The New Rules of Lead Generation

Defining Your Target Audience

When you begin a direct mail, e-mail, or cold-calling campaign, you first need to fully define the specifics of your target audience. This is a crucial beginning for any e-mail, direct mail, or cold-calling campaign. Your campaign will not be successful unless you reach the right target customers who have a definite interest in your products or services. Therefore, you need to define your target customers with as much precision and demographic detail as possible.

Once you define your audience, you give these specifics to a list owner, who compiles a list of names and contact information based on your target criteria. A list owner may have an initial list of, say, 500,000 names for a certain category (e.g., pet owners). ...