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Direct Marketing Media Centre Archive
Our archive for 2010 news, press releases and articles. Also see more in our regularly updated direct marketing blog.
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News Release - December 2010
Selectabase offer Free Tools to help with 2011 Marketing Planning
Selectabase are offering small businesses access to a range of free tools to help them research and identify their markets for 2011 as part of their marketing planning for the year ahead.
Many small businesses will be using the end of the year as a useful opportunity to review their marketing efforts in 2010, and make plans for 2011. With marketing resources bound to be in short supply, Selectabase are offering use of a range of free tools to help businesses plan their campaigns more accurately and achieve the best possible results.
All the marketing tools are available free of charge from Selectabase, who specialise in providing targeted and affordable direct marketing and new business solutions for small to medium sized businesses across the UK.
The tools include a free direct mail letter writing tool, which gives a simple step-by- step guide to creating an effective mailing letter for use in direct mail campaigns. The tool takes users through all the stages required to help them write a letter which is more likely to get results, and can be accessed at the Selectabase website.
Also available online is a suite of tools to help identify UK postcodes as part of a direct marketing campaign. It can sometimes be hard to identify exactly which postcodes cover a specific area or region so the free postcode mapping and identification tools from Selectabase are designed to help planners and marketers to identify exactly what postcode areas and sectors exist within their target region, and so improve the targeting and effectiveness of their direct mail campaigns.
Finally, businesses which need to identify the size of their market can register for free with the Prospect Download list service from Selectabase, which then allows them to carry out numerous searches from the Prospect Download databases of businesses and consumers. Searches can be targeted using a wide range of criteria then saved for future reference.
All these valuable marketing planning tools are available completely free from Selectabase.
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News Release -October 2010
How to make the most of the Christmas season with direct mail
Direct mail is the ideal tool to use as part of a Christmas marketing campaign. It gives you complete control over your message, timings and audience at a time when consumers are being bombarded by rival marketing messages.
Consumer direct mails have an established track record. According to data from the Royal Mail, direct mail campaigns promoting mail order to consumers can achieve response rates of 7-8%, well above the norm. Specialist niche shopping sectors can achieve even higher response rates such as 8-9% for luxury goods and 11-12% for gardening and DIY. All these sectors see a massive increase in the use of direct mail over the Christmas period.
Charities can also perform well using direct mail over Christmas, a season when the public’s collective conscience is more likely to result in increased charitable giving. Again, Royal Mail claim high response rates of 10-14% for charitable direct mail campaigns.
If you are planning a Christmas mailing, you need to start your preparations as soon as possible. Firstly, ensure you plan your mailing as part of a properly integrated marketing campaign.
Decide what part direct mail needs to play in achieving your goals. For example are you seeking to generate mail order or telephone sales off the mailer, in which case you need to have your inbound call centre and fulfilment operation on standby.
Perhaps you are looking to use a mailing to drive visitors to your website to convert into e-commerce sales, or to drive physical traffic to your retail outlets where your campaign theme may need to be supported with co-ordinating point of sale or sales promotion,.
You also need to identify the key time to send your campaign so that it will generate the best possible response. Remember that your mailing will be competing with a mass of marketing and brand messages being forced upon the consumer through above the line TV and press advertising, in store merchandising and so on.
If you are looking to generate mail order sales or stimulate e-commerce, you need to plan your mailing early enough for consumers to be reassured of delivery times, yet not too early that they aren’t in a festive frame of mind. If you are aiming to drive retail footfall, you need to work around the peak shopping weekends pre-Christmas.
Plan the targeting and segmentation of your Christmas campaign carefully. Now is the not the time to become highly experimental; test marketing is best left to the rest of the year. At Christmas you need to stick to getting proven sellers in front of potential buyers and presented in an appealing way – make sure your mailing gives your audience what it wants.
For example, if you are promoting mail order through your mailing, then make sure you feature the services that will be of most importance to buyers, such as gift wrapping, bespoke personalised messages, delivery times, stock availability and so on.
If you need to buy in a larger audience for your big Christmas mailing, then look into renting a list which matches the profile of your target market. There are many ways to select a consumer list based on a plethora of criteria. For example the Prospect Download consumer database from Selectabase allows you to select by income, age, gender, lifestage, social group, location, property status and so on. A little research and analysis of your current customers can help you identify what they have in common.
If you are dusting off your own mailing list, make sure it’s given a good clean before use – especially if it hasn’t been used since last Christmas. Consumer data is constantly changing so make sure you get your list checked against the latest suppression files, such as the gone away register, telephone preference service and bereavement register.
Once you have decided on your mailing aims, campaign theme, offering and timings, then don’t delay in getting the practical side of your campaign underway. Many suppliers in the design and print industries come under pressure to get work completed prior to Christmas, so you don’t want your project to be delayed because of limited resources. Decide on your design and print specification in advance, issue a clear creative brief, and then stick to it. Don’t be tempted to add new ideas or change direction, when you are up against an immovable deadline.
As long as your products or audience dictate it, then make sure you achieve high production values for your mailing. Christmas is a special time of year for consumers, so they’ll expect you to have gone to town with your mailing. That doesn’t mean you have to blow the budget on a bespoke mailer and envelope format, but it does mean that your mailing has to look and feel right for the season.
After all, Christmas comes but once a year. So make the most of the opportunities presented by the festive season with direct mail.
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News Release -October 2010
Selectabase Launch Free Tools to Improve Postcode Targeting for Direct Mail
A range of free planning tools has been made available online to help target direct marketing campaigns geographically by postcode.
It can often be hard to identify exactly what postcodes cover a specific area or region. As postcodes are one of the best ways to select and target lists for mailings, down to an extremely granular level, this can make effective geographic targeting of direct marketing campaigns difficult.
The range of free postcode mapping and identification tools launched by Selectabase at www.selectabase.co.uk/marketing/postcodes-tool.aspx are designed to help planners and marketers to identify exactly what postcode areas and sectors exist within their target region, and so improve the targeting and effectiveness of their direct mail campaigns.
This can be done in a number of ways using the free online tools from Selectabase; for example users can identify which postcodes to include in a direct mail campaign, identify specific postcodes within a target area and find all postcodes in a radius from a fixed point.
In detail, the suite of free postcode tools includes:
UK Postcode Map - View a complete map of the UK including all top level postcode areas, such as (AB, BT etc.).
Find Postcode Sectors – View all the individual postcode sectors (AB10) in your chosen postcode area (AB). Alternatively, find all postcode sectors within a radius from a chosen postcode area, up to a maximum of 30 miles.
Postcode Sector Maps – Choose individual postcode sectors and view detailed maps of the towns and cities in each sector.
UK Postcode Tree – View all UK postcode areas and sectors as a tree, allowing users to drill down from area to sector level.
All the above tools are available online completely free of charge, on an open and unlimited basis.
Explaining the reasons for the launch of the free postcode tools, a spokesperson from Selectabase said that “in the past we have sometimes found it time consuming to track down and identify specific postcodes to help us prepare mailing list counts and quotes for our customers, so we guessed that other direct marketing professionals found the same problem and came up with this set of solutions.”
The free postcode targeting tools are available online now at http://www.selectabase.co.uk/marketing/postcodes-tool.aspx.
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News Release -September 2010
Selectabase Updates Prospect Download Mailing List to Include Mosaic 2009 from Experian
The Prospect Download consumer mailing list from Selectabase has been updated to enable list buyers to select and purchase lists online based on the latest Experian Mosaic 2009 selection criteria.
Prospect Download is an online service, where users can search for, order and download lists of consumers for use in direct marketing campaigns.
Experian’s Mosaic 2009 consumer classification identifies UK consumers using a three tier classification of 141 Mosaic person types, aggregated into 67 household types and 15 groups. Using Mosaic to identify and then select data helps marketing campaigns to achieve better targeting, greater effectiveness and reduce wastage.
Prospect Download users who select lists using Mosaic 2009 can access more categories, to help their lists mirror UK consumers more closely, and access more up to date categories to better reflect UK society and identify emerging markets and sub groups.
Mosaic 2009 features the very latest consumer classifications to reflect changes in society and gives users a comprehensive view of consumers now and in the future. For example the new classification is updated to include the ageing population, increased regional and ethnic diversity, and changes in household composition.
Other trends are reflected in Mosaic 2009 such as the growing numbers of the ever increasing ‘grey market’ of older people retiring to cultural cities or the shires rather than traditional seaside retirement resorts.
In addition to Mosaic 2009 classifications, Prospect Download also offers selection of mailing lists by Family Lifestage; a household level demographic segmentation showing the combined stage of life and family status (for example, mature families with children under 18, or young families with no children).
Additional advanced selections are available on Prospect Download by using Financial Strategy Segments; a person and household level segmentation developed to help financial services companies target their financial services products and services. Financial Strategy Segments classifies all adults in the United Kingdom into distinct financial lifestyle types which comprehensively describe their typical financial product holdings, behaviour and future intentions.
These advanced selection criteria are also available alongside the more popular consumer list selections including age band, gender, marital status, property tenure, household income and property value.
To access these selections visit Prospect Download, log in or register for free counts, then go to the Modeled Data section under Advanced Selections.
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News Release - July 2010
Selectabase Names UK's Most Popular Postcodes For Home Movers
Using data from their Recently Moved direct marketing service, Selectabase have revealed the UK postcode areas where the greatest number of people moved home in 2009.
With the state of the UK property market in recent months, you’d be forgiven for thinking that moving house had become a thing of the past.
Yet no matter what the economic situation, there are always a core of consumers who need to move home for a variety of reasons; downsizing or upsizing, relocating for work, and changes in lifestyle or family situation.
Data just released by Selectabase, a UK direct marketing company, shows those areas of the UK where home mover activity was greatest in 2009.
The RecentlyMoved database from Selectabase monitors home movers and makes their details available to local businesses such as home improvement companies, who want to target consumers when they are most likely to be spending money on their property – just after moving home.
In total, RecentlyMoved data for 2009 detected just over 635,000 UK home moves, which is well over 50,000 moves per month.
The following top 10 postcode areas accounted for over 20% of all UK home moves last year: Glasgow, Birmingham, Belfast, South East London, South West London, East London, Edinburgh, Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester.
These top 10 home mover postcodes represent quite a broad spread geographically throughout the UK, and aren’t just focused on London and the South East.
The top 10 UK home-mover hotspots make particularly interesting reading for regionally based suppliers of the many goods and services that new home owners spend more money on after they move house.For example spending on utilities, home improvements, home furnishings, and financial services can all increase after moving home.
More information about RecentlyMoved from Selectabase is available at http://www.selectabase.co.uk/recentlymoved or by calling 01304 382211.
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News Release - July 2010
Selectabase Announces Glasgow is the UK's Birthday Capital
Figures announced by direct marketing company Selectabase reveal the top locations in the UK for people celebrating a range of key birthdays in 2010.
Glasgow will be the UK’s top location for celebrating a milestone birthday this year, according to data from Selectabase, a UK direct marketing company.
Research shows that Glasgow will see the greatest number of 21st, 30th, 50th, 60th and 65th birthdays celebrated throughout 2010.
Manchester will be home to the most 40th Birthdays being celebrated this year, by people born in 1970.
The data is collected by Selectabase for its Birthday Mailings marketing service, which provides businesses such as bars, restaurants and retailers with details of local consumers who are about to celebrate a key birthday.
Even in times of recession celebrating a major birthday such as a 21st or a 40th can still see an increase in spending, and Birthday Mailings subscribers hope to cash in on some of this extra spend.
As evidence of our ageing population, the most common key birthday to be celebrated this year will be a 50th, according to Birthday Mailings data. The least common will be a 30th birthday.
More information about Birthday Mailings from Selectabase is available at http://www.selectabase.co.uk/birthday or on 01304 382211.
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News Release - July 2010
Selectabase Announce New Figures for Telephone Preference Service Registrations
UK data cleaning provider, Selectabase, has announced that the numbers of UK home and business phone numbers registered with the Telephone Preference Service, or TPS, have reached a new high.
Almost 18 million UK addresses have now registered a telephone number with the TPS, and almost 2 million businesses are registered with the business version of the register, the CTPS.
The findings increase pressure on any organisation using the telephone for commercial purposes to ensure that numbers are checked against the relevant preference service before being called. If a complaint about unsolicited phone calls is upheld, a £5000 fine can be imposed.
The TPS, which is run by the direct marketing industry, acts as a central register of numbers whose owners have chosen not to receive unsolicited sales and marketing phone calls, sometimes known as cold calls. Consumers or businesses can register with the TPS or CTPS free of charge.
If a business calls a TPS registered number on an unsolicited basis, it is in breach of the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003, which states that it is unlawful to make unsolicited direct marketing calls to individuals who have indicated that they do not want to receive such calls. If found to be in breach of these regulations, the business could face legal action and even a £5000 fine.
Companies using telesales or telemarketing in the b2b sector are now more at risk than in the past, as the number of UK businesses registering their telephone numbers with the Corporate Telephone Preference Service has increased at a far greater rate over the last 18 months. There are now almost 2 million UK business phone numbers registered with the CTPS, and in larger organisations CTPS registration can even vary from department to department.
Whilst the continuing growth in popularity of the TPS continues to change the landscape for direct marketing, it does not mean that the telephone has stopped being used as a business tool completely. Instead, outbound callers have had to become more sophisticated and better organised in their activities to ensure they respect the preferences of the people they call.
To help them, a number of low cost solutions have emerged to help callers check the phone numbers in their database against the latest versions of the Telephone Preference Service suppression file, which is updated monthly.
One such provider is Selectabase, which provides a TPS check website and free list cleaning software for smaller end users. Steve Sellwood of Selectabase has seen their service grow in steadily in popularity; “it’s probably fair to say that a few years ago there was far less awareness of the TPS amongst businesses using the phone and possibly even a degree of complacency, but we’ve seen such growth in uptake of our main services, TPS Check and Easy Check, that we feel businesses are now far more aware of their legal and ethical obligations”.
Consumers and businesses can register their phone number with the Telephone Preference Service free online at tpsonline.org.uk. Organisations such as businesses and charities using the phone for commercial purposes can check phone numbers against the latest TPS register before they call individually at http://www.tpscheck.co.uk, or check larger lists of numbers with Easycheck software from https://www.selectabase.co.uk/i-have-a-list/easycheck/.
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News Release - July 2010
Consumer Mailing List Now Offers Improved Address Data for Marketing Campaigns
Selectabase have released a new improvement to their Prospect Download consumer direct marketing database, which can help reduce marketing costs, improve targeting and minimise wastage.
The consumer version of Prospect Download from Selectabase now features matching of data selections against the Postcode Address File (PAF), which contains accurate and up to date details of over 27 million addresses.
By linking with the most up-to-date and complete address database in the UK, users of Prospect Download lists can obtain more accurately addressed data, which helps reduce the financial and environmental cost of wastage, and helps prevent alienating recipients with inaccurately addressed mail. Furthermore, additional cost savings can now be obtained as using PAF can also help maximise potential mailing discounts.
The new feature comes on the heels of a recently launched improved postcode targeting tool, which allows users to enter their chosen postcode then search for all postcode districts within a chosen radius up to a maximum of 30 miles. Rather than hunting through maps of your area, the new tool makes it fast and simple to identify your local geographic target area.
Prospect Download was launched last year by Selectabase in response to the growing number of customers who wanted an online self-service list service, but one which still delivered the quality and reassurance that businesses had come to expect from Selectabase.
The consumer version of Prospect Download allows online users to build a list selection from over 33 million individuals by using a wide range of criteria; age, gender, income and lifestyle segment.
Once you’ve selected your ideal marketing list, Prospect Download lets you either save your selection for later or buy your list immediately online. All data is checked regularly for accuracy, and is screened against all the relevant suppression files.
The online service offers free registration and free counts, and lists can be purchased on a Pay As You Go basis with no minimum order value at http://www.selectabase.co.uk/lists/onlineb2c/default.aspx or by calling Selectabase on 01304 382211.
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News Release - July 2010
UK Start Ups Increase 19%, Says Selectabase
Research by direct marketing company Selectabase, shows that the number of new businesses starting up in the UK is up by a recession-beating 19% compared to last year, at 240 start ups per day.
Whilst the rest of the economy has been in recession, UK start up activity seems to have remained vibrant, with growth reaching double figures this year.
From January to May 2010, Selectabase figures suggest that 36179 new businesses started up, or approximately 240 start ups per day. The total start ups seen over the same period in 2009 was 30445.
The figures are released by Selectabase, a UK direct marketing company which compiles a database of start ups called Startupsplus. Data is collected from a variety of sources and telephone verified for accuracy, and includes all forms of business including sole traders and limited companies.
Analysis of Startupsplus data for 2010 reveals some fascinating insights into UK start up activity. For example, 1265 different types of business were started, with the most popular including electricians, plumbers, hairdressers, builders, computer services and cleaning. Over 40% of start ups were home based businesses, and the top start up locations were London, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow and Bristol.
Using Startupsplus data, a typical profile for the most common form of start up emerges; a trade based from home, often working in the construction, hair and beauty or IT sectors, and located in one of the UK's major cities.
Commenting on the findings, Steve Sellwood of Selectabase put forward a number of reasons for the growth: "even in times of recession, there's obviously still plenty of start up activity, often as a result of redundancy, or the need to generate additional household income" he said, "but can't discount the effect of shows like Dragon's Den and The Apprentice in encouraging entrepreneurship" added Sellwood.
More information about Startupsplus is at http://www.selectabase.co.uk/newb2b/ or on 01304 382211.
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News Release - May 2010
Selectabase Offer Email Marketing Data with Prospect Download Business Lists
Selectabase has added opt in email addresses to the business to business edition of its online marketing list service, Prospect Download.
Businesses looking for b2b marketing data can now add opt-in email addresses to their order from Prospect Download, the online list service from Selectabase, creating a new and affordable source of email marketing lists.
Prospect Download can already be used 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to buy and download business-to-business mailing lists of any size. Email addresses can now be added to any order for B2B data, as an extra data field for the small additional charge.
The Prospect Download business database provides easy access to names and addresses of approximately 2 million businesses. The data is captured from a number of sources and includes comprehensive coverage of all limited companies, public limited companies and the non-corporate sector. All Prospect Download data is checked regularly for accuracy, and is screened against all the relevant suppression files.
You can select your b2b data by business size, business location, contact name, telephone number, email address, plus many more search criteria, then simply run your own counts and when happy, purchase and download your data securely online, or save your list selection for later.
Prospect Download was launched last year by Selectabase in response to the growing number of potential customers who wanted a fast and efficient self-service list buying service, which still delivered the quality and reassurance that businesses had come to expect from Selectabase.
Commenting on the addition of email data, Steve Sellwood of Selectabase said "we are delighted that Prospect Download continues to go from strength to strength, and that we have been able to now offer email addresses, in addition to our release of improved postcode targeting earlier in the year."
Prospect Download offers free registration and free counts, and lists can be purchased on a Pay As You Go basis with no minimum order value. Prices for data vary according to the payment method chosen, with the best deals available by purchasing pre-paid credits to use on the site.
The service is available 24/7 and is ideal for small to medium direct marketing campaigns. Business to Consumer lists can also be purchased online.
Find out more about Prospect Download email marketing data or call 01304 382211.
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News Release - April 2010
Selectabase launches new postcode targeting tool for Prospect Download
Selectabase has added useful new postcode targeting tool to its online marketing list service, Prospect Download, which make it easier to find and target local postcode areas.
This makes Prospect Download even more effective as a tool for providing locally targeted direct marketing campaigns with accurate consumer or business data.
In the current recession, accurate targeting of direct marketing has become more important than ever, as businesses seek to reduce any areas of potential wastage and therefore keep costs down.
The new postcode targeting tool allows users to enter their chosen postcode, then search for all postcode districts within a chosen radius up to a maximum of 30 miles. Rather than hunting through maps of your area, the new tool makes it fast and simple to identify you local geographic target area.
The new postcode feature can be used alongside all the other selection criteria available to help you refine and better target your list. These include age, gender, income and lifestyle for consumer lists, and for business lists criteria include turnover, employees, job title and email address.
Once you’ve selected your ideal marketing list, Prospect Download lets you either save your selection for later or buy your list immediately online. All data is checked regularly for accuracy, and is screened against all the relevant suppression files.
Prospect Download was launched last year by Selectabase in response to the growing number of potential customers who wanted a fast and efficient self-service list buying service, but one which still delivered the quality and reassurance that businesses had come to expect from Selectabase.
The online service offers free registration and free counts, and lists can be purchased on a Pay As You Go basis with no minimum order value. The service is available 24/7 and provides a wide range of business and consumer data, ideal for small to medium direct marketing campaigns.
Find out more about Prospect Download or call 01304 382211.
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Press Release - March 2010
Prospa B2B Marketing List Now Available to Download Online
The Prospa B2B direct marketing database of profitable high growth businesses from Selectabase has been made available to search for free and purchase data online.
Selectabase, has made its Prospa B2B marketing list available online for the first time.
Prospa B2B is a specialist database containing the details of more than 23,000 of the UK's fastest growing businesses, each achieving between 10-1000% growth, and which are also making a profit.
There’s an old saying that says "Turnover is vanity, but profit is sanity”. The Prospa B2B list from Selectabase has certainly been proving this old adage correct, with the results it’s been achieving for companies using the list in their b2b marketing campaigns.
So what is it about the Prospa B2B database that makes it so different?
Some lists may claim to offer business lists that track companies who are growing. They might sound attractive, but just how good a qualification is business growth? For many of these lists, the criterion for growth is increased turnover, but we all know that’s only half the picture. After all high turnover companies may not be profitable or cash rich.
The Prospa B2B list is different – it only includes details of companies that are experiencing growth from 10 to 1000% and which are also making a profit. After all, if you want to build a long-term relationship with a new client, to gain extra value and return from your investment in acquisition, it’s good to know your prospects are in a healthier position from the outset.
High growth businesses need more staff, more space and more equipment. Therefore Prospa leads are a great source of new business for suppliers of recruitment, finances, IT, marketing and much more.
Prospa B2B has been made available on the Selectabase website through it’s Prospect Download service, which allows registered users to carry out unlimited free counts using range of criteria; location, industry, turnover, contact and so on.
Once a user has identified their ideal list selection, it can be purchased securely online and is then downloaded to the customer’s desktop within 48 hours. There are very low minimum orders and list prices start at just 10p per record, with prices varying according to the number of records and output fields purchased.
Find out more about Prospect Download or call 01304 382211.
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Press Release - February 2010
Grey Market Mailing List Now Available to Download Online
The Silver Prospects direct marketing database of older consumers from Selectabase has been made available for businesses to search for free and purchase data online.
Selectabase, has made its Silver Prospects mailing list available online for the first time. Silver Prospects is a specially researched database of older UK consumers and is used by companies to promote a range of products and offerings, such as financial services, leisure products, holidays and charities.
Despite the recent recession, the grey market which Silver Prospects targets, remains an important segment for marketers. Due to demographic trends the sector continues to grow in numbers, and the attitudes of mature consumers are rapidly changing, which can challenge many of the stereotypes of older people. This makes accurate marketing of the grey market using a segmented list like Silver Prospects more important than ever.
The Silver Prospects list contains three unique profiles which marketers can use to help target their campaigns to the right recipients;
- Gilt-Edged Lifestyles - The financial elite of the country - older consumers with the highest incomes.
- Mid-Life Affluence - Consumers in later middle age, looking forward to a comfortable retirement.
- Wealthy Retirement - The majority of UK pensioners, with a wide range of assets and income.Silver Prospects has been made available on the Selectabase website through it’s Prospect Download service, which allows registered users to carry out unlimited free counts using range of criteria; location, income, age, gender, property type and so on.
Once a user has identified their ideal list selection, it can be purchased securely online and is then downloaded to the customer’s desktop within 48 hours. There are very low minimum orders and list prices start at just 10p per record, with prices varying according the number of records and output fields purchased.
Silver Prospects is one of the most popular consumer mailing lists offered by Selectabase, who specialist in providing targeted marketing data. For example Selectabase also offer lists of consumers on their birthdays, young families and new movers, plus a range of b2b data.
Selectabase also provide a range of low cost tools that customer’s can use to clean their own lists, and ensure they meet their obligations under data protection legislation.
Find out more about Silver Prospects on Prospect Download or call 01304 382211.
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News Release - January 2010
Top sectors for new business start ups in 2009 named by Selectabase
A new report has revealed that despite the economic situation, there were still sectors of the UK economy showing signs of growth in the form of new start up activity last year.
The research findings come from Selectabase, whose Startupsplus marketing service tracks new business start ups each month.
Analysis of Startupsplus data for 2009 has identified specific industry sectors and geographic regions where start up activity actually increased compared to 2008.
For example, the relentless growth in technology encouraged 23% more computer services providers to start up in business last year, compared to 2008. Computer services also leapt from being the 4th most popular type of business to start up last year, compared to 10th in 2008.
The accountancy sector saw also saw uncharacteristic optimism last year, with 29% more accountants setting up in business compared to 2008, and an amazing 64% more bookkeepers. Both also ranked in the top 50 types of business started in 2009.
Regionally, start up activity saw a shift away from London and the south east last year, to the UK regions, the Midlands and the north of England. The top 5 postcode areas for start ups in 2009 included Birmingham, Belfast, Sheffield, Manchester and Glasgow.
The E postcode area in East London was the only south Eastern region to feature in the top 10, possibly as a result of investment in the area for the 2012 Olympics.
Startupsplus data, on which the research was based, is collected from a number of sources and tracks all types of business start ups including sole traders, limited companies, home based, and whether registered for VAT or not. Overall, almost 80,000 new business start ups were identified by Startupsplus in 2009, which is 4% down on the previous year. However the fall was much less than the drop of 7% seen previously from 2007 to 2008.
Commenting on the research findings, Steve Sellwood of Selectabase felt that some might be surprised at the findings, explaining that; “most people assume that new start up activity must shrink to nothing in a recession, but on the contrary we often see new business activity continuing in tough times, sometimes as a result of redundancy, or when a partner decides to return to work by starting a new business. So we weren’t surprised to see start up activity hold up relatively well last year.”
Find out more about Startupsplus new business leads or call 01304 382211.
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Press Release - December 2009
Selectabase Launches Online Marketing Lists for Download
UK marketing list provider, Selectabase, has launched a new range of business and consumer prospect lists available to buy and download online.
Prospect Download from Selectabase is a new service which enables businesses to create, buy and download a mailing list online. These lists of prospects can then be used to carry out a direct marketing campaign using direct mail or telemarketing.
There are two versions of Prospect Download available online; Business and Consumer.
The Prospect Download Consumer database contains approximately 34 million addresses so covers a large percentage of UK households. It's perfect for selecting prospect lists to use for national campaigns, or sourcing targeted lists for more specific mailings.
The Prospect Download Business database provides easy access to names and addresses of approximately 2 million UK businesses. The data is captured from a number of sources and includes comprehensive coverage of all limited companies, public limited companies and the non-corporate sector. Users can select their data by business size, contact name, telephone number, email address, plus many more criteria.
After registering on the Selectabase site for free, users can carry out unlimited searches of Prospect Download. The site is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and all data in the Business and Consumer lists is regularly maintained and cleaned to ensure its accuracy.
Once a list has been selected, it can be purchased online using secure payment, and is then available to download to the customer's own PC. This ease of use is one of the main reasons that the service has been launched by
Selectabase, as Steve Sellwood explains;
"We've been providing lists through our dedicated customer service team for many years now, but we've also been aware of the growing demand from customers who simply want to go online to buy a quality list, but who may have been cautious about the accuracy and quality of the data.
That's why we've put together Prospect download to provide the best of both worlds; high quality data from a reputable source, which you can search, refine and purchase online."
Selectabase is a leading UK independent list provider and member of the Direct Marketing Association. They specialise in providing accessible direct marketing lists and cleaning services to the small business market, with packages like Startupsplus, Recently Moved, and Easycheck.
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News Release - November 2009
Selectabase Help Businesses Plan Early for 2010 New Year Marketing Campaigns
Direct marketing company Selectabase has launched a campaign aimed at encouraging small businesses to plan their New Year marketing campaigns well ahead of time.
The start of a New Year is always a busy time for direct marketing campaigns. Selectabase, a direct marketing company specialising in helping small businesses, is expecting an even greater than normal increase in marketing activity from January 2010.
This is because many business owners are currently feeling increasingly concerned about the economic situation, and are thinking about what they can do to drum up new business.
The Selectabase campaign is aimed at encouraging small businesses to get ahead of the game, by starting the planning for their New Year campaigns now.
To help, Selectabase has published a useful direct marketing guide on this website which suggests a range of simple measures that can be taken to help ensure a successful campaign.
The guide features advice on targeting your mailing to the right people, looking at the quality and accuracy of your mailing list, finding a new list if you need one, what to include in your mailer and how you should handle your responses.
Direct marketing tools like direct mail are always a popular choice for businesses looking to attract more customers.
Direct mail is affordable, easy to implement, and can be carried out on a small scale. Plus it's easy to see what results have been achieved and at what cost - which is especially important when marketing budgets are tight.
So while 2010 may seem a little way off yet, planning a successful marketing campaign can start right now.
