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In the field of direct marketing, file owners or producers are companies that make customer or prospect files available for rent, and sometimes for sale. These entities hold valuable and attractive databases for businesses seeking new customers. Renting or selling these files generally provides them with a supplementary source of income. Among the main file owners are press publishers offering interest-based targeting, mail-order and e-commerce specialists offering targeting options based on purchase history, websites offering newsletters, trade show organizers (B2B and B2C), and many others. These owners make their data available directly or through file brokers. Some major players in mail-order commerce have even created departments dedicated to this rental activity. The term “file producers,” on the other hand, refers to companies whose primary activity is to produce and qualify files intended for rental. To learn more about prospecting procedures using contact lists, you can consult specialized resources. For example, a newspaper publisher might offer a prospecting list service.

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