Direct Magazine's recent Broker Roundtable asked the following questions of leading mailing list brokers:
* What's the biggest change you have seen to the brokerage profession in the past five years?
* What newer skills are needed to succeed? 
You can see the full article online. Here's a summary of the participants' answers.
Heather Cantley of Infocus Marketing
Biggest change: More and more mailers are looking to their list broker for solid recommendations on more than just lists.
Newer skills needed: Today’s list broker needs to be more educated regarding new rules, new regulations and new marketing strategies. Mailers need to feel confident that their list broker has their best interest in mind and will spend their marketing dollars in the most effective way possible.
Greg Branstetter of Hippo Direct
Biggest change: The widespread lack of new postal lists of direct mail buyers which a broker can recommend to clients, as well as the declining quantities of available names on the lists which mailers have been using for years.
Newer skills needed: The newer skills needed to succeed are mostly Internet-related. Today's broker needs adaptability and a willingness to learn new ways to help clients find new customers with traditional direct mail as well as online marketing, inbound marketing and social media.
Geoff Batrouney of Estee Marketing Services
Biggest change: The rise of social media and 24/7 connectivity between people, network members, companies and organizations. Twitter and Facebook are the new "high frequency direct-to-consumer" media of choice.
Joe Borellli of Borelli Direct Marketing
Newer skills needed: The skills needed to succeed have and will always be the same: Be smart, efficient and diligent; continue to learn; and above all, treat and respect every client as if they were your only customer, and always do what is in their best interest.
Medical association mailing lists are among 
the most responsive marketing methods
used by our list broker clients. The Hippo
Direct website contains datacards for the
most popular lists of doctors and medical
business administrators.
We also have ordered lists from dozens of leading healthcare association lists which are not widely promoted. Contact Greg Branstetter via email at gbhippo@hippodirect.com
for details on any of these medical association lists:
Academy Health
American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
American Academy of Audiology
American Academy of Dermatology
American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation AAPM&R
American Association for Cancer Research
American Association of Feline Practitioners
American Association for Homecare
American Association for Study of Liver Disease AASLD
American Association of Zoo Veterinarians
American Board of Quality Assurance and Utilization Review Physicians
American Botanical Council
American College of Cardiology
American College of Chest Physicians
American College of Medical Genetics
American College of Medical Quality
American College of Obstetrics and Gynocology
American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine ACVIM
American College of Veterinary Surgeons
American Gastroenterological Association
American Holistic Veterinary Medical Assocation
American Medical Directors Association
American Medical Group Association
American Occupational Therapy Association
American Pediatric Society APS Society for Pediatric Research SPR
American Physical Therapy Association APTA
American Physiological Society
American Public Health Association APHA
American Roentgenology Ray Society
American Society of Addiction Medicine
American Society on Aging
American Society of Anesthesiologists
American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation ASBMT
American Society for Clinical Investigation
American Society of Colon & Rectal Surgeons
American Society of Echocardiography
American Society of Gene Therapy
American Society of Hematology
American Society of Human Genetics
American Society of Neurorehabilitation ASNR
American Society of Nuclear Cardiology
American Society of PeriAnesthesia Nurses ASPAN
American Society of Pharmacognosy
American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
American Society of Plastic Surgeons
American Society for Reproductive Medicine
American Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology ASVCP
American Thoracic Society
Association of Community Cancer Centers
Association of Emergency Physicians
Association for Healthcare Resource & Materials Management Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse Association for Molecular Pathology
Association of Reproductive Health Professionals
Association of Reptilian and Amphibian Veterinarians
Association for Research in Otolaryngology
Association of Veterinary Practice Management Consultants & Advisors
Health Care Compliance Association
Health Physics Society
Heart Failure Society
Heart Rhythm Society
Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association
Infectious Diseases Society of America
International Society for Cellular Therapy
International Society for Quality of Life Research ISOQOL
National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers
National Association of Community Health Centers
National Association of County & City Health Officials
National Association of Healthcare Access Management
National Association for Healthcare Quality
National Association of Occupational Health Professionals
National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners
National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors
National Association of Veterinary Technicians in America
National Home Infusion Association
National Society of Genetic Counselors
North American Society for Cardiovascular Imaging
Research Society on Alcoholism
Society for Adolescent Medicine
Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons SAGES
Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions
Society for Epidemiologic Research
Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America SHEA
Society for Healthcare Strategy & Market Development
Society for Hospital Medicine SHM
Society for Industrial Microbiology
Society for Medical Decision Making
Society for Neuroscience
Society for Risk Analysis
Society for Social Work Leadership in Health Care
Society of Toxicology
Substance Abuse Librarians & Information Specialists SALIS
Veterinary Cancer Society VCS
Veterinary Emergency and Critical Care Society
Hippo Direct clients market to a wide variety of business professionals and consumers using email and postal lists. During the past week, we helped marketing managers reach these targets for their upcoming campaigns:
Business and Finance administrators at colleges and universities
Business Management seminar attendees
CEOs and top executives at nonprofit organizations
College Alumni Affairs executives
College Development and Fundraising executives
College Distance Learning faculty and administrators
College Education Faculty who teach future teachers
College Human Resource and Personnel Directors
College Nursing Department Chairs
Deans of Nursing
Dentists by specialty
Dentists who work for government agency
Development Officers at nonprofit organizations
Ergonomics professionals and consultants
Financial Aid Directors at colleges and universities
High School Coaches
International College Administrators and Faculty
IT and Technology executives at colleges and universities
Lobbying and Government Relations executives at colleges
Managers at business address
Mechanical Engineers
Medical Malpractice Attorneys
Motivational Products buyers
Occupational Health & Safety professionals
Occupational Health Nurses
Pediatricians
Periodontists and Prosthodontics in private practice
Project Managers in Hospitals and Healthcare companies
Public Relations executives at colleges and universities
Rehabilitation Counselors
Safety Engineers
Student Affairs administrators at colleges and universities
We can help you reach your target market, too. Contact Greg Branstetter at gbhippo@hippodirect.com for a rapid response!
Hippo Direct clients market to a wide variety of business professionals and consumers using email and postal lists. Last week we helped marketing managers reach these targets for their upcoming promotional campaigns:
* All active US dentists
* Attorneys who specialize in Intellectual Property or Patents or Trademarks
* College professors who teach courses in Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Physics, Engineering faculty
* College Presidents by enrollment size of their university
* Consumers at home address by age, marital status and household income
* Corporate counsel who specialize in these areas of practice: Corporate Law, Employee Benefits, Labor/Employment, Workers Compensation
* Dentists by year which their military service ended
* Dentists who are practice owners
* Diversity professsionals and senior human resources executives
* Donors to international poverty causes
* Employee benefits executives and senior senior human resources executives who make decisions re corporate wellness programs
* European hospital executives
* Executives at pet food manufacturing and pet food marketing companies
* Healthcare Design decisionmakers such as Architects, Facilities Manager/Planner, Construction Manager/Project Manager, Chief Engineer
* Individuals with hearing ailments
* Licensed Medical Professionals
* Medical School Deans
* Paralegals by state
* Periodontists by state
* Pharmaceutical and biotech executives at companies in Central America, Caribbean, and South America
* Runners magazine subscribers
* Running event participants
We can help you reach your target market, too. Contact Greg Branstetter at gbhippo@hippodirect.com for a rapid response!
Earlier this week the GroundHippo surfaced again. Unlike other prickly predictors such as Punxsutawney Phil and Buckeye Chuck, the GroundHippo forecasts business climate.
Speaking in his native French, GroundHippo said "Les bonnes choses arriver à ceux qui les recherchent!"
Which translates to "Good things happen to those that seek them!"
I agree. In my work as mailing list broker I see lots of pent-up demand producing good results for those clients who are actively using postal and email lists; and for those marketers who are aggressively sending promotional emails to their customers and prospects.
One of my favorite aspects of direct marketing is that you can repeat the results to your best performing lists. Just like Bill Murray's character in the movie "Groundhog Day", once you've identifed your core group of successful lists, you can mail again and again to the same lists and expect similar results.
Target Marketing Magazine recently published an article by
Stefanie Pont called "
The List Broker's Role in Media Planning".
Stefanie described several good examples of the benefits of sharing marketing plans among a company's media ad buyers, list brokers, and ecommerce interactive marketing staff, including:
* When online ads are working well, then the list broker can order mailing list or email list from the same source.
* Marketers can save money with coordinated purchases across all mediums by having their advertising (print and online) and mailing lists (postal and email) all qualify for volume discount pricing.
* Some customer groups respond better to postal than online offers. Instead of giving up on a site where a banner ad failed, perhaps the marketer can get good results to same audience with a postal mailing.
I'll add a few more reasons to share marketing intelligence between your business departments and marketing vendors:
* Marketing ideas can be quickly tested with online banner ads, mobile marketing, or email marketing. Then the results of these tests can be incorporated into the next direct mail campaign.
* To create a true multichannel customer database for both internal use, and as a list rental asset.
A few days ago a prospective client asked me, "What's your expertise regarding mailing lists based on?"
The simple answer is experience. And lots of it. I've worked with hundreds of clients who market to dozens of different industries and job functions. The best part of being a list broker is that I get to become an active part of the marketing staff for so many different types of companies.
In his book "Outliers: The Story of Success", Malcolm Gladwell states that a person needs to work 10,000 hours at something to become truly expert.
Since 1986 I've been part of nearly 40,000 mailing list and email list orders. I passed the 10,000 hour mark as a list broker more than a decade ago. And two of my key colleagues at Hippo Direct have a combined 24 years experience working with mailing lists.
With increased experience comes increased specialization. Currently half of our work with clients focuses on postal and email lists in 3 market segments:
1. College Professors and Administrators
2. Dentists and Dental Professionals
3. Top Executives at Nonprofit Organizations
The learning never stops. Especially regarding achieving better results from email lists -- and finding new sources of postal lists. When something works well for one client, we can apply that knowledge to other clients.
We work with many mailers who target niche markets, or are trying to squeeze a few thousand extra names into a marketing campaign plan. The list industry standard for orders is typically 5000 names per list. This means that
Hippo Direct, working in our role as list broker, must find creative ways to get our clients access to the best-performing lists at a reasonable price.
Some of our most successful methods for working around minimum order requirements include:
* Mailer orders 2 or 3 different selections of names from list so that the total names reaches the minimum quantity; and then uses these names for 2 or 3 different mailings.
* Order 2500 names and request that two uses of these 2500 names qualify as one 5000 name minimum order.
* Request permission for a specific reduced minimum order quantity, such as 3000 names rather than a standard 5000 names minimum order.
2 points to consider re use of the strategies:
A. These tips work best for business mailings, as consumer mailing lists generate much larger list quantities. List owners are much more likely to agree to reduce or waive a minimum order when the total available requested quantity from a selection is less than 5000 names.
B. These tips work better for postal list orders than email list orders due to the differences in production costs and message copy testing for email lists.
1. Use a
mailing list broker. You get
free expert marketing research and advice. Plus you can benefit from your broker's relationships with list owners and managers to get special treatment.
2. Save money on mailing list purchases by reusing lists (with owner approval), rather than re-ordering the same list a few months later.
3. Use only postal lists for your prospecting, not email lists. This requires moving your marketing planning ahead a few weeks, but will give you the following benefits:
* more return on investment for your marketing dollars
* access to the best lists for you, rather than just those with email addresses
* reduce list costs by splitting names among multiple offers
* can mail to your best list segments twice per offer
4. Make sure that your postal list of customers and prospects is deliverable at highest level -- and lowest postage rates -- by running list against the USPS national-change-of-address (NCOA) database once per quarter. If you don't have vendor for this service, Hippo Direct can perform NCOA on your lists for a low fee.
5. The best list that you have is your email list of customers and prospects. Hippo Direct can help you better utilize your email list by:
a. reducing transmission costs for your promotional emailings -- we can transmit your emails at a low rate of just a few cents per message.
b. designing and implementing an email newsletter program so that you can constantly educate, inform, and market to your email list of customers and prospects. Costs for this this type of marketing program can be suprisingly low.
c. attracting more registrants to your email list via a more compelling "join our email list" link on your website.
e. review of your email messages and internet "action path" with recommendations to improve email open rates, click thrus, and conversion rates once prospects land on your website.
I've worked as list broker on more than 32,000 list orders since 1992 and continue to be surprised by the lack of direct marketing training at many companies. Every marketer should know these direct mailing lists essentials before ordering any postal or email list.
Many of the rules regarding mailing lists are because list owners must balance the need to protect their most valuable asset (customer list) with making it possible for other marketers to use their list.
Just as some people sleep at night with their doors unlocked -- while others have expensive security systems -- some list owners are more anxious than their peers about letting other mailers use their list.
1. One-Time Use: The standard direct mail list transaction is one where you purchase the right to mail to each name on the list "one-time". This means that you're "renting" use of the names, not "buying" them.
2. Decoy Names: All lists are seeded with decoy names so that the list owner can monitor how their list is being used, and quickly identify any unauthorized usage.
3. Usage Approval: Each list owner must see a copy of your proposed mail piece so that they can approve your use of their list. This is accomplished by providing a copy/draft of the mailing piece which you propose to send to the list. If you expect to split list into two or three segments and send different flyer/brochure to each group, a sample of each version is required for approvals. More than 95% of list requests are approved, but sometimes list owners reject offers which they deem too competitive.
4. List Prices: Mailing list pricing set is determined by the list owner and is typically shown for one-time use and expressed as dollars per thousand names. ($/M) Where flat rate pricing applies, it's expressed as $/F.
5. Minimum Orders: Each list owner sets a minimum order for their list, which is typically 5000 names. You can order less names, but must pay for amount equal to the minimum order quantity.
6. Payment Terms: The industry standard is that first-time mailers to any list are expected to pay for list prior to receiving the list. Subsequent uses of list will be invoiced to mailer with net 30 day terms.
7. What's On The List: Each record on a mailing list contains an individual's name and mailing address; business lists also include company name and job title. The list is usually provided as an ASCII comma-delimited .txt file with each data element as a separate field (first name, last name, title, company name, address, city, state, zipcode.) Some association member lists are available only on labels.
8. 3rd Party Ship To: Some list owners will not send their list directly to the mailer. These owners require that list be sent to the mailer's third-party vendor such as mailhouse, computer service bureau or printer.
9. Reciprocal Rental: Some list owners require the mailer to agree to rent his/her list as condition of receiving the owner's list.
10. Cancellation Charges: Some list owners will charge a fee for cancelled orders. This fee varies depending upon whether or not the list has been output.
11. Guarantees: Results of mailings are not guaranteed. A mailer is guaranteed to receive the list and selections which were ordered.