If you heard the news about the USPS eliminating its postage prepayment requirement for mailers who enter into a negotiated service agreement, you—like many others—probably got pretty excited. After all, how many times has a mailing been held up while you waited for your accounting department to cut the postage check? The thought of being able to mail now, pay later, was an answer to many prayers.
Unfortunately, it's an answer that benefits very few. According to a postal employee at our Merrifield, VA, facility, the change affects only those businesses who currently mail 10 million parcels a year through FED EX and agree to change their shipping to USPS.
So how can you get your mailpieces, particularly those last-minute surprises, out faster? Although you'll still have to wait for the postage check, you can increase your chances of getting your piece out faster if you try one of the following:
• Mail a postcard. The piece will take less time to print and process for mailing (no folding, inserting, etc.), and the postage will be less, which could speed up the check cutting.
• Break up your mailing. If timeliness is an issue, try splitting up your list and mailing only the most critical recipients first.
• Recycle an older promotion. Eliminate some of the time spent on creative by reusing an existing design and layout. Replace the text and key graphics, and send it to the printer.
Do you have a better suggestion to offer or a challenge you'd like help with? Say it here. Your comments are always welcome.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
AMiable Solution #3: Selling an Old Dog with Few New Tricks
Most companies or organizations have at least one: a signature product or service that has been around forever and receives periodic updates to keep it current.
But what happens when the "update" has more to do with maintaining a schedule than improving the product? Marketing a "new" version with few new features or new information can be challenging. Calling out the changes could backfire: savvy buyers may not see the value of a "new" product or service with few updates. Instead, focus on what's great about the product or service—its history, its impact on the industry or society, and its success in helping solve problems. And if the product or service has legal implications, remind your clients and prospects how important it is to maintain a complete, current collection or to be consistent in using the service. With a little persuasion, your clients will see that the core value of the product or service is worth buying.
Do you have a better suggestion to offer or a challenge you'd like help with? Say it here. Your comments are always welcome.
But what happens when the "update" has more to do with maintaining a schedule than improving the product? Marketing a "new" version with few new features or new information can be challenging. Calling out the changes could backfire: savvy buyers may not see the value of a "new" product or service with few updates. Instead, focus on what's great about the product or service—its history, its impact on the industry or society, and its success in helping solve problems. And if the product or service has legal implications, remind your clients and prospects how important it is to maintain a complete, current collection or to be consistent in using the service. With a little persuasion, your clients will see that the core value of the product or service is worth buying.
Do you have a better suggestion to offer or a challenge you'd like help with? Say it here. Your comments are always welcome.
AMiable Solution #2: Reviving Response
Successful direct marketing requires analysis, timing, and creativity. Sometimes, however, despite a binder full of data to back up your decisions, you still don't get the response you desired. What can you do? Take a look at your campaign in terms of
• Offer. Did you stray from your typical offer in terms of price, payment accepted, incentive, etc? If not, should you?
• Design. Usually, change is a good thing. However, if you're marketing a signature product or service in a completely different way, your existing customers may not have recognized it and overlooked it.
• Rental lists. Talk to your list broker. If a list you rented for a current campaign underperformed compared to previous mailings, inquire about the list. Did ownership change hands? Did the owner's criteria or source of names change?
• House lists. When was the last time you checked the accuracy of your customer names and mailing addresses? If your contact names seem to be aging with no recent activity, you may need to check your...
• Competition. If your competition changed its marketing tactics, improved its own version of the product or service you're offering, or bested your best offer, you may need to re-evaluate more than just your layout and list selection.
While you may not always find the answer to lower response in the issues above, they do provide a good starting point for your investigation, which could lead to a smarter, higher-yielding response rate on your next campaign.
Do you have a better suggestion to offer or a challenge you'd like help with? Say it here. Your comments are always welcome
AMiable Solution #1: Ousting the Overage
Are you accumulating overage that you're likely to forget about or never mail? You're not alone. We're currently holding thousands of extra direct mail pieces for our clients, and we'll most likely be asked to recycle 15-30% of them by year's end.
Although not always avoidable, printing too many promotions can minimized if you do the following:
• Clean your house list. If you have internal dupes or bad addresses that you continually include in your print count, you're wasting precious money with every mailing. Build a regular clean-up into your schedule to avoid future problems.
• Remail the rented duplicates. Most list owners will grant permission to mail the same promotion to individuals whose records appear more than once on your rental lists. Work out the agreement when you place your list orders, wait for the original mailing to drop and response to begin, and then remail the same promotion to the duplicates.
• Plan ahead. Okay, this one is much easier said than done, but if time permits, order your lists and complete the merge/purge process long before the sheets hit the scan. You'll be able to more accurately specify a print count, minimizing the overage.
Do you have a better suggestion to offer or a challenge you'd like help with? Say it here. Your comments are always welcome.
Although not always avoidable, printing too many promotions can minimized if you do the following:
• Clean your house list. If you have internal dupes or bad addresses that you continually include in your print count, you're wasting precious money with every mailing. Build a regular clean-up into your schedule to avoid future problems.
• Remail the rented duplicates. Most list owners will grant permission to mail the same promotion to individuals whose records appear more than once on your rental lists. Work out the agreement when you place your list orders, wait for the original mailing to drop and response to begin, and then remail the same promotion to the duplicates.
• Plan ahead. Okay, this one is much easier said than done, but if time permits, order your lists and complete the merge/purge process long before the sheets hit the scan. You'll be able to more accurately specify a print count, minimizing the overage.
Do you have a better suggestion to offer or a challenge you'd like help with? Say it here. Your comments are always welcome.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
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.
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.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
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.
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.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
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.
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.
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