The list welcome message is the email that goes out to someone automatically and immediately once you add their email address to your list. They’re often marketing disasters…using technical jargon to simply state that address X was added to List Y. Not very engaging.

The reason they’re so bad is that they usually get set up as an afterthought, or they simply feature the pre-programmed message that the email delivery service offers as a default.

Have you ever used Google Maps or Yahoo Local to find a restaurant nearby? If so, you’ve used one of the most powerful online tools available to large and small businesses. The completeness, accuracy, and consistency of this data–called local listings–can turn into a gold mine if the information is managed properly.

So, why are local listings so important?

When a business begins, its executives must think about what population the business’ services and products can best help. The chosen population is known as the target market. Marketing and advertising initiatives are then geared towards intriguing the target market. Smaller businesses may not have a lot of resources to spend searching for the desired market, so smaller businesses utilize direct marketing leads or targeted lists.

If there is one thing I can’t say enough about, it is that the most important part of your mailing campaign is your mailing list. It is vital that you put the right amount of energy into learning about lists – who to mail to – so that your mailing efforts aren’t wasted. There are a few different ways that you can get an adequately, targeted list.