HS Senior mailing lists

I'm looking for the names and addresses of companies that sell High

School Senior mailing lists. Years ago when I had my first studio I

used to get senior addresses from some list company but I don't have

that info anymore. I know there are other ways to get senior's

interest but I'm looking for mailing list companies that you have

used and been satisfied with.

Thank you.

yeah i'd like to know this too. I was always told (in my limited research) that you were not allowed to have those mailing lists. Somebody please let us know!

I doubt many companies will have that kind of info any more with minor/legal issues and ID theft rampant. You'll probably have to get them from each school. And the school has to have a waiver from students allowing them to release the info for specific purposes (at least in this state). My first shot would be to contact the school district; if you can show you're a valid business, that might work.

 

As an aside, do you know what kind of return you'll get on these mailings? Am curious. I have a senior who rec'd about 35+ different pieces of advertisement before their pics were due this month. Around here, I get the impression this is a demanding business.

 

She ignored every one. Although some studio's work she just didn't like, many were way overpriced for what the client would receive. She has a friend at Penney's and ended up there. Final product was as good as anything else we saw from the pro studios costing 4-7 times as much. No sitting fee, got 6 poses and a package of 1 12x16, 4 8x10s, 8 5x7's and 40 smaller shots all for less than $100. I have no idea how they can show a profit.

" I have no idea how they can show a profit."

 

 

 

They don't intend to. It is a way to get you into the store for 'other' shopping. Wal-mart does the same thing with a handful of prints for $3.95 to $6.95. If you have a studio, it is insane trying to match prices with the elephants of the 'studio' world!

I have never bought one but I have inquired before.

 

From InfoUSA.com I was quoted $1800.00 for unlimited 1 year use on 2500 HS Senior names, "On this file, we typically have approximately 50% of the names available by the end of October, 75% available by the end of November and approximately 90% after January 1."

 

GuaranteedLists.com had 8200 names for $700.00, but they didn't say what usage that was for.

 

I also contacted US Data Corp and Caldwell-List.com but I don't think they emailed me prices.

 

I contacted a bunch of other list companies too and they all had around the same service and price. The only major difference was that some could get the list via area code, others city, some zip code and a few by county. If you do contact them get ready for about 10 phone calls from eager salesmen non-stop for the next three weeks!

Scott, thank you for the information. I'm not sure I'll need to do a mailing but wanted the option for my marketing plans. I had very good success with the mailing addresses I bought at that time when I had my first studio on the 80's. Thanks for an "on topic" response.

Mark

Keith, I'm glad you got value for your money. Fortunately for me, I have many clients who can see the difference of my work from Penney's. But it's not just the images, it's the experience of a 3 hour photo shoot, the fun of changing clothes and getting a wide variety of creative looks, the excitement of seeing a hundred images, many where they look like a model. The oohs and ahhs of their friends and family when they show their images around.

 

Knowing I can remove those teenage blemishes and give their images a beautiful, warm color so they look youthful and vibrant. They all come back to thank me for the photo shoot experience, the fun they had and for the stunning images they will share with their friends and their family. The value of that...priceless!

Mark

I wouldn't be so quick to knock a competitor if (a) you haven't seen their work and (b) automatically think you're that much better. I would think that, having owned a PROFITABLE portrait studio for fifteen years, I'd be able to tell the difference. But I'm funny that way. If you think your customer is paying for the "experience" of being photographed and not JUST the end result, you may want to take a quick customer survey to confirm.