This month we welcome many new and returning clients, including the City of Rockford, IL and its fabulous Coronado Theater, the Downtown Norfolk Council, South Coast Repertory Theater, and Montana Outdoor Science School.

It's the season to sell next year's subscriptions and memberships. What are you doing to prospect? Remember, only prospectors find gold, and that means going beyond your current database of members, friends, and subscribers. With fewer arts attending households subscribing, smart arts organizations are reaching out to new households, and are carefully targeting to place their marketing materials in the most receptive hands.

ArtsMarket's research director Sean Becker provides guidance on a weekly basis to arts and cultural nonprofits throughout the country through the procurement of prospect lists. Wise list purchase begins with a solid understanding of your own best audience, your programming and audience goals, and your financial/revenue needs for next season. Sean assesses existing audiences to determine best prospects by demographics, lifestyle, arts attendance (by discipline) and geography. He then searches through a good half dozen different brokers from around the country to find prospects that are best for each client. He makes the purchases on behalf of our clients using very detailed criteria, usually far more detail than the list brokers would ever offer. All this careful targeting is designed to place our clients' marketing materials in the most receptive households, and maximize return. It is not unusual for Sean to go back and forth with various brokers for days, to make sure our clients obtain the best names possible.

In the process, Sean cleans and address corrects client house lists, and does the merge purge of new names against the existing house lists and/or other house prospect lists. He adds fields and codes when clients need extra detail. He helps clients make sure they have their SANS updated, trouble shoots if there are any questions, and stays on call after the mailing goes out.

We're proud of the value we offer, and are committed to continuing to provide discount services to our clients to make it possible for them to prospect as widely as possible. We charge none of the set up and mailing costs commercial brokers charge, none of the hidden extras for each variable or pull, and do all the analysis required in finding and pulling the best, most targeted lists based on each client's needs for free. We only charge a discounted cost per household name. As with all mailing lists, the prices per name are for unlimited use for a year. We recommend mailing to the list at least three times during the year to maximize the response rates.