In case you haven’t heard, the U.S. Postal Board has delayed the elimination of Saturday mail delivery slated to being August 5.

This doesn’t mean that the transition won’t happen. It just won’t happen immediately. Apparently, the board still supports the long-term elimination of Saturday mail, but it appears to be claiming that the USPS didn’t have the authority to change its own schedule and that legislation first must be passed to give it this authority.

The fallout?

Mailers don’t need to worry about adjusting their mailing schedules through summer and fall.

The USPS has expressed that, if it is not allowed to cut these $2 billion in costs by a change in schedule, heft rate increases may take it place.

In an article in DM News, there was an interesting comment from the perspective of catalogers, who apparently are very much in support of five-day mail delivery:

Our members say they’ll take one-day delivery if it translates into lower cost. That’s how much of an overarching concern cost is. — Hamilton Davison, president of the American Catalog Mailers Association

What do you think? Is the delay a relief or a concern?

I often see online discussions about the virtues of hand addressing over using traditional addressing, and when this happens, my thought is, “Well, of course!” Hand addressing stands out from the same old, same old addressing you see in the mailbox every day.

But then, so does a handwriting font. You may not mistake it for real handwriting, but it’s still different enough to grab someone’s attention. Even if the recipient’s response is, “Oh, look! Another handwriting font trying to fool me into thinking this is real handwriting,” it still gets them to look for that extra second or half-second that can make the difference.

So when I see these discussions, I remain mystified by the fact that the discussion always seems to revolve around the same old thing. To me, the more relevant question is, has anyone bothered to do a split test to see whether there is a difference between true handwriting and handwriting fonts?  Is anyone asking that question?

Has anyone out there done a split test on real handwriting vs. handwriting fonts? What was the result?

I just flipped through today’s stack of mail on the counter. There was a lot of it — flip, flip, flip — but only one envelope caught my eye. That is because it was addressed to me . . . twice.

Heidi Tolliver-Nigro

Heidi Tolliver-Walker

It was from an industry name I recognized, so I opened it. It was an invitation to attend a data analysis seminar.

I wondered if the company putting on the seminar had cleansed its data recently. I haven’t been Heidi Tolliver-Nigro in nearly two years. One would think that the double name would have been flagged and cleansed at some point. Not to mention that I now much prefer my married name over my former married name. So much for the “personal” part of the data.

It’s just a somewhat humorous reminder that, in this industry, it’s important to walk the walk and do it well. I’m quite sure that this company knows what it is doing, that the seminar will be professional and useful, and this was just an oversight. But when the competition is nipping at your heels and data management is becoming less of a differentiator than it used to be, you don’t want to be making oversights like this.

When was the last time you cleansed your customer, prospect, and contact database?

Like many others, you may have thought of LinkedIn as a place meant for posting resumes and searching for jobs. Think again.

LinkedIn just may be the best online marketing venue in the business – especially if you have a business-to-business company.

Launched in 2003, LinkedIn has recently emerged as a bonafide marketing behemoth within the social media landscape. It surpassed both Twitter and Facebook as a platform for posting marketing content, according the Content Marketing Institute report, 2013 Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends.

LinkedIn has recently amassed an astounding 200 million members. Plus, it acquires 172,800 new members every day. LinkedIn also generates the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate — 2.74% — nearly three times more than Twitter and Facebook, according to a 2012 HubSpot study.

If you’re like other business owners, you know that you need to build an online brand presence. But, like many, your eyes glaze over at the infinite number of social media options.

So, let’s simplify this. If you had to choose just one social network for marketing your business online, LinkedIn would be a pretty good place to start. It’s easy to set up. It’s free, unless you spring for the Premium plan, and it won’t take up your entire workday to follow or maintain. Here are some simple action items:

1. Sign up. If you haven’t already done so, stop everything and set up a LinkedIn account for your company. By the way, a newer, sleeker LinkedIn Company Pages, launched last year, makes it easier to connect your business with those 200 million other users.
2. Introduce yourself. Write a company profile with strong, relevant keywords. Let people know who you are, what you do, and how to reach you. Maintain your page with regular company updates and news.
3. Join LinkedIn groups. (FYI: My favorite LinkedIn feature.) Join LinkedIn groups — either within your industry or in those you’re targeting to grow your business. See what people are talking about and sharing.
4. Build contacts. LinkedIn is ultimately a great place to network. Invite people you know to be “contacts” and, likewise, accept invitations from others to join their contact list. LinkedIn etiquette generally frowns on asking complete strangers to be contacts, but you may ask existing contacts for referrals to their connections.
5. Contribute. While LinkedIn is generally a promotion-free zone, it nonetheless encourages you to share and respond to relevant news, trends, observation and opinion with your groups and contacts. It’s a great way to build brand awareness for you and your company and widen your network of professional connections.

So, thinking about giving LinkedIn a try?  Good call. May be the best thing you do today for your company.

Editor’s Note: Bob Boucher is President of Boucher Communications. A communications professional for 30 years, Bob is an experienced marketer, copywriter, journalist and content generator for enterprises and agencies. He has spent much of the past 20 years in the graphic arts and digital printing industries.

It’s a bit incongruous. The first thing you see is a Gillette ad showing Kate Upton in a seductive pose with the headline,  “How does Kate Upton like her man’s body styled? Read her mind,” with a QR code inside the thought bubble. Then you see the headline to The Business Insider article the ad is used to illustrate: “The 15 Worst QR Code Fails of All Time.”

I have a very hard time imagining that this QR Code was not scanned by every red-blooded American man not offended by that kind of thing. Even more odd was the fact that the article dubbed QR Codes “the gimmick people love to hate.” Maybe, but I’m quite certain that Gillette is hating QR Codes all the way to the bank.

The ad was offensive. It was tacky. The content to which the QR Code pointed was juvenile. But the use of QR Codes was effective and illustrates QR Codes used well.

Why? Whether you agree or disagree with the approach, it caused readers to engage with the ad—and it did so while reinforcing Gillette’s brand. Most likely, the content was created specifically for this advertisement much like the supposedly “nude” millisecond shot of model Laura Stone for the Calvin Klein campaign produced by The Ace Group a number of years ago.

One of the best practices for QR Codes is to provide alternative ways to access the content for people who don’t want to scan the code. Gillette didn’t do that. If people wanted to see it, they had to scan the code.

I haven’t talked to Gillette or its agency,  but from talking to Val DiGiacinto at The Ace Group, I know why TAG did it for Calvin Klein back then. They were going after a specific demographic that matched the demographic of QR Code scanners and they wanted the viral sharing that comes with mobile access. TAG’s Calvin Klein campaign was enormously successful, and I imagine this was, too.

It’s funny that The Business Insider chose this ad to illustrate its commentary on QR Code fails. But it did so, I’m quite sure, because it knew that the ad’s tantalizing use of the QR Code would draw people in to read the article. So it used a powerful and well-planned “the gimmick people love to hate” to great effectiveness and its own gain.

Interesting how that works.

I recently had a very interesting conversation with James Michelson, president and founder of JFM Concepts, about text messaging in the printing industry. We were talking about multichannel marketing and how text messaging fits in.

Michelson wanted to talk about the use of text messaging in a way we rarely hear it being talked about—to gather email addresses. It went something like this:

1. Pick a venue (Jumbotron, direct mail, poster).
2. Offer a great incentive.
3. Ask people to respond by short code.
4. As your reply, send a link where they can sign up for the offer.
5. On the landing page, ask them to provide an email address to receive notification of their prize and opt-in to additional communications from your client.
6. Include content on the landing page that reflects the value of the content to the respondent so that they want to opt in and continue to receive email communications beyond notification of their prize.

This isn’t going to be the approach you use for all SMS short codes (QR Codes can be used to do the same thing), but it’s one that works in an unusual way — text messaging to gather emails!

Kudos (again) to James Michelson for his willingness to share great ideas with the industry!

I recently did some research around the industry on the impact of the upcoming Saturday First-Class mail stoppage. In the end, the consensus seems to be that it might be highly inconvenience for awhile, but marketers will figure it out.

One of the biggest concerns is for bill payments since consumers will have one less day for their payments to arrive. But Gene Del Polito, president of Postcom, made an interesting observation. If that’s a concern, why not make paying bills easier? Free online bill pay (that is one of my pet peeves — billers who charge for online payments that save them money and improve their cash flow anyway) or pre-paid BREs if they aren’t offering them already.

If all someone has to do is drop a check in the mail and not worry about finding an envelope, addressing the envelope, and applying a stamp, it’s that much easier (and faster) to make the payment.  The easier it is to respond, the less impact the Saturday First-Class mail stoppage will have.

I thought it was a good point. How about you?

Years ago, I wrote about a study conducted by the Digital Printing Council on the lamination (or non-lamination) of direct mail and how the various toner-based presses fared in the mail stream. The topic is still around apparently, since it is kicking up quite a storm in one of the industry discussion groups.

The poster expressed frustration that the USPS had been “particularly cruel” to his non-laminated direct mail piece and was looking for advice on the best way to create scuff-resistant mail.

Here are a few interesting responses:

Well, being in the lamination business for 25 years, you know what I would suggest. Not sure what USPS did and not sure what type of DM you did, but coatings may still scuff. Lamination will certainly preserve the piece from tearing or the ink being scuffed. It will add to the cost, but so will coating or even bagging your piece.

(Chuck Thompson, Business Development Manager, Cosmo Films)

If you print digitally and mail, without coating or laminating, you will get scuffing and poor looking pieces. I see from your profile that you are from the manufacturing side of the industry. Welcome to the user side. Toner does not absorb into paper. It sits on top and is easily rubbed off by rollers . . .  Next mailer, budget for coating or laminating or have it run on old fashioned offset lithography.

(Ed Keenan, Owner, Document Depot [NYC])

Ryan’s dilemma may create an interesting opportunity for him. DM users are always searching for ways to improve response. It is possible that film lamination could add visual impact that would do just that. For the next mailing try laminating half of the pieces, then mail using an A-B split (every other name receives the laminated piece). Code the labels, address, or response piece to show which lot generated every response. You may be surprised at improved results.

(Mike Burrows, President and Owner at Burrows Consulting, Inc., Washington D.C.)

Other suggestions included printing on synthetic substrates, using offline UV, and to keep costs down, using a lighter weight stock and laminating only on the messaging side and leaving the address side uncoated.

What was interesting was that, once the suggestions were proffered, they solicited responses from other group members who found that, at least from the technical side (not the marketing response side), it didn’t seem to matter whether the prints were laminated or not or printed on synthetic stocks or not. It’s so nice to have a consensus, isn’t it?

What’s your experience?

There nearly 1 million insurance agents and brokers employed in the U.S. and you would think that they would be fiercely competitive with each other. You’d be wrong.  In fact, more and more, agencies are merging, consolidating and forming agency networks to compete with the real enemy – Direct Writers. Many large carriers with captive agency forces or who sell insurance directly online or over the phone, “Direct Writers,” spend as much as $200 to $700 million per year on advertising, particularly in the home and auto insurance market. According to estimates from Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America and A.M. Best Co. direct writers dominated the overall personal lines market in 2010 writing over 53 percent of total premium. Independent agents are fighting back and asserting their value to insurance customers.

“Personal touch is what will keep independent agents alive in the future,” says Christopher Misterka, Marketing Coordinator with the Kaplansky Insurance Agency which has offices in 11 locations and has experienced 13% growth in each of the past 2 years. Misterka says that client correspondence used to be primarily letters but, “now it’s primarily email, social media and a monthly online newsletter that offers customer education on timely issues like potential tax scams during tax season.” While Kaplansky has moved most of their personal lines marketing online due to the size of the household audience they want to reach, they continue to prospect for commercial clients using direct mail. To keep content fresh and campaigns timely, Misterka engaged an insurance specialty organization called Agency Revolution with professional writers, an existing library of content and a digital marketing platform that enables quick generation of marketing campaigns.

Angelyn Treutel, President of SouthGroup Insurance agrees that providing educational content is critical in positioning an agency well with customers and that consistency of communication with the customer builds trust. Her organization leverages the Trusted Choice solution available through the IA&B however; their direct marketing is all managed in-house. “We use a multi-channel, multi-touch approach recognizing that it may take 2 or 3 or 4 touches before a customer takes action,” says Treutel. “We need multi-channel because different customers are in all different places,” relative to their acceptance of online versus print communications. SouthGroup has had particular success with personalized direct mail that includes pictures of agents as part of the mailing. Personalization, careful segmentation of campaigns and ensuring that the customer never gets the exact same message twice are important in crafting an effective campaign according to Treutel.

Differentiation between segments of the P&C business such as commercial versus personal lines is one simple method, but many agencies are looking deeper at markets, customers and the communication preferences of individuals. For example, the High-Net-Worth Personal Lines market is more often served by independent agents than direct writers as the agencies give affluent customers the specialized services they have come to expect. In this market, agencies can create campaigns to educate customers on the superior products, pricing, loss prevention services and risk management services that are available through carriers that specialize in the HNW market versus more generic solutions from direct writers. Since many HNW clients are also business owners or senior executives, there are great opportunities to cross sell HNW personal lines insurance to commercial clients and vice versa. Independent agents currently sell the lion’s share of premium in the commercial market and can strengthen that position by building trusted personal relationships with business owners and managers.

Creating innovative communications has historically not been a core competency of insurance agencies but most recognize that this needs to change. As the demand for more effective and consistent customer touches continues to grow, agencies are looking for partners to help them execute regular, cost effective communications programs with their customers. If you are a service provider with a truly robust multi-channel offer and the strategic services to become an agent of change in the P&C industry – opportunities abound. If your offering is not quite as developed, don’t despair, there are still opportunities to pursue business from the “Agency Agencies” that are primarily focused on providing marketing content and digital distribution, but typically outsource printing and mailing services. As agencies cooperate and grow larger, the opportunities to serve them grow larger as well.

Elizabeth Gooding is the President of Gooding Communications Group and editor of the Insight Forums blog. She writes and speaks and provides training on trends and opportunities for business communications professionals within regulated vertical industries.

In the world of personalization, we rely on data on individual recipients to target and personalize content to be relevant and meaningful to them. But in the world of B2B, decision-making has been more collaborative. In fact, according to IDC, the number of stakeholders for each purchase decision has grown by 40% — from five in 2010 to seven in 2012.

Tom Pisello, also known as “the ROI guy,” has written two very interesting blog posts on this topic from the sales perspective that are worth the read (“More Stakeholders = More Sales & Marketing Complexity in 2013” and “Are Buyer Personas Dead?“).

From a digital printing and personalization perspective, the impact of the expanding number of stakeholders could be significant.

As the number of stakeholders in any B2B decision grows, this will impact the ability of marketers to use personalization to promote their products and services. But for the better or the worse?

On one hand, we could say that it makes personalization to the individual less relevant. Stakeholders can range from IT to product management to finance, all of whom have differing agendas and motivations. Even the best, most sophisticated personalization efforts cannot span them all. The higher the number of stakeholders grows, the more watered down the impact of any individual marketing effort to any individual person on that team becomes.

On the other hand, every project often has one individual champion within the organization who advocates for the decision and propels it forward. We never know which of those 5–7 stakeholders on the team it’s going to be.  Sometimes all it takes is one. The recipient of that 1:1 marketing piece could be the person who makes the difference.

What is your experience? How do you think the expanding number of stakeholders affects personalization in marketing?

Creative direct mail can have a life far beyond the first recipient. In an Internet era, people go on Facebook and Reddit and Twitter to share the direct mail piece that turned their head. Here are some recent examples that I found particularly interesting, and that go to show that a little creativity can have a lasting effect in an increasingly digital world.

1. BMW “M-print”
I found this example extremely creative, in that it gave a new twist on variable print and personalization, as the car literally made thousands of unique impressions, and likely made exponentially more “impressions,” as 470,000 people have watched (on YouTube) the process that went into this direct mail campaign. Take a look:

Great campaign, great execution, and a lasting impression.

2. Mini (success from a glitch)
I found this earlier today on Reddit on the front page of “Funny,” and it shows that even in the face of a flub, there lies an opportunity. Take a look below, and see how a little creativity and humor can turn what could have felt like a disaster into having a customer that is “In on the joke.”

Included in the mailing was, you guessed it, a chocolate rose, a roll of duct tape and a can of Spam. Wonderful execution combined with a personal touch from a company that is known for being lighthearted. Goes to show that each individual mail piece you send has the ability to impact the recipient greatly and turn some bad PR into some great PR.

3. Griffiths, Gibson and Ramsay Productions (GGRP)
Possibly my all-time favorite example of creative direct mail (being an avid record collector and fan of intuitive design). GGRP Sound Studio mailed out a “make-your-own” phonograph player with a 45 rpm record. The recipient is enticed to build this working record-player and learns more about the business in the meantime.

This mailing reinforces the ideal that direct mail is most impactful when it becomes a keepsake, something that the recipient will refer back to in the future. Creative agencies were calling the Sound Studio asking if they had additional mailpieces to share!

Several members of our blog team have shared their recent “WOW” moments with print, such as Cineprint, Augmented Reality and a Lexus mailing that hit all the right “channels.” What is your Direct Mail story? What mailings stood out to you? Leave your comments below.

Editor’s Note: Keep up with all of Matt’s blogs at the SourceLink blog! 

The recent USPS Folded Self-Mailer regulations mean big things for direct mailers – there are now more creative options available to the mailing industry. These new options capitalize on advances in technology and mail processing capabilities. If you are interested in learning more about these new regulations, you can click here to to read the summarized reference guide, which was created jointly by the USPS and mailing industry.

In this week’s 60 Second Super-Cool Fold of the Week we highlight a direct mail piece from American Express which is made possible through – you guessed it – these new Folded Self-Mailer regulations! In this piece, you’ll see an opening flap on the non-address side of the envelope used to highlight some of the most noteworthy information bits of the offer. The piece opens to reveal an additional self-contained pocket, glued on the sides, protecting smaller printed brochures, response card, and response envelope. This is a great example of a fully automated, inline finishing direct mail run that will stand out in your customers stack of mail, inviting them to open.

Enough from me – see for yourself!

Looking for a way to convince customers to start blending in text messaging into their multi-channel mix? New data from Leads360 may help.

According to “Text Messaging for Better Sales Conversion,” sales prospects who receive SMS text messages during the sales process convert at a rate 40% higher than those who do not. But success depends on application and timing.

In its study of 3.5 million lead records, Leads360 found that texts sent after contact via telephone improve conversions 112.6% over average conversion levels, while those sent prior to phone contact convert at roughly 4.8% below the average rate. So we’re not talking about using text messaging as a replacement for traditional methods of sales contact, but as a supplement.

How does this help printers who serve phone calling and text messaging clients? After all, they aren’t the ones placing the sales calls.

1) If the client doesn’t already have mobile numbers, they need to be gathered in the first place (a service the MSP can provide).

2) Once those mobile numbers are in the database, they can be used for push messaging (marketing), as well.

Convince ‘em on the sales conversion data, then sell ‘em on a multi-channel campaign including mobile.

“Text Messaging for Better Sales Conversion” analyzed the text messaging practices of more than 3.5 million prospect interactions. You can download the white paper at no charge here.

When we think about personalized printing and creating relevance-based campaigns, we think about demographic data, purchase history, personalized URLs . . . but how often do we really think about timing?

My husband came in the other day holding a beautiful, glossy postcard selling surface overlay installation. As the director of facilities for a large private school, this was something he would definitely be interested in.

“What’s wrong with this picture?” he asked, handing me the card.

I looked it over.

The time of year appeared to be correct:

Tis the seaons for slips and falls. Get free ice melter and help reduce slippery conditions.

That’s true. Ice melt does help with that.

The company had gotten his name spelled correctly. It had spelled the name of the school correctly. As as the direct of facilities, he was the right person to send it to.  But he was right. Something didn’t add up.

“It’s a little late in the year to use ice melt as an incentive?”

Bingo! Facilities directors normally order ice melt in bulk in the fall — September or October. By February, the incentive is competely irrelevant to someone in his position.

This drives home the point that when it comes to 1:1 printing and relevance-based marketing, we have to think beyond the data. What is really of value to the person receiving the mailing? And does the offer have relevance and value not only to the person, but at the time the person is receiving it?

I wonder what the response rate was to this mailing? If it wasn’t great, I wonder if the company has yet figured out why?

At a Canon Oce webinar on January 23, InfoTrends Group Director Barbara Pellow presented “2013 Top 10 Trends for the Printing Industry.”

1. Digital Color is King. All bets are on digital color printing. InfoTrends research forecasts an increase from $29.6 to $39.5 billion in the retail value of  U.S. digital color from 2011 through 2016.

2. Digital Wide Format Goes Mainstream. Digital wide format printing evolves into an key component of companies’ marketing strategies, and will continue its 7% CAGR from 2011 through 2016.

3. Inkjet Accelerates Migration from Offset to Digital. New inkjet solutions offer greater speed, quality, substrate flexibility, and finishing –  as well as more  competitive pricing. Major inkjet growth expected from books, direct mail, transpromo and brochure printing.

4. Enhanced Substrates Drive Digital. Digital presses support new, high margin substrates: rugged synthetics; pressure sensitive stocks; specialty media; pre-scored, ready-to-print dimensional stock; new photobook media, and others.

5. Web-to-Print Manages Marketing Supply Chains. Companies spend billions for producing, shipping, storing, and handling literature. PSPs will optimize the marketing supply chain  – offering online print-on-demand collateral catalogues.

6. Content Reigns. Fifty-four percent of B2B firms increase spending on content marketing. PSP’s cultivate “thought leadership” offering content that educates, entertains and motivates.

7. Hyper-Personalization Drives Digital Print. 2013 is the “Year of Hyper-Personalization” – when marketing materials address more relevant, compelling needs of the consumer. Examples: mailers with personalized map directions and printed materials with PURLs linked to pre-approved applications.

8. Trigger-Based Marketing Meets Customer Preferences. Consumers expect real-time, two-way communications, through mobile devices, websites, and social media. PSPs customers will adopt marketing automation technology, e.g., from Market Sprocket, Hubspot, Orange Soda and Hootsuite.

9. Mobile Marketing Changes Communications. PSPs add mobile marketing solutions to the portfolio: mobile codes printed on packaging, POS, and brochures;  “opt-in mobile messaging” to mobile devices; Augmented Reality – digital graphics coded onto physical objects – revealing information or entertainment via mobile devices.

10. Direct Mail and Social Media Converge. PSPs support customers with social media marketing tools from Ducky, Hootsuite, SpreadFast, and others. Campaigns integrating direct mail with social media lift responses for both.