It Only Makes Sense

You don't have to convince us that direct mail works. There are plenty of numbers out their to prove direct mail marketing's effectiveness, especially when tailoring your message to the right audience.

Most of us are getting less mail in our mailboxes, so not only do those messages that are relevant get noticed, they also get read. Add in some sensory marketing to your piece; a little scent here, a little taste strip there, some moving images or a little noise, and you've got yourself a stand out!

Check out the excerpt below from the USPS' Deliver Magazine about last spring's Scented Campaign from TruGreen. Can you smell the fresh cut grass?

Sensory Mail Grabs Hold of the Target

October 10, 2011
by Lekan Oguntoyinbo

An Appeal to the Senses

Spring came early this year in many of the nation’s colder regions, courtesy of lawn care giant TruGreen. In February, oversized postcards with a picture of a lush lawn in the foreground and a family in the background began showing up in mailboxes of 1 million prospective customers of the lawn care company. “Say hello to Spring,” the card read in big white letters.

On the lower left side of the postcard an invitation beckoned: For the smell of a healthy spring lawn, peel here.

The scent of fresh-cut grass filled the nostrils of potential customers who accepted the invitation.

The scented postcard, a key component of TruGreen’s integrated marketing campaign this year, is the Memphis-based company’s first foray into sensory marketing.

“As a company we wanted to change the conversation from killing weeds to lawn enjoyment,” says Amy Simpson, director of brand communications for TruGreen.

While it’s too early to release any definitive data on this new campaign, the evidence so far suggests the use of the scented postcards was well received, says Simpson: “We have anecdotal comments from customers. They say it evoked an emotional appeal, and they liked the smell. It made them want to be outside.”

Read the full article with more examples of other effective sensory marketing campaigns here.

Direct Mail Is Where It's At

The latest Fold Factory 60 second super cool fold of the week certainly demonstrates that your folds don't have to be fancy to be effective. Direct mail, when combined with the right message, the right audience and the right design.....can achieve some fantastic results. Add in some variable data for personalization, and those results can be over the top.

A few direct mail facts courtesy of PaperBecause.com (Domtar) and Down To Earth (International Paper) :

• 75% of people have made a purchase as a result of direct mail
• Those who received a printed catalog from a retailer were twice as likely to buy online as consumers who did not
• 56% of people say they enjoy reading mail
• Campaigns combining direct mail and Internet yield up to an additional 25% response rate
• Nearly 80% of households either read or scan advertising mail sent to their household

And be sure to check out these awesome articles, courtesy of Deliver Magazine, which offer great tips for getting the most out of your direct mail campaign.

 http://www.delivermagazine.com/2010/12/5-steps-for-making-an-offer/

 http://www.delivermagazine.com/2010/12/10-direct-mail-mistakes-to-avoid/

http://www.delivermagazine.com/2010/12/integrate-mail-with-other-media/

http://www.delivermagazine.com/2011/05/what%e2%80%99s-a-good-response-2/

We are always willing to help you select the perfect paper for your next direct mail piece. Contact your CMP sales rep or email terris@cmpaper.com.

We "heart" paper. And we believe in the power of print.

More Direct Mail = More Design, More Printing & More Paper. Go USPS!

Monday, May 2nd, 2011

The US Postal Service will launch a major advertising campaign in September seeking to promote use of the mail as a marketing tool by American businesses.

Postmaster General Pat Donahoe announced to the National Postal Forum this morning in San Diego that the campaign will target the sizable 75% chunk of US businesses that currently do not use the mail for advertising purposes.

The push to get advertisers on board comes as part of a USPS priority to boost the business-to-consumer channel to help counter a general decline in mail volumes.

The business-to-consumer channel is currently responsible for around 70% of its revenues and 80% of mail volume, but with three quarters of businesses not using the mail for advertising, Donahoe said there was a “major opportunity” for the Postal Service.

The campaign will include television spots and direct mail, building on the lessons learned from the USPS package delivery advertising campaign, “If it fits it ships”, which has so far seen 25m extra flat-rate boxes mailed in the US so far this year alone, a 35% increase year-on-year.

“We are ready to apply the lessons from our package marketing and develop a major advertising campaign to support mail,” he said.

Donahoe said the Postal Service hadn’t focused on promoting mail through significant advertising in 10 years. The new campaign would be “a little unusual, but it could be very powerful”, he added.

Industry Input

The Postal Service looks likely to use its existing advertising agency Campbell-Ewald on the campaign, and Donahoe said that as well as involving mailers in the campaign, the USPS would seek to share insights from the campaign with customers, and feed their thoughts into September’s message.

“This won’t be just a Postal Service campaign,” he said. “If our industry aligns around the same marketing insights about mail, the potential exists to multiply that advertising effect,” he said.

Donahoe told Post&Parcel this morning that his team would look to discuss the campaign’s initial research with members of its industry advisory group MTAC – the Mailers’ Technical Advisory Committee – as well as with key members of the advertising industry.

“We’re trying to get some advertising people together, to run some ideas by them,” he said. ”A lot of decisions are taken by large advertisers as to what their clients will use – and if they are not thinking about the mail, there’s not a lot we can do.”

Rough cuts of television spots that could feed into a possible campaign have featured representatives of the public speaking about their relationships with the mail and why they could not do with out it.

The Postmaster General is keen to promote the “tremendous value of the mail” to American businesses, particularly competing against the digital and television advertising.

“We’re saying to them: you can go on a website, and you’ve got to compete with millions of other website, and get people to go visit that website,” he said. “With the mail you’re just competing with whatever else is in the person’s mailbox that morning.”

Among the 75% of businesses that do not currently use the mail for their advertising, Donahoe told reporters this morning that the pharmaceutical industry could be a key target for this kind of campaign. The Postal Service researched America’s top advertisers ahead of a market trial to offer major advertisers a “money-back guarantee” this summer to promote the use of direct mail, and the research revealed that major pharmaceuticals are doing “zero” advertising through the mail.

“It’s shocking how little they use the mail,” Donahoe said. “For pharmaceuticals it’s zero through the mail, and yet they’re all running these television ads that make you afraid to buy anything they’re selling.”

The concept of working closely with its customers on the advertising campaign fits with a theme at this year’s National Postal Forum of “seamlessly aligning with your business”. Around 4,000 delegates – mailing companies, equipment and suppliers as well as Postal Service staff – are expected at this year’s event, which runs until Wednesday.

Source: James Cartledge, Post & Parcel http://bit.ly/lmnRuK

Why Technology Hasn't Killed Direct Mail......An excerpt from Deliver Magazine

Have you checked out this publication yet?

Deliver Magazine. It's a USPS® publication that features marketing research, news and commentary. It is an awesome resource for me. But then, I sell paper, so I believe in the power of print and direct mail. And I am always looking for facts to use to promote their effectiveness.

Bet you could use some information to convince your clients that print is definitely not dead and that it should remain a vital and relevant part of their marketing campaign, right?

So, I'm sharing the links. Click here to check out Deliver Magazine and here to subscribe to it.

Most of you reading our CMP News & Notes Blog make your living in this industry. Let's work together to keep paper and print alive & well in West Michigan. Spread the word.

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The following excerpt was taken from a Deliver Magazine article posted August 24, 2010

Why Technology Hasn't Killed Direct Mail

Look at recent developments, and it becomes clear we’re witnessing a new age of direct mail.

Long an effective marketing device, mail is now being linked with new technologies in astounding ways that improve its effectiveness and bring a new engagement. Such advancements ensure it will last several more generations, and will likely launch mail into a new era of viability.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way. The explosion of digital technology was supposed to be the death knell for direct mail. The medium was expected to take what direct had done, and do it better, faster and cheaper.

Consider the irony then that far from killing it off, digital is helping usher in this new era of direct mail.

Of course, direct mail and digital have always been buddies. Mail was the primary way most of us learned about the Internet. (Remember those ubiquitous disks from a major online company?)

Catalogers have always known that mail can drive additional sales and online visits, and many digital entrepreneurs have turned to the mailbox to drive people to the inbox.

The difference today is that marketers are now finding methods for combining digital technology with mail to increase the power of the message. Mail is no longer the carrier, the device you use to drive someone online. It’s the beginning of a conversation that carries on once the customer logs on.

Full article here: http://www.delivermagazine.com/2010/08/why-technology-hasnt-killed-direct-mail

CMP & US Postal Service Team Up Again

Thanks Williams Group for allowing Terri Spaulding/CMP and Mike Spaulding/ US Postal Service to Debunk the Top 10 Greenwashing Myths About Paper and to share how Direct Mail can be both green and effective at today's lunch-n-learn. Contrary to popular belief...print is NOT dead and still remains a very effective part of the marketing mix. Want to hear more? Let us know....



                                     

If you are interested in hosting this presentation, please contact one of us. Terri 's e-mail is terris@cmpaper.com and Mike's is michael.k.spaulding@usps.gov