Using SRDS to Identify and Market to Unique Marketing Niches

Are you looking for a unique niche to cut down on your competition? Do you want to reach people your online competitors will usually never think to reach? Would you like to be able to reach them quickly and efficiently through direct mail and point them to a website that tells your prospect everything they might possibly want to know?

The SRDS may be just the key you're looking for. "SRDS" means "Standard Rate and Data Service". Now in the Web 2.0 era, it's online but there's still a print version that you can find in major libraries. Consider it your catalog of highly specific mailing lists.

The web link for direct marketers wanting to access SRDS or learn more about it is:

http://www.srds.com/frontMatter/ips/directmarketing/index.html

Annual unlimited use of the online resource is expensive - $649. That's why you may want to check nearby libraries to see if you can look at it for free. Alternatively, local economic development offices may have a government subscription that they'll use to look up the information for you. Using SRDS achieves a result that's a bit like doing keyword research on the internet.

Using keyword tools you'll find specific keywords that get a decent amount of traffic but don't have lots of competition. Using the SRDS is like that because you are seeking unique niches - like farmers who raise Boer Goats for example.

Years ago one network marketer who was trying to reach people interested in losing weight really wanted the mailing list of Weight Watchers participants. That wasn't available so he did the next best thing. He went to the SRDS to find an alternative. He found a direct mail list of women buying plus size pantyhose through direct mail. That list worked like a charm.

The SRDS tells you how many direct mail addresses are available. Instead of just telling you who might be searching for your term, you find where to get access to their name and address so you can send a post card or other mailing piece which tells them how to do business with you. Your job is to identify your market, create a direct mail piece that sells or sends people to your website to make the sale.

The key to using SRDS effectively is testing. A basic test of direct mail usually involves a 5000 to 10000 piece mailing. That's why the SRDS is so popular - you're renting lists with a proven interest and willingness to spend money on a particular topic. If that mailing makes money, the SRDS lets you find other similar lists within your niche so that you can take the "winning" direct mail piece and mail it again and again to new prospects to keep the sales flowing!