Count On Coffey

By Sherilee Coffey, VP of Client Experience

You've written the articles, selected the photos and approved the design. Now comes another important decision: Who should receive your publication?

The right mailing list can help your healthcare organization reach more of the people who are likely to benefit from your services. But the best choice depends on what you want your publication to accomplish.

Start with your audience

Before selecting a list, clarify your campaign goal. Are you trying to:

• Build awareness throughout your service area?
• Introduce your organization to new residents?
• Promote a service to a particular age group?
• Reconnect with patients, donors or other existing audiences?
• Reach every household in a specific community?

Your answers will help determine how broadly—or precisely—you need to target your mailing.

3 types of mailing lists to consider

1. Consumer mailing lists

Consumer lists include individual names and home addresses gathered and maintained by professional data providers. They may also offer household information, such as:

• Age range.
• Estimated income.
• Homeownership.
• Household composition.
• Length of residence.

These selections can help you focus your mailing on households that align with a campaign's goals.

For example, an organization promoting maternity services might want to reach households within a particular age range. A campaign introducing services at a new clinic might focus on people living within a defined radius.

Consumer lists are especially useful when you want the publication addressed to a specific person rather than simply to the household.

2. Resident or geographic lists

Resident lists focus on addresses rather than individual names. Mail may be addressed to "Resident," "Local Postal Customer" or another general description.

These lists can be built around geographic areas such as ZIP codes, neighborhoods or postal carrier routes.

Some options also allow broad, route-level selections based on factors such as household income, age or dwelling type.

A resident list may be the right choice when your goal is widespread community awareness. It can help you reach nearly every household in a selected area while keeping list and postage costs relatively low.

The U.S. Postal Service also offers Every Door Direct Mail, which allows organizations to reach addresses along selected carrier routes without purchasing an individual name-and-address list.

3. Your organization's own lists

Your most valuable audiences may already have a relationship with your organization. Depending on the publication and its purpose, you may want to include lists of:

• Patients.
• Donors.
• Employees.
• Volunteers.
• Foundation supporters.
• Community partners.

These records can be combined with a rented list to expand your reach. Before mailing, the files should be merged, cleaned and deduplicated so the same household does not receive unnecessary duplicate copies.

Address hygiene can also include standardizing addresses and checking them against National Change of

Address records to improve deliverability and reduce wasted printing and postage. The USPS maintains NCOALink, a database of change-of-address information submitted by individuals, families and
businesses.

A thoughtful list supports a stronger campaign

Choosing a mailing list is not simply a production decision. It affects who sees your message, how much the campaign costs and how effectively your publication supports your organization's goals.

Coffey can help you evaluate your audience; compare mailing options; and determine the right combination of geographic, consumer and organizational lists. We can also manage list processing, deduplication, printing and distribution—helping your publication reach the right readers without adding more work for your team.

Categories: Print