Our Biggest Asset

We have a facility full of items that help us run and maintain our business: printing equipment that produces vibrant images and sharp text, and mailing software and equipment that helps clients save hundreds, even thousands, of dollars and maximize postage savings. But there's one asset you won't find on our inventory report, and we wouldn't be successful without it. Our staff.

Every one of our employees—our equipment operators, who spend many, many hours on their feet each day; our customer service associates, who juggle paperwork and client relationships while overseeing the timely processing of each project; our drivers, who endure often-maddening traffic and inclement weather to make sure jobs stay on schedule; and our behind-the-scenes office personnel, who keep us operational on a daily basis—dedicate their work days to making our clients' projects and our business successful.

The combined staff of AMi provides in-depth knowledge and experience across the spectrum of direct mail and fulfillment activities. AMi’s median tenure among employees has recently increased to more than nine years! Many of our key employees have been with us for more than 12 years.
This longevity, along with hard work and devotion, provides AMi with a storehouse of industry and postal expertise, expertise that enabled us to process more than 50 million direct marketing pieces last year and allowed us to successfully partner and grow with our clients for over 30 years.

Our managers are no slackers, either. The average tenure among management is 19 years with AMi and more than 20 years in the industry. Their backgrounds include all aspects of the business, including accounting, finance, data hygiene and processing, personnel development, strategic planning, production, and inventory control.

Even the latest technology and shiniest machines are worthless without the proper personnel running them, and we are so grateful to our staff for their wisdom, their dedication, and their devotion, and we hope you will trust them—as we do—with your direct mail projects in 2012.

Are You Using QR Codes?

As a marketer, you’ve probably already heard plenty about the latest in marketing technology, QR (Quick Response) codes, those barcode-like black-and-white images popping up in catalogs, in stores, and even on fast-food beverage cups. Viewed by scanning them with a QR reader app-enabled mobile phone, they take consumers directly and instantly to a link or text message from your organization.

Are you using QR codes? If so, are you making the most of them? If not, should you?

Although QR codes provide a quick and convenient way for you to connect with customers and prospects, and QR codes eliminate the need for them to be at a computer or to write down and enter a URL, they do pose some challenges. For example, not everyone has a smart phone. For that matter, not everyone who has a smart phone scans QR codes. According to the USA Today article, “What’s a QR Code and Why Should You Care?,” by Jefferson Graham, only six percent of mobile phone consumers use QR codes. And, according to Rimma Kats’ Mobile Marketer article, “Are Marketers Killing Consumer Enthusiasm for QR Codes?,” not all marketers are using the technology well.

So why should you dedicate valuable and limited resources to a technology that, on the surface, sounds like a dud? Because, if executed well, you could not only attract new customers, donors, or members, but you could also build a loyalty that your other marketing efforts haven’t.

To make the most of your QR code promotions, keep the following tips in mind:
• Remember that your readers will be looking at your web page on a mobile device, not a computer. Keep the layout simple, don’t overcrowd the page, and make the font size readable.
• Include a specific call to action, like adding their email address to your database, ordering a product, or submitting a pre-filled in email request to opt-in to promotions.
• On your website, education consumers about QR codes and how to use them.
• Update your page regularly. The QR code doesn’t have to change, but your content should.
• Place QR codes only in locations where consumers can safely scan them.

If you do engage in a QR code program, be sure to give yourself and your market time to get used to the technology. Once you get your program up and running, the only thing using a code costs you is time and space. Like any other marketing channel or strategy, be sure to give it a fair test before you pull the plug.

The Final Piece of Your Offer: Customer Service

You've analyzed your market and identified a problem your products or services can remedy. You've painstakingly penned a direct mail letter that sells your solution so persuasively that you can already hear the clicks, chirps, and slurps of eager buyers and donors completing transactions online, over the phone, and through the mail. And, you've created, printed, and mailed your campaign on time and within budget. Now you can relax and wait for the responses to roll in.

Or can you?

While you've completed all the critical steps from a marketing perspective, you're only half of the equation: you still need the support and follow-through of customer service.

Remember our friend, discussed in this month's enewsletter, who received an amazing direct mail offer from her car dealership? Despite initially having doubts, her husband called the dealership and then she went in to discuss a trade-in, hoping for a generous offer on their current vehicle--as alluded to in the letter--and expecting a hard sell from the sales staff. She got neither. The salesman offered a trade-in value far lower than Blue Book value, handed her his business card, and told her to call him if they decided to pursue a new car. The in-person experience lacked all the urgency, exclusivity, and hype of the letter and left our friend feeling insulted and a little resentful.

For your offer to succeed and, more importantly, for your clients to feel satisfied and confident in your company, marketing and customer service must pursue the sale with the same enthusiasm and information.

Keeping customer service and marketing in sync doesn't have to be a time-consuming task, and it doesn't have to mean a big meeting for every campaign. It can be as simple as appointing one customer service representative as your go-to contact and including that person in your campaign planning, particularly for new products, special promotions, or complex offers. Doing so not only allows customer service to understand the product/service/promotion before the mailpiece goes out, but it also provides you with an opportunity to see your campaign through customer service's eyes and spot any potential hiccups.

When you're planning "special" campaigns, keep in mind the impact they'll have on customer service. Too many special-needs or time-sensitive campaigns, especially too many at one time, could leave your the department overwhelmed and stressed out. The result could be a grumpy salesperson with little interest in making a sale.

What You Can Do to Save the Postal Service

The Postal Service's financial struggles have been making the news for years. Mail volume has declined by 36 billion pieces since the record-high 213 billion pieces mailed in 2006, which has grossly impacted the Postal Service's postage-driven bottom line and outdated, government-mandated pre-fund retirement health-benefit expenses.

The Coalition for a 21st Century Postal Service, which claims that the Postal Service could shut down next summer unless drastic changes take place, is urging Congress to pass bold reforms that will not only allow the Postal Service to "maintain solvency" in the short-term, but also to "reorganize itself into a modern and profitable business in the long-term." Specifically, the Coalition is looking for Congress to

• Relieve the unfair financial obligations imposed on USPS
• Streamline and modernize the USPS's infrastructure, systems, and workforce
• Update the postal collective bargaining process
• Innovate, including partnering with businesses on nonpostal services

You can help save the Postal Service.

First, contact your elected officials and tell them to save our postal service! Not sure who your local officials are or how to contact them? The Coalition provides a fast and interactive search form on its website, www.savethemailsavejobs.org, that you can use to identify your federal, state, city, and county officials.

Not sure what to do once you know who to contact? The Coalition has you covered there, too. The website also has a feature that allows you to instantly create and e-mail a message to your desired officials.

Second, keep mailing! Continuing to execute your mailing program not only provides your organization with the exposure and response you've come to depend on, but it also provides the USPS with the demand needed to testify to its importance.

Many worthy businesses have stumbled but come back strong. Let's work together to make sure the Postal Service is America's next success story.

Eight Ways to Spend Less Money at the Post Office

Whether you're mailing a big prospecting campaign, a series of house-focused mailings, or a catalog sent to a mix of the two, postage will likely be your biggest expense. While paying for postage is inevitable, paying too much is not. You can cut down on some of your postage costs if you follow the following tips:
1. Go deep. National Distribution Centers (formerly known as Bulk Mail Centers) feed Sectional Center Facilities, which feed Direct Delivery Units (your local post offices). The deeper in the delivery system you can insert your mailing, the larger the discount you can potentially receive. Certain conditions—including service areas and drop quantities—must be met, however.

2. Drop-Ship it. If your drop quantity is large enough (postal savings justifies the transportation costs), drop-shipping your mail to various postal hubs—National Distribution Centers or Sectional Center Facilities can both save you money and decrease the delivery time of your mail. You can drop all or part of the promotion this way, depending upon the concentration.

3. Find big partners. If you can't drop deep and the analysis performed for drop shipping isn't worthwhile, you may be able to co-pallet your mail. Your mailpiece will go from your provider's facility to a central processing facility, where the mail for each hub nationwide is combined with other mail going to those destinations. There is a cost associated with the option, but if the analysis projects a net savings, you'll also benefit, in most cases, by a better delivery time.

4. Find smaller partners. If your mail volume is too small to benefit from any of the above options and your drop-date isn't set in stone, comingling offers your smaller mail drop to become part of a larger one, which qualifies for postal discounts. Your mail is prepared as necessary and then taken to a comingle processing facility, where it is again combined with other mail going to the same locations and then shipped to the hubs.

5. Bind it right (or left). How you design your mailpiece impacts how much you pay at the post office. Improperly placed folds or tabs will make your piece non-machinable, which raises your rates. Always design your fold or binding below and parallel to your addressing, and keep tabs above and to the sides of your mailing panel.

6. Use your mailhouse's indicia. Don't pay the Post Office a big annual fee to maintain a postage permit, especially if you tend to use several mailhouses. Use your vendors' instead. Most mailhouses will let you print and use their postage permit on your direct mail piece for free when you mail through them. All you have to do is pay your mailhouse for the postage.

7. Know your weight limits. Especially if you're creating a catalog, make sure you don't exceed 3.3 ounces for automated flats. Otherwise, you'll pay a per piece charge and a per pound charge.

The Worst Mistakes You Can Make in Marketing

We all try hard not to make fools of ourselves or our organizations, but every now and then, something gets by us on a marketing piece. An extra period at the end of a sentence. An odd indentation. A minor typo.

It happens. No matter how good our proofing processes may be, tight deadlines, unexpected or last-minute changes, or the sheer chaos of a busy office sometimes distract us and cause us to create imperfect pieces. In most cases, prospects, customers, members, and donors can overlook these little gaffes.

But there are times they can't. Here are three of the worst mistakes you can make--and avoid, with the right preparation--in marketing:

1. Mail a good offer to the wrong audience. This is basic marketing, but it's also an easy thing to mess up. It requires researching prospect lists thoroughly--beyond what you see on the datacard--and knowing your house list. The more you can segment your lists and identify your recipients' habits and needs, the better match you'll make and the less likely you'll leave recipients wondering why they got your offer.

2. Fail to include a call to action. Announcing a new product or website or service may seem to imply a call to action, but unless you direct your recipients to call an 800 number for more information, visit a specific URL to receive a discount on the next order, or return a business reply card to receive a free estimate, your recipient may not respond. Identify what you want your prospects to do, and give them a little incentive to do it.

3. Personalize your marketing piece with incorrect or outdated information. Recent renewals don't count here. Most people realize that marketing takes time, and a request for a membership renewal, new edition update, or annual drive may arrive shortly after they've already completed their renewal. We're talking about, "Garbage in, garbage out." To effectively use personalization, you must have a clean, current database. Nothing says "this company is clueless" like a mailing addressed to a deceased individual or an offer made to an someone with no prior interest--even remotely--in a given area.

The Messenger: Surviving a Vacation

The Messenger: Surviving a Vacation: "If you haven't said it yourself, you probably know someone who has: 'I need a vacation from my vacation.' Going back to work after taking a..."

Surviving a Vacation

If you haven't said it yourself, you probably know someone who has: "I need a vacation from my vacation." Going back to work after taking any amount of personal time off can sometimes be overwhelming, but you can take a few steps to make the transition back to your professional life a little easier. Before you take off for your next vacation, keep the following tips in mind:

1. Anticipate. At least a week before you set your out-of-office email, check your schedule and deadlines and make sure you tie up as many projects and loose ends as possible before you go. Going in early and staying late to get tasks done before you leave will not only make life easier for those you're leaving behind, but it will also make life easier on you when you return.

2. Delegate. Sometimes, no matter how many extra hours you put in, you just can't pre-fix everything. Before you leave, make a list of potential issues that may arise, projects or tasks that are currently underway, and invoices or correspondence you expect to receive (and need to act on) while you're away. Then, make your colleagues aware of your concerns and needs and identify who will take care of what while you're gone.

3. Communicate. If you don't mind accepting work calls while you're on vacation, let your key contacts know, but also let them know what types of calls you're willing to take and when.

4. Procrastinate. Mondays are hard enough. Don't make your return to work harder than it needs to be. Plan to make your first day back a Thursday or Friday. You'll get your feet wet and get a two-day breather before facing a full week.

5. Isolate. If possible, designate yourself unavailable for a period of time your first morning back. Whether you simply shut your door or book a conference room for yourself, give yourself a chance to work through your emails or inbox without interruption. Not possible? Get to the office an hour before everyone else does. While that may sound like a painful way to re-enter the "real world," you'll be glad you did when your colleagues start stopping by, wanting to discuss your time out of the office and the things that you missed.

Preparing for Personalization

The saying, "it's the thought that counts," may hold water when it comes to gift-giving, but as far as marketing advice goes, it's full of holes.

How many times have you discredited an organization because the "personalized" direct mail piece you received was inaccurate or off base? How many times have you hung up from a telemarketing call disgusted because the caller making the upgraded, "personal" offer had no idea what your current service or account status was?

Personalized marketing should be a part of every organization's strategy, but the strategy could cost you more than an expense line if you fail to use good data.

What makes data good?
Currency and accuracy. Beatriz Santin, in her March 1, 2011, Direct Mail News article, "When You Ditch Bad Data, Costs Decline and ROI Soars," suggests using point-of-capture verification tools. Santin claims the tools, which prompt customers and prospects for missing information and correct contact details, are the only way to make sure your database contains accurate and complete information.
Cleanliness. How often do you check your list for duplicates and bad addresses? How often do you update it? Your house list is your most profitable, but if you don't maintain it, you risk wasting money and alienating your buyers, members, or donors. Lists should be NCOAed, reviewed, and updated monthly or, at the least, before big mailings.
Complexity. These days, knowing a customer's, donor's, or member's name and address aren't enough. To truly target marketing and maximize your return, you need to collect and analyze as much information about your audience members as you can: spending habits, spending history--with you and other organizations--website activity, response to previous campaigns, interests, behavior, etc. Where do you get this information? Generally, it comes from one of two places: it's provided by the customer, or it's observed through the customer's activity.

Establishing a system or process for collecting and maintaining data that provides a detailed picture of each individual may seem cumbersome, but taking the steps--even taking one step--toward better data not only allows your organization to accurately match an offer with an individual's needs or interests, but it also opens up opportunities to integrate other channels and technologies: direct mail, e-mail, and personalized URLS.

Are You a Marketing Snob?

When you get home at night, do you open your mailbox and groan when you find advertisements and unsolicited marketing, or do you look at them with a marketer's eye? Just as you can learn from analyzing the direct mail pieces that you get at work, you can learn a thing or two from analyzing the direct mail that you get at home. Although specific strategies for consumer, business, and non-profit campaigns differ, the vehicles that deliver them don't. Tonight when you get home, consider the following as you sort through your mail: List selection. Have you ever received a piece of direct mail from an organization that you've never done business with and wondered how you ended up on its mailing list? The answer isn't always obvious. Sometimes, in our quest to prospect, we step to the far reaches of our client demographics. Sometimes it works, but in most cases it doesn't. The more you know about your market, the narrower—and the more successful—your list selections will be. "Handwritten" addressing. Most of the time you know that a machine, not a human, addressed your envelope. Still...you're curious enough about who sent it to open it. A sneaky strategy? Maybe. A successful strategy? If you opened the envelope, you bet it was. "Handwritten" addresses, live stamps, and first-class postage give mail a personal feel that usually results in higher open rates. Freebies. You get them from time to time. Preprinted return address labels. Sample greeting cards. Sample newsletter issues. Have you ever given money to an organization that sent you an unsolicited gift? Could your organization benefit from sending out a relevant freebie to a targeted list? "Dear Resident" letters. As a marketer, you know that personalization dominates today's marketing environment. To increase your response rate, you personalize your envelopes, your letter content, even the URLs that you direct potential buyers, members, and donors to. Can a "catch all" campaign still survive? Absolutely. Despite their appearances, such mailings still employ targeted offers and targeted lists, which ensure greater success. No matter where you are—work, home, even the grocery store—you can always learn from the advertising around you. You just need to keep your eyes, and your mind, open to it.

When—If Ever—You Should Redesign Your Logo

Last year, numerous recognizable logos underwent a transformation: Seattle's Best Coffee, Yellow Pages, Wikipedia. But none garnered the attention quite like Gap, the specialty clothing retailer. Fans revolted. News media buzzed. Criticism flew.

Your logo represents your organization's identity. It symbolizes what you offer, where you're headed, who your audience is, and who you are. Changing your logo, even a little, can alter the way people perceive your organization. And not necessarily in a good way.

So when, if ever, is it a good idea to redesign your logo? Although the most effective redesigns are the ones you probably don't notice—they maintain the general look and emotion of the original but with an update—redesigns are likely needed when you find your organization in one of the following situations:
• you need to rebrand your company and reposition it to better suit an existing or new market
• your business objectives change
• your organization merges with another and changes your mission or operations
• your logo doesn't convey the right message or includes irrelevant language or images

Redesigning, however, not only involves risk, but it also involves expense. Think of all the places your logo currently appears: letterhead and envelopes, packing material, marketing material, trade show displays, business cards, etc. Generating new material with an updated logo costs money, so make sure your reasoning and projected benefits justify the change. Don't mess with your logo just because your organization's leadership changes or because "all the corporations are doing it."

If you do redesign, Ellen Hamilton, graphic designer and owner of Yellow Dot Designs in Alexandria, Virginia, says the biggest decision you can make regarding your redesign is your designer. She recommends choosing someone trained in logo design who will sit down with you to discuss your goals, your services, your business plans—everything—to create a logo that's both visually and technically sound.

"A good designer delves into the vision of your organization," Hamilton says. "A good designer also knows how things get printed and how colors work. In the end, your logo has to work in one color, in various sizes, on a website and on a fax, and it has to be printable in a variety of formats."

Start Each Job Right: Keys to Submitting Great Quote Requests

Most of the time, a marketing project goes as planned. However, every now and then a print job runs into problems, a mail piece drops late, or an invoice doesn't reflect the quote.

You can avoid many delays , conflicts, and complications if you get a good start, and that means the quote. The more your vendor knows about a potential, upcoming job, the more accurately your vendor can provide a quote and the better the company can prepare. Omitting nitty-gritty details now --the type of file you're submitting, for example--may seem unnecessary, but they could end up derailing your schedule, increasing your costs, or sidelining your direct mail piece altogether if you catch your vendor unaware.

What should you include in a quote request? As much information as possible. For a printer, that means dates, data, delivery, and more:
· project name
· when you'd like the quote
· when you expect to submit the job
· when you'd like the job completed
· quantity
· file type/software used
· whether the job prints one side only or two
· platform used: Mac or PC
· how the artwork will be provided: hard copy, tiff, jpeg, PDF
· type of proofs required: bluelines, color proofs, or electronic proofs
· size: both flat and folded, including final size
· page count
· requested stock
· color(s): one, two, three, or 4-color process
· whether or not a cover coating is needed
· bleeds
· folding or binding
· how you want the final piece packaged: in cartons, on skids, polybagged, shrinkwrapped, etc.
· where the final products should be delivered and how

For a mail service provider, it means many of the same specifications, plus:
· size and weight
· format: flat, letter
· class: first class, presorted, non-profit
· postage payment method/type
· binding or inserting required
· number of lists, formats, and sources
· where the materials are coming from and when
· special work, including merge/purging, level of merge/purging, and approval process
· keycoding, if needed
· laser personalization: simplex or duplex, black only or spot color/four-color process
· sorting
· what to do with overage: return, store, or recycle

Allow enough time in your bidding and your production to enable your sales rep to provide you with a thorough and thoughtful quote, and be realistic in your projected schedule. Plan ahead, and save your "rush" jobs for true, last-minute campaign additions.

What Your Mailbox Can Teach You

Mailboxes. You fill them from your office and you empty them at home, but have you ever thought about them as more than just a means to an end?

The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) has a number of standards governing the look, use, and installation of residential mailboxes, offering a few more lessons for those of us in the marketing world. Take a look.

The policy: "You should install the mailbox with the bottom of the box at a vertical height of between 41-45 inches from the road surface, unless you have a road or curb condition that prevents this."
The lesson: The more work you do to make the USPS's work easier, the greater your reward. Developed a standard-shaped mailpiece? Great! The USPS can run it through the machine for quicker processing. Barcoded and CASS-certified your mailing? Perfect! The USPS will discount your postage.

The policy: "Advertising on a mailbox or its supporting post is prohibited."
The lesson: Take ownership of the entire direct mail process. Look at every detail--no matter how odd or obscure it may seem--to ensure the message you're sending is the message you're intending.

The policy: "Your postmaster will approve custom-made mailboxes on a one-time basis as long as they generally meet USPS standards."
The lesson: Designing uniquely shaped mailpieces may create more interest from your audience, but they may also create unanticipated costs or problems with the post office. Before you venture too far into the sea of creativity, speak with your mailhouse representative to make sure your idea not only floats, but mails.

The policy: "You can attach a receptacle for newspaper delivery by a private company to the post of a curbside mailbox used by the Postal Service as long as it doesn't extend beyond the front of the mailbox when the box door is closed."
The lesson: Adding other channels of marketing to your campaign may help you run in all of your target audience's circles, but postal mail still leads the pack. In fact, according to "Print in the Mix," marketers will spend 5.8% more on direct mail this year than last, proving, at the cost of $47.8 billion, that direct mail is not dead.