What is a List Broker?
What do they do?
People often ask me, “What is a list broker and what exactly does a list broker do?” and it is a very valid question. When I’m at a dinner party, and someone asks me “What do you do?”, most of the time, most people have never heard of us or what we do.
Our brokers work in the direct marketing industry and act as a middleman between a client who needs a marketing list and the list owner renting their list. There are over 50,000 list owners and list compilers in North America, and the average person would not know where to even start when it comes to choosing a list vendor.
What we will do for you.
In general, we broker direct mailing lists and telemarketing lists but some brokers also manage email campaigns.
Here’s an example of how we work. You have a teeth bleaching product that you have developed and want to sell to dentists. You contact us, and we will typically ask you several questions, such as:
- Who are you trying to reach?
- How do you want to reach them?
- What is your time frame?
- What is your budget?
While you may know a lot about your industry, a good broker also knows an enormous amount about direct marketing lists. They will probably say, “How about reaching dentists with a certain number of employees? And how about dentists in a certain geography? And how about dentists that specialize in cosmetic dentistry?” We will ask all sorts of questions to narrow your target market down as much as possible.
A good broker should not be trying to sell you the most extensive list. We will try to get you a very targeted list so that your marketing campaign will be successful.
We are there for you before, during and after your marketing campaign. Throughout the research phase, your broker will initially work for free until they find you precisely what you want.
We don’t own databases and lists. Therefore, we can remain impartial and recommend what list will truly work for you. We work for you and no one else, and that’s how we will always have your best interests in mind.
