Direct Mail
How Agencies and Printers Can Add Audience Data to Their Services
Clients already ask agencies and printers where to get a list. How to offer audience data, file processing and analysis without building a data department.
AVS Leads · · 3 min read
If you run an agency, a print shop or a mail house, your clients already ask where to get a list. Some ask you to fix the list they have. Answering those questions well is an opportunity; answering them badly can put the whole job at risk.
Why clients bring data questions to you
You are the partner closest to the campaign. When a client plans a mailing, the audience is part of the conversation whether or not data is on your service menu. If you can't help, they go to a self-service site and hand you whatever comes back.
What you can offer without building a data department
- Counts for proposals. Show a client how many prospects match their market before they commit.
- Custom audiences. Consumer, business, specialty and resident lists built around each client's geography and criteria.
- File processing. Merge/purge, CASS and NCOA on the files clients send you, so jobs don't stall on bad data.
- Mailing data preparation. Walk sequence append and files in the format your production team requires.
- Insight. Penetration and response analysis that give your targeting recommendations evidence behind them.
How a data partnership typically works
You keep the client relationship. The data partner builds counts and files to your specifications and delivers them to you or directly to your production team. Questions go through you, or directly to the data team when that's faster. How you package and price data for your clients is your decision.
What to look for in a data partner
- People you can call while a job is live
- Postal knowledge, not just list access
- Willingness to work with messy client files
- Clear licensing terms you can explain to clients
- Delivery in your layouts and on your schedule
Getting started
Bring the next client request that involves an audience or a file. We will scope it with you and show you what the process looks like. See how we work with agencies and printers and mailers.
General information only. Postal standards and legal requirements change; confirm current rules before each campaign. Questions? Talk to a data expert.