's highrnquality and accurate. You can do this by finding a company that usesrndemographic information (such as age and gender), rather than just zip codes.rnWhen buying data from one of our partners, like Acxiom or Experian, you'll getrnaccess to over 80 million records so there will be no question about what kindrnof people are receiving your message.