Where do you go to buy mailing lists? I'm looking at doing a direct mailing to seniors. I know I'm late, but I'm going to try to get the procrastinators business.

While I'm interested in the replies - I know that the service I use to send out my html emails doesn't allow purchased lists.

I've heard varying things about how to get in front of seniors, and I know I saw some posts on here about it. One thing that a friend of mine who shoots seniors in Texas told me is that she calls the school and gets that information!

I find that really really hard to believe, but that's apparently ok in either the area she's in, or Texas in general. I can't imagine being ballsy enough to walk into the office and say "oh hey, can I have the addresses of all your seniors? Thanks!"

I dunno.... interested to see what's said on this one...

Roz

When I worked in marketing direct mailing was always the most expensive and least effective form of communication. Since you are looking to get the folks that are procrastinating seniors, a good percentage of the folks you will get from those lists have already had their senior portraits taken, and a lot of those gorgeous marketing pieces are going to end up in the trash. A ridiculous amount, somewhere between 70 and 90% goes directly to the circular filing cabinet.

Obviously, I do not want to bash your idea, but could I suggest purchasing some ad space on Facebook instead? Or Roz's idea of trying to get a email list mailing list instead (parents & teens). That way you can at least track follow through and see how many people are actually looking at promotion. Both may be more cost effective, and definitely going to be seen by a lot more folks.

I've used infousa.com

I put in a search for homes in my area that were worth 500,000 or more (high for this area), had an income of xxxx (can't remember what), were married and had kids ages 7 and under, and lived in certain zip codes.

It spit out about 1250 names and addresses.

I put together very nice 5x5 trifold brochures that included info when the spring sessions were, but were mostly an emotional piece.

I got about 25 responses with 3 bookings that were a direct result of that. Not as many as I'd hoped, but the great thing was that they purchased more than my average client did and they referred me to many people because people often travel in social circles with similar incomes.

It definitely paid off, but not immediately. The thing with marketing is that a consumer has to see your brand an average of 5-7 times to actually take action. You have to be consistent and actually have a marketing plan. Otherwise, you are just wasting your money.

search for the shotshot here on OSP -
And read this thread:
http://www.opensourcephoto.net/forum/index...otshot&st=0

Thanks for the info. This is going to be a part of a broader marketing plan. I have a long range plan of getting my name and brand out there. I completely agree, you have to be seen 5-7 times for credibility.