How to Create a Marketing List

Creating and growing your marketing list are the keys to your business's health and welfare. A high-quality, targeted list can expand your business, while maintaining frequent communications with your customers and contacts. Building such a marketing list can take time, however. Follow the steps below to create your marketing list and see it pay off.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Website (optional)
• Newsletter

7 Steps to a Responsive Marketing List

1. Define your target customers---the people you want to market to. Create a profile of the ideal person who would be interested in your products, services or information. Consider criteria like gender, age, income range, job title, company, industry and interests.

2. Decide whether to purchase a marketing list or to build your own opt-in list. Purchasing a list is certainly a quicker way to capture the names you want, but beware that list sellers may sell you "honey pots"---massive lists containing a hodgepodge of names that may or may not fit your profile. Building your own opt-in list is far more time-consuming but will yield a far greater response.

3. Create a newsletter containing information that your target market is interested in. Even if you plan to market your services or products to the list, you'll get more opt-ins (and fewer opt-outs) if you offer an e-newsletter with useful information that your contacts will actually enjoy reading.

4. Add a "Sign Up for My E-Newsletter" or "Join My Email List" sign-up box on your company's website. You may already get tons of traffic to your website, but are you capturing all of your visitors' email addresses? Probably not---and this is a huge missed opportunity. If someone visits your site, he's likely interested in your products, services or information, and apt to sign up to receive more information.

5. Get existing customers and contacts involved. Ask your contacts and customers for their email addresses and permission to send them your newsletter and other communications. If you have a physical place of business, put a sign-up book at the register counter. Your current customers are the best people to market to, because if they've bought from you before, they're likely to buy again.

6. Give incentives for signing up. Your free e-newsletter may be enough of an incentive, but you can also offer free white papers or a myriad of services.

7. Ask your professional or trade association for their member list. If you belong to an association, gaining access to the member list is often one of your membership benefits. Also, build your marketing list during conferences and trade shows. While you're networking, ask your fellow attendees if you can add them to your list.

Tips & Warnings

• If you do any public speaking or instruction, add your e-newsletter and email list information to the last slide of your PowerPoint presentation. Partner with a business or organization (but not a competitor) that has the same target customer as you. Work together to promote each other's marketing to your contacts and customers.
• Don't bombard your list with advertisements. When you first build your marketing list, take it slow and send only non-promotional newsletters, articles and other information. Ease your contacts into your more sales-focused marketing.

References

• "List Building: The Basics and Beyond," by Gail Goodman

Resources

• "5 Tips for Building a High-Quality List that Leads to Sales," by Dianna Huff