Direct fax marketing is very popular now because of several reasons. One, it does not have the stigma of email marketing, which is more than likely associated with spam marketing (carrying all the negative baggage along with it), and it is also a much easier way to pack in a lot of information that can get the attention of the potential buyer. Also, it is slightly harder to ignore a fax, as it carries with it a lot of presupposed importance. A fax is more likely to get the attention of business and the important decision makers, especially if you know who to address the fax to - making sure it does not end up in the “round file”.

Also, the design of the fax tends to lean away from elaborate design and simple copy approaches, with big bold taglines and informative copy within the paper. All in all, direct fax marketing has a lot of things going for it, and if you have decided to venture into fax marketing, then you've chosen quite an effective medium to drive your marketing campaign. Now the other, more obvious step is to find fax numbers to send your fax to. Where do you go about finding them? You have a few options.

The first one is to compile the list yourself, although in the history of direct marketing, that hasn't proven to be a good idea. It's an extremely time consuming activity that will redirect your energies into something that doesn't deliver leads and sales immediately. Why spend weeks compiling lists when you could be using the time for other more constructive activities in your campaign? And frankly, most of us do not have the resources or even the time to build efficient lists, which means we will have in our hands random lists from questionable sources. Wrong numbers and non existent corporations are a common feature of self compiled lists because we do not have the technology and expertise to verify the numbers, track them and compile them into various demographics - the sort of information that you need to drive your campaign forward and create some quality leads.

The other option is for you to acquire many free fax databases that are available both offline and online. They are usually offered with “millions” on a CD for a low fee, or you may be required to provide some information for yourself in return for the CD. Then you'll have “opted in” to receive faxes from everyone else on the CD trying to sell you their products. Looking at these fax databases, it would be advisable to skip them. How they are compiled and through what means are some of the issues they do not reveal. Also, they make outrageous claims and with a little investigation to their fax lists, are full of contacts and corporations that fit many different thresholds. You are not getting a targeted list and that is what you should be aiming for. Purchase a list that has gone through the motions of demographic filters and market monitoring, and you will have a list that will generate you some quality leads and potential sales - the holy grail of any direct marketing campaign.