Meeting Planners – Buy and Sell with Direct Mail Lists

Meeting Planners - Buy and Sell with Direct Mail ListsDirect Mail Lists

Meeting planners – almost every industry holds meetings, association conventions, or shows of some sort to share the latest information, technology, and products specific to its type of work. Although these can be grand things with hundreds of tables in a vast convention hall, the smaller types of meetings or presentations given inside the walls of a corporation require meeting planners as well.

These people who organize such events have a huge amount of decisions to make. They need to buy the right products and services to make each one go smoothly, and they want to sell whatever is being presented to other businesses or consumers. One of the best and most popular ways to do so is through the design of a compelling postcard, letter, or email and sending it out to highly targeted direct mail lists.

Why Market to Meeting Planners?

In the realm of business to business marketing, meeting planners understand all the ins and outs of attracting attention and putting an offer in front of the right people. At association conventions, they need to design a booth or table and presentation to both capture the eye and the mind and provide the right information and offer to make a positive impression, get a sale or a signup, and gather the name and contact information of the interested party. They are great influencers when it comes to industry sales and services.

These abilities and practices translate well into postal or email marketing efforts. Meeting planners use a direct mail list gathered at an event or conference to send out letters, postcards, or emails to interested people and businesses. If you represent a company or organization whose ideal target audience includes these meeting planners, getting a direct mail list of them makes sense. Because a large part of their business depends on postal mail or email contacts after the presentation is given at an event, direct mail can capture their attention easily. Marketing to meeting planners, after all, can get your product or service in front of not only them but also every other person who walks by their table or booth at an association convention or another event.

How Meeting Planners Market to Businesses Effectively

A meeting planner involved in small events either within the bounds of a particular corporation or with a small contingent of outside representatives often use direct mail, often through email servers alone, to attract the attention of people who should be interested in what the meeting is about. It is their job to get people there in those seats around the long table or logging on to a virtual meeting program over the computer.

Those meeting planners who focus on larger gatherings such as an association convention or conference can use both email and postal direct mail to not only get people to the event but also to create more chances of profit as a result of it. The tabletop or booth presentation is just one facet of the entire marketing plan. Gathering contact information is the key to these affairs so that additional marketing to the company or organization can occur at a later date.

The booth or table has room for product displays, demonstrations, textual information or even a video screen, and a sign-up book or tablet laid out to collect that all-important contact information. Various types of printed material that could double as direct mail pieces are often displayed on a table at these events. These could be postcards, brochures, or flyers.

The Influence of Association Convention Events

Every year, more than 50,000 conventions, conferences, shows, and meeting events take place all around the globe. Various sources put the number in the United States alone at around 13,000. These span industries as varied as medicine to construction, video games to fashion. Many are centered on particular organizations or associations people sign up for membership with. These association convents are the perfect place to market to a highly targeted and already hungry crowd of professionals and business representatives who are eager to find new offers, services and products.

In the realm of B2B marketing, association conventions are one of the top influencers that convince companies to buy, signup, or contact others for more information. In the large, crowded convention hall or meeting, room, these meeting planners, and representatives do not have the time or privacy to strike deals and make sales.

So how do meeting planners who organize association convention presentations or booths find this business to business success for the long term? They collect and use the contact information of as many people that walk by the booth as possible, organized into a concise direct mail list of eager postal or email recipients.

How to Choose the Best Meeting Planner Direct Mail List

If your company or organization has some product or service that would be of interest to these meeting planners who influence other companies and professional so much, you need to start with a direct mail list specifically targeted to the proper group. Because these people can be involved in any industry or specialization, it might be more effective to target them based on that criteria. An organization of convention meeting planners, presenters, and attendees might also help.

Whether you are one of the many professional meeting planners who present new products, companies, or information to the industry-specific audience or a company representative or marketing team who wants to market to these planners, it is vital to get the best direct mail list possible. These should focus on a particular industry or niche if possible because just marketing to all meeting planners makes little sense if some are planning booths for comic book expos and others are organizing a showcase of the latest medical technology. Those who run companies that offer meeting planning and association convention design and setup for a vast array of niches may benefit from direct mail focus on display items, printing, or similar products.

Association ConventionBecause meeting planners are so influential when it comes to presenting new offers to people already highly interested in a particular industry, it makes sense to include them in your company’s marketing efforts. Through direct mail, advertisers and the meeting planners themselves can find new levels of lead generation, profits, and success.

David James

President, Bethesda List Center, Inc + Bethesda Emedia Marketing.