One of my favorite small business lead generation strategies is to define a mailing list for a target market as narrowly as possible, with the intent of getting that list to a very small number. Once you do this, knowing that most anyone on the list is a good suspect, you can possibly more easily afford to mail to this list multiple times.

This strategy assumes that you have some goals in mind in terms of how many leads and clients you need to generate from your marketing activities.

If you only need 10-12 new clients this quarter, then you are looking to carve out a list of maybe 500 very defined members a mailing list. If you want 100 leads a month, your list might need to be 5000. The point though is to work hard on gaining the trust of that narrow list instead of sprinkling a little bit of marketing dust on the universe.

The somewhat hard part of this equation can be finding a good way to narrow your list. Most direct marketing pros will tell you to work with a list broker. A list broker is someone who sorts and resells lists from various publications and organizations. In some cases you could just go get this list from the owner, but a good list broker should have some history on lists that work, how to get the best deal and where to find the best list for your specific needs. Like any resource the trick is to find a good broker.

Bob Bly, author and copywriting genius has a list of list brokers that he uses and recommends. This would be a good place to start your search. Before you pick up the phone and contact a broker make sure that you can tell them what your marketing goals are, what you intent to send and, most importantly, as much detail as possible about your target prospect.

In a recent issue of the Early to Rise newsletter, Bob Bly, marketing expert and author of 60 books on business, advises that business owners should forget everything they have been told about using a business card and adopt what he calls and anti-business card strategy. As is generally the case, I agree with Bob to a degree

From the Newsletter
1. Don’t worry about what you put on your business card. It doesn’t matter.
2. Don’t carry business cards or hand them out to people.

Instead, do the following …

• When a prospect asks you, “Do you have a business card?” say, “I don’t have any on me. But give me yours, and I will put one of mine in the mail to you.”
• Then, in conversation, qualify the prospect and find out his needs. When you get back to your office, send him the appropriate catalog, brochure, or other relevant literature on your products or services. Enclose one of your business cards with these marketing materials – fulfilling the promise you made to send it.

Much of what Bob says in this article is dead on. People spend a lot of time fretting over something that probably doesn’t get them much.

But, here’s one place where I differ with Bob on this issue.

What if you printed an offer on your business card and gave it away like a powerful direct mail piece – now, somehow, I think even Bob would have trouble arguing with that use. Create a free newsletter, report or audio download and promote that on your business card and you will have one great way to use a business card.

You should really make a point of stopping by Bob Bly’s blog too!