Your mailing list is a vital aspect of your direct mail marketing campaign. You can’t design an appealing offer or create a great piece without knowing who you are mailing to. You also risk alienating prospects and wasting time and money when you send pieces to the wrong audience. The wrong mailing list can make or break your campaign’s success. Let’s learn more about mailing lists and how they can help your next campaign.
Mailing List 101
A perfect mailing list is an essential tool you need for your direct mail campaign to be successful. Every organization has an audience that best fits its mission. Sending direct mail to people who are not within your intended audience will result in both wasted time and wasted money for your marketing budget.
There are three main groups of people who you should target with your direct mail marketing. Each group needs a marketing message that’s specific to them. You want your marketing recipient to read your message and think it was written just for them. You need to define who your mail needs to reach to generate leads.
Here are the three main types of mail lists and what details are on each list.
Your House Member List
Your house member list consists of your existing membership base. They are the people who have already committed to your organization. They are either a donor or a volunteer, which is why they are incredibly important. If they donated once, they are likely to give again. The same is true of volunteers. Marketing to your existing members should frequently happen because you want to maintain a close relationship with them. Making sure your house list is up to date is very important because you want to mail content to the right address each time.
Your HOUSE Prospect List
Your house prospect list includes prospects who have inquired about your organization and its services in the past. This group has expressed a level of interest in your organization. But they have not decided to become a member yet. They are the group most likely to respond to an exclusive marketing proposition because they already reached out to you with some interest. You can never run out of prospects. Make sure your offer is excellent so you can turn prospects into devoted members.
Your Prospect List
The last group of people is composed of prospective members who have never had communication with you. The reason they haven’t contacted you is that they don’t know you exist yet. If your targeted marketing list is selected correctly and you make an offer that any reasonable person will find difficult to refuse, then your response rate will be high. By understanding the needs of these three groups, you can craft relevant, effective marketing messages for each group. If you market repetitively to each group, you will generate a more extensive base of members and new prospects, and grow your organization with consistent, fresh leads.
Mailing List Offer Tip
You can test different offers to discover the most potent message. By sending a different offer to random portions of your mailing list, you can see which offer is the best. Go with your best offer until you find one that’s more appealing to your audience. As you try different offers and different campaigns, you will more easily optimize your results. Use the better offer and then try to beat it in your next mailing. Eventually, you will should see increasingly better response rates.
Making a Mailing List with Valtim
Valtim can help you determine your target audience and build a mailing list around them. Once you have the right mailing list, you can design the rest of your message and materials around the receivers. You can mail to the same group again with a slightly different message and still see beneficial results. Use a successful mailing list until it no longer pays its way. Then when you need a new list, Valtim can help you establish an updated house list, prospect list, or assist with segmenting your audience for a targeted mailing list.
Contact Valtim to learn more about mailing lists and see how we can help get you started with the perfect mailing list.
