What are some tips for building an effective list?
The first and most obvious approach is to ask yourself the question “Who is my ideal customer?” Keeping that person in mind, you can use geographic criteria to first determine the physical areas you wish to target, and then drill down to the specific type of customer you’re looking for using demographic criteria. You can use the demographic criteria to narrow your list based on everything from income to home ownership to hobbies and interests. One effective marketing strategy is to do a few “test” runs, marketing to a small number of people using certain criteria. If the test run garners favorable results, you can increase the quantity (or geographic range) of your list to reach a wider audience with subsequent mailings. If the test run fails to meet your expectations, you can alter the criteria until you get the results you want, and then widen your audience.
