Meet the Broker: Maggie Powers

Today we meet Maggie Powers, director of sales and marketing at Infocus Marketing Inc. Powers made a career change to list brokerage about four years ago, after having spent 10 years working for a national trade association.

Powers presently deals with clients in the healthcare industry, universities and university presses. “Probably my biggest specialty now is the continuing education market,” she said.

Working with clients in variety of industries is what keeps list brokerage work interesting to Powers. “I like being with clients and bouncing ideas of each other. I like the teamwork, she said. “And I like being exposed to all different industries.”

Powers enjoys spending free time at home entertaining guests with her husband, when they’re not working on projects around the house. Her favorite place for relaxation is Hatteras Beach, NC.

She’s an animal lover big time. The Powers share their home with one cat and six Labrador Retrievers.

What do you like about the association membership lists?

“Association lists are really good lists. Think about it. These are people who pay dues to belong to a association because they are very interested in particular field,” Powers said.

And, she added, “associations practice good list hygiene and so the deliverability of association lists is high.”

The majority of association lists probably have 20,000 to 50,000 names, which means they’re generally used in tandem with other response lists to come up with enough names. “It’s a matter of finding other complementary groups,” Powers said.

Compared to other kinds of list owners, trade associations typically take a conservative approach when it comes to granting approvals to release postal files and rarely release e-mail addresses, based on her experience.

Powers said she prefers working with association lists that offer selections for workplace certifications, but she would like to see more detailed demographics gathered from membership forms.

How could mobile marketing affect the list business?

“Text messaging lists could be the next big thing,” Powers said.

She’s aware there are a few text messaging lists already on the market, but said she personally hasn’t come across any to consider testing.

“People are tied to their phones and don’t go anywhere without them. I think it would be a really awesome way to get to people.”

It would come down to getting people to opt in, maybe with questionnaires, but it wouldn’t be easy. Look at how hard it can be to find opt-in e-mail lists, she noted.

Know someone you’d like to suggest for Meet the Broker? E-mail Jim Emerson at [email protected].