Mailing list advertising is a directory of names and email addresses used by an organization or individual to send information regarding their products to numerous recipients. It can refer to print media and so-called snail mail. In early days of mass advertising campaigns, the information for the list was actually mailed. Now, with the advent of email, the mailing list can and does refer to electronic mail distribution. A mailshot is the term for a list where similar or nearly identical materials are distributed to all subscribers on the list. It's important for the recipient to be able to subscribe or unsubscribe themselves from the list in order to avoid sending unwanted advertising.

Mailing lists are sometimes leased or purchased. If the mailing list advertising is being sent to a leased list, it is important to realize that list owner will have implemented methods to prevent using the list for other than the use for which it was originally intended. This is typically done by ''salting” the list with some fake names and addresses, and varying the false address for each customer/list.

A disadvantage of purchased or rented mailing list advertising is that unless the list is very very targeted, you may not truly reach an audience who is interested in your product or service. List brokers exist, whose business it is to market the lists. Generally, you get what you pay for in terms of list quality.

The names for mailing list advertising are collected through various means, but the most effective collection method by far is to capture and refine the mailing list from interested leads and from previous customers. A satisfied customer is more likely to be amenable to advertisement of a new product than is a casual name from another source. The use of names collected on your own web page lead to a higher conversion rate than do random list names. For this reason, it's important to collect email address and contact information from as many visitors to your web site as possible.

When you are maintaining your own business mailing list, it is wise to devise a method where you can periodically cleanse and update the list so it remains accurate and does not become dated.

This way, when you want to use mailing list advertising, you just need to collect your own target audience list, create a sales letter or informational brochure directed at the profile of your target audience and with a click or two—you've distributed hundreds or even thousands of high conversion ratio marketing letters.