Hello,
I would like to try a small direct mail campaign for my new business, and am thinking about purchasing a mailing list from one of the companies who specialize in this, but could use some advice from someone who has some experience with direct mail.
My questions:
1) After doing some research, I am unclear as to roughly how much these lists should cost. I tried an online estimator on one site, and the "quote" they gave me for purchasing a list of addresses was several thousand dollars!! (That wasn't for sending out the postcards, JUST a list download.) That seemed really high to me, but then again, I've never done anything like this before.
2) Are there companies that specialize in niche business address lists? As an example, say I have a company that specializes in physical therapy for recreational athletes (which is not what I do, by the way!) Instead of doing a mass mailing to the general public and hoping to hit a few of these people, I want to send postcards/flyers to the places they frequent--sporting goods stores, gyms, etc. Is there a company who could sell me a list of sporting goods stores within, say, 60 miles of my zip code? So far all I've found are services that specialize in niches like senior citizens, etc., and not in specific types of businesses.
3) Is paying for these lists even worth it, or am I better off just using Google and compiling lists myself? This will be a smallish campaign (probably under 1000 pieces total) just to test the waters, but finding information for all of those businesses would still be time-consuming.
Any advice?
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