When you should buy, rent or build your own mailing lists

You don’t have to be in the direct mail business to realise that a good mailing list is an essential starting point for any sales and marketing programme.

Whether you’re using the phone, direct mail or email, nothing is more important than a good list, according to direct response consultant Bob McCarthy.

The question is “how do you get a good list?”

You have three choices.  You can buy a list.  You can rent a list.  Or you can build your own list.

Some of the advantages are pretty obvious. Buying seems better than renting because when you own the list, you can mail to it over and over again at no additional cost.

Building a list seems better than the other two options because you can take extra care in what names and addresses you add.   Also, while building a list is time consuming, it can be done at little or no financial cost.

But there are other factors as well.

Bob is a co-founder of McCarthy and King Marketing and a copywriter specialising in lead generation and direct marketing.

Read his expert advice by clicking the download button below.