List Management...

Midwest Direct Marketing, Inc., is recognized nationally for aggressive, personalized list management services. With an experienced and proactive sales staff, and utilizing a network of more than 3,000 list brokers and mailers, we actively promote the rental and exchange of your list while preserving your valuable relationship with your customer. Whether your primary objective is to generate additional income or gain access to competitive lists, we skillfully guide you through the process.

Few list management firms have expertise in multiple markets. Due to our years of experience, we have worked in virtually every market that utilizes a customer base. From Agriculture to Equine, Pet to Apparel, Collectibles, Travel, Fundraising, Automotive, Credit and Finance and Outdoor Activities, our 250+ managed properties span the marketing universe of catalogs, magazines, non-profit organizations, and business-to-business direct mail and telemarketing.

In addition:

  • We telemarket and make personal presentations to list brokers, direct mail agencies and major mailers who should be testing your list.
  • We evaluate selections and price structures and recommend the best way to market your list successfully.
  • We promote your list through direct mail, electronic media, space advertising, broadcast fax promotion, broadcast email promotions and by attending major industry trade shows and conferences.
  • We schedule your list's use to ensure that each mailer has the best opportunity for success and you enjoy maximum income.
  • We follow up on all list tests to determine results and book continuation orders.
  • We encourage re-testing of your list with different selections if test results are marginal. Through Consumer Demographic Overlay, we have the ability to offer additional selections to those provided on the list's source file.
  • We increase list security by seeding each list rental with decoy names and monitoring the mail dates.
  • Through our negotiations with nationally respected service bureaus, list hygiene including CASS Certification, Address Correction, Duplicate Elimination and Merge/Purge for updates are all included free of charge with the initial list load and sequential updates.
  • We bill and collect all list rentals.
  • We pay list owners weekly rather than monthly.
  • We provide you with detailed reports on all list rental activity.
  • Nationwide household overlay results are shared with you to enhance your own marketing efforts. These enhancements also allow additional selections to the mailers who rent your list.
  • Our dedication to the accuracy and timely delivery of orders builds good will with brokers and mailers insuring return business.
  • Understanding the value of your house file as an asset with earning potential, we research and identify every possible market to maximize profits to your bottom line.

Over the years, we have acquired and managed lists and programs for many of the leading mailers in the industry including; Valley Vet Supply Catalogs, Meredith Corporation, Country Supply Catalog, ITW Publishing, Heartsong Book Club, American Art Review and Good Dog! Publications to name a few. Numerous clubs, organizations and hundreds of consumer and business magazines and catalogs are also part of our clientele.

List Security

MDM uses the following procedures to insure security of your file:

  • A clearance request is sent to the list owner on every test order (and continuation orders if requested by the owner) for each usage request received by MDM. Clearances and order confirmations are not returned to the broker/mailer until notification of approval or denial is received from our list owner.
  • MDM only recommends service bureaus with state of the art internal security systems. These service bureaus must have locked processing facilities with limited access. We tour the facilities and review the security measures prior to placing any files in their care.
  • We require the service bureau to have an in-house decoy system for tracking seeds on each order fulfilled. Continuous integrity of this system is tested throughout the year.
  • The service bureau must provide proof of insurance. This policy, along with their off-site and back-up procedures, is also reviewed.
  • We recommend to our list owners that they seed their house file. We stress the importance of this and offer our assistance in implementing an in-house decoy system. MDM utilizes several contacts across the United States that report the receipt of seed pieces on a monthly basis. A generic first name is used in the records to avoid being culled in a gender select.
  • Each seed is logged with the receipt date and the mail date. Each mail piece is matched to the originating order for accuracy.