Posted by: keegan (155 posts)
March 9, 200512:06 AM

To properly promote oneself, you need a solid mailing list. Years ago, I had spent many an afternoon at Barnes & Noble with a foot-high stack of magazines scouring the infitesmal type of the masthead for the names of art directors and designers to send postcards to. Well, often by the time the magazine hits the stands, the AD has moved on to greener pastures and your postcard hits the trash can. The best way by far, is to buy (technically rent) a mailing list from a direct marketing firm.

Companies like Creative Access and Adbase spend a lot of time keeping fresh lists of all the people who will make you a star. You need to lay out a good chunk of change, but you gotta spend money to make money. I have used Creative Access in the past, which I found pretty good. Then I stumbled across Adbase. They cull their list from the same folks who receive American Showcase (same company), so they have a good established, targeted group.

For $1,095 (periodic installment plan thankfully available!) you get one year of access to their North American list, which is the whole enchilada. Send as many things to as many people as you want on that list for a year. Adbase's online list builder (you get access to this after signing up with them) allows you to build an incredibly customized list, down to the names of individuals. Once your list is set, it generates a PDF for you which you can then print onto standard Avery labels. This is very good stuff. Often using other companies' lists, I would have to decide if Playgirl Magazine, or perhaps Cattleman's Quarterly would be interested in my services. Now with Adbase, you can filter the list to just the places you want. No wasted postage, or wasted labels.

They have a free trial available(click here). When I did my free trial (which totally sold me on the service), they offered me free use of 500 names that I could pick myself. That was a pretty awesome deal. See if they will offer it again. They also offer cheaper, more limited market lists.

This is a pretty crucial piece of the pie for promotion. Make sure you check them out.

Link: http://www.adbase.com