The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) lost $3.9 billion the first nine months of 2013, according to BtoB in its Oct. 15, 2013 edition. The USPS has a proposal before Congress to raise first-class postage to $.49 from its current $.46, a 6.5 percent hike.
Direct marketers are suffering from the USPS’s “precarious financial condition,” and the two leading organizations paying careful attention to how this proposal wends its way toward possible approval are the Direct Marketing Association and the Catalog Mailers Association.
The article in BtoB providing the fodder for this post points also to internet taxation and data security issues as culprits to direct marketing’s pain points.
Postcard Mailings Still Viable
When you think of direct marketing, most thoughts turn to catalogs. The colorful, modelicious glam pages much like magazines selling everything from personal care, attire and furniture to hardware and technology are what we love to flip through, dog ear the pages and circle items for a wish list.
Think about postcards. How often do you get a postcard in the mail for the appointment for the dentist, vet, or next hair cut? How about the insurance agents, landscapers and roofers wanting your attention via a postcard?
There are many businesses using postcard mailings as the core of their lead generation and customer service. I, for one, count on the postcard from my dentist reminding me I have a six-month checkup coming up. Then, they call me to remind me, too. (I love that kind of personal touch.)
Postage for postcards would increase as well.
I recently had the privilege of working with an entrepreneur in Dallas who is a former architect. Chuck Frazier has put his energy and financial backing into a company he founded called SalesWave. He and his smart IT team have spent about five years on the backend of two postcard design, printing and mailing solutions for enterprises and small office, home office customers.
I got to write the news release for him right here to officially launch CRMail for those businesses that support six CRM solutions like Salesforce. For those smaller businesses without an existing CRM solution, SalesWave has created a SOHO product to help streamline postcard design, printing and mailing from a 10-step, time-intensive process down to minutes.
Is Direct Marketing Dead?
It’s the question people love to pose, and the answers in response are weighted with passion. I love this piece in Huffington Post assuring everyone that direct marketing is not dead; in fact, it’s more powerful than email in response rates.
I like this article Randy Bowden posted on Google+ which boasts a confusing title that direct marketing is dead, long live direct marketing. Apparently, the author blames it on branding.
Consumers & Postage
Is there anything we as consumers can do if postage increases again?
More people will do online bill pay; however, I recently had a negative AT&T experience with a paperless statement (they switched me without my knowledge) making my bill tardy. When I got the call, I said pay two months via automatic funds withdrawal.
More than eight days later, I got another email saying I still owed the money. AT&T said they pinged my bank and nothing happened; I called the bank and they said they never got a ping for payment, so I called AT&T again and wasted more time on the phone. The customer service agent with AT&T was great and fixed my issue; however, where is the trust in this process?
As a consumer, I’d rather keep control of my money and write checks. Call me antiquated; however, I don’t like all these companies up in my business, especially when I can’t trust that a permitted transaction went awry causing me a headache.
Here’s hoping the companies that rely on postcard mailings for their livelihood will be able to afford the postage to continue sending customers and prospects helpful postcard mailings so we know when our teeth need cleaning. Here’s hoping that companies will also consider SalesWave solutions for all their postcard mailing needs. Grin.
I believe
direct marketing, as it was originally conceived, is alive and well on the Web.
Lester Wunderman defined it as a system of interactive transactions between
consumers and manufacturers that create a dialog and human scale to the way we
make, buy and sell things. That sounds a lot like Seth Godin. But Wunderman put
forth his vision in 1967. The Internet (email, social media, etc.) is the
perfect direct marketing medium.
Direct mail
is the original channel of first generation direct marketing. Now it is one of
many. It still has its place in the marketing mix as the Huffington Post
article suggests. But direct mailers have had to get smarter with better targeting
in order to deal with the costs associated with regular postage increases over
the past two decades. The DMA has been saying for years that the USPS cannot
fix its problems by raising rates only. I don’t know if the USPS is killing
direct marketing or even direct mail. But the way it is going it could be
killing itself. You’ve thrown out lots to think about here, Jayme. Interesting.
digitaljgo Hey, John! I like your perspective always as you come from another side of marketing than I. We could make a good team!
BTW, I’m not seeing your link to your latest blog post. Do you think you should log out of Livefyre and log back in? Sometimes a reboot helps with new buttons/settings.
Soulati | Hybrid PR digitaljgo So much for that awesome customer service experience I was raving about earlier. Back to the support forum for me. Here’s a link to my latest: https://jgodigital.com/261/
Outside of direct mail, especially mass mailings, I feel mailed print pieces are a real differentiator these days. As email inboxes have gotten overloaded, the new (“old”) place to stand out is the US Mail, just as a nice, weighty print piece offers what a colleague calls “the thud factor” — an impression that real thought and investment went into it.
Soulati | Hybrid PR I was wondering if this is a Lifefyre thing/bug. I’ve been on other sites where nobody’s recent blog posts are showing up.
RobBiesenbach I agree with you, Rob. Direct mail has been out of vogue just long enough to be a novelty. A well-executed mailing could be just what is needed to break through the clutter of digital communications.
RobBiesenbach I wonder if I should try that strategy? I’ve been lax and pretty dumb about building any sort of list and that includes mail, email or other. It’s not where my thoughts go; nor do I see the value. I’m working on that. Sometimes there’s a reason the disciplines have been separate. This blending thing is causing many to play catch up. Love that you’re here, Rob. Thanks again.
RobBiesenbach Soulati | Hybrid PR I will check on this and I bet they know enough people are complaining as I fully rely on that feature!
Soulati | Hybrid PR RobBiesenbach Hey guys 🙂 our good friend digitaljgo actually raised this with us, and we’re working with him on that now. An engineer will be taking a look today, and we’ll some news back to John soon 🙂 Thanks for hanging in there, guys!
Thanks! I suggested he reach out to you guys knowing tech support is tops with you!
Jayme,
I don’t like giving businesses unfettered access to my banking information either. I still get paper bills and statements. Does anyone really think that a $0.03 increase in First Class Postage is the real reason why some more folks will choose to pay online? I think it is more about convenience.
Let’s say I pay 10 bills per month. At $0.03 each, that adds up to $0.30 per month. Not much of a deterrent.
Direct mailers are beginning to get it. While the cost of digital marketing is far less, so is the return. Fewer and fewer emails are being opened all the time. More and more of them are being filtered by aggressive SPAM filters, and the shelf life in one’s inbox, is a few hours at best.
No comparison.
Cheers,
Marc
MZazeela Great answer, Marc. Thank you! Instead of looking at the .03 increase, I see the cost of the entire stamp! We’ll be .50 per first-class letter for all intents; I’m a letter writer in general, and sending holiday greetings also becomes more of a bite. For we die hards, I won’t let it deter me, but there will always be complainers. If it wasn’t for mismanagement, then perhaps we would not be in this position.
Soulati | Hybrid PR OH SNAP! Looks what’s back 🙂 Thanks for hanging in there while we fixed the LinkBack issue guys, we REALLY appreciate it!
Happy Halloween, and have a great weekend!