Consumer Marketing Strategies: Sizing Your Market With Direct Mail Sites

Submitted By: Michele DeKinder-Smith

Think of how much time and energy it would take to find out exactly how many people in your city or region have a passion for sports and fitness. Or how many of those people are also pet owners, and with household incomes between $50,000 and $200,000 a year.

This kind of information is very valuable, and that's why direct mail websites want you to pay for targeted lists such as the one detailed above. But, what most people don't realize is that simply obtaining the number of people in a given area who fit a certain criteria is also extremely valuable, whether you choose to purchase their contact information or not.

In order to sell you a list, direct mail sites have to tell you the number of leads that will be included on that list. This means these sites can act, in essence, as a free online resource for savvy entrepreneurs looking to size their target market.

There are many ways that sizing a target market can help entrepreneurs make informed business decisions, some of which have been discussed in previous Jane out of the Box articles. This article will focus specifically on how to use information obtainable from direct mail sites such as InfoUSA and MelissaData to minimize risk in terms of new ventures and expansion.

Say you're contemplating starting a new business. You have a concept for an upscale climbing gym in a town where you know there's no shortage of rock-climbing and fitness enthusiasts—but do enough of them make enough money to afford your proposed membership rates? You might want to check out the stats on one of the direct mail sites listed above, under the heading of Consumer Lists, creating a list based on household income $50,000+ and using 'health/diet/fitness' as a category under a tab that represents Hobbies and Interests/Lifestyle Indicators. When you visit MelissaData, for instance, you will find a "Lookup" tab, including a myriad of free lookups to represent certain data, perhaps even the specific target you are seeking. The number you get will give you a good idea of whether there are enough people in your target demographic to get your new business off the ground.

Or, say you own a pet-grooming business with a solid clientele, but have seen flat profits over the last few years. Your customers are always asking you if you know of a good all-natural dog biscuit, so you've considered expanding your business by creating your own dog treats, in-house. You've even had the idea of selling them at other local businesses around town.

Before you sink the time and resources into developing this new business venture, you might want to use InfoUSA to discover how many people in your area have Hobbies and Interests in both 'health/diet/fitness' and 'pets/animals.' After all, this is your target market. Most other pet-owners will just continue to purchase their dog-biscuits at the grocery store.

When you find your results, ask yourself: Is this potential market big enough to justify the funds I would need to float this new business venture? (It makes sense to find out before you move forward—especially if funds are already somewhat tight.)

Let's say you own a nightclub that's doing well in a certain metropolitan area, and you're looking to expand. Before you make a decision on where to locate your next club, it would probably make sense to do a basic demographic search on singles between the ages of 21 and 40 in each of the areas you're considering. The answers you get may confirm your intuition, and they may not. Either way, you'll have the information you need to move forward with seeking the right location to support the people in a given demographic to make your next nightclub equally successful as your first.

There are many more ways you can use direct mail searches to determine the size of your potential market. Once you become familiar with search parameters on each site and put them to work in whatever way best serves your needs, you can continue putting that information to use in making key business decisions.

And, if the time comes when you want to move forward with direct marking to your target demographic, either via phone or direct mail, go ahead and purchase that list from the direct mail site of your choice. It's a great way to thank them for providing such great information, free of charge!