Cleaning and updating your data? Don't forget mail lists

Now is the time when many practitioner-entrepreneurs are revamping their address lists, weeding out files and cleaning up mail, e-mail and otherwise.

I just received a question about what database I use for my postal address lists. (Direct mail marketing is still considered a good method of marketing according to Deliver Magazine, published by the U.S. Postal Service.)

For the last several years, I’ve been using a specialized address software system that was easy to use but has finally proved to be unwieldy because I could not send or transfer files to other locations or other computers.

I’m going with a simple Excel spreadsheet where I can input name, address and contact information and add other fields that are pertinent to my needs, such as area of residence, professional discipline and the like. I can use Excel to transfer data from computer to computer, both by attachment and with my flash drive and print out mailing labels as needed.