The Post Office has one particular requirement that I see is overlooked a great deal.

Here is an excerpt from the rule as printed in the current Domestic Mail Mannual:

3.17 Enclosed Reply Cards and Envelopes

3.17.1 Basic Standard

All letter-size reply cards and envelopes (business reply mail (BRM), courtesy reply mail (CRM), and meter reply mail (MRM)) provided as enclosures in automation First-Class Mail, Periodicals, and Standard Mail and addressed for return to a domestic delivery address must meet the applicable standards for automation-compatible mail in 3.0.

In other words, what the Post Office is saying is that in order for a mailing to receive reduced automation postage rates not only does the mailing have to meet all the stringent automation compatibility rules on the outside, it must also meet those rules for any reply mail on the inside! Basically, they are saying that they do not want to give you a discount on your mail unless you make it easier for them to mail back the included reply mail. I have always found this to be an odd requirement but nonetheless, if it is not adhered to your mailing will not receive automation discounts, which will not only cost you more in overall postage but may also cause a delay in your final delivery times.

If you currently do not have a automation compatible barcode for your return mail you can obtain one easily by contacting your local Post Office. You will want to ask for the Mailing Requirements Department of the Business Mail Entry Section. They will supply you with a fax number or email address to send them your return address to and in turn relay back an address complete with a barcode. You can then supply your printer with this for your future reply mail print runs.

Want to know how to create a winning direct mail campaign that won’t break your bank?

Click here to receive our consumer guide: 12 Ways To Avoid Paying More Than You Have To For Direct Mail. Inside you’ll learn the key mistakes to avoid when developing a direct mail campaign, the key element that can make or break your direct mail offering, plus you will be eligible to receive a special discount as a first-time customer! Get your free direct mail guide today!

Many businesses are turning to postcards as their first choice when considering media for their marketing campaigns. Postcards can be a valuable resource for the budget minded during an economic downturn where every dollar spent is important. Many printers, both local and online, have recognized this and are now offering beautiful four color, glossy postcards at very low costs. Here are some things that you might want to consider before making that final decision on your postcard purchase.

Even though the smallest sizes of postcards have the most attractive prices they may not be the best choice.

The smaller the media the smaller the message. You can only fit so much info on a small postcard. If you have a lot to say and or offer you may want to move up to a slightly larger card. I always recommend at least a 5.5” x 8.5”. Many “Quick Printers” find this size easy to print due to their ability to “Work & Turn” the print run since this size is half of a standard sheet of paper and will either give a lower cost or faster turnaround.

A small postcard is not as visible.

When a potential customer retrieves their mail a small postcard can be dwarfed by the other, larger media in the bundle. Getting your prospects eyes on your media is the most important step in a successful marketing campaign. A larger postcard, especially a creatively designed one with eye-catching graphics or tag line(s) will more easily be viewed.

Gloss or no Gloss?

While having a glossy look can enhance your design having the mail side of the card glossy may cause problems for the mail house during production. High speed inkjet addressing is much easier and more accurately applied to a non-gloss or matte finish so it is usually recommended to only have your info side glossy.

Postcard paper thickness

One of the most common problems with printing postcards is using card stock that is underweight by the Post Office standards. Larger postcards (larger than 4.25” x 6”) are required to be at least 9/1000 of an inch thick. Anything less and your mailing could be upcharged in postage or refused altogether by the Post Office.

Leave enough room for a Barcode

Many designers, especially while designing small postcards, do not allow enough space for the mail house to print a barcode on the mailing addresses. The post office has many placement requirements for printing a barcode and if the mailer does not have adequate room the mailing may be subject to higher postage costs.

Want to know how to create a winning direct mail campaign that won’t break your bank?

Click here to receive our consumer guide: 12 Ways To Avoid Paying More Than You Have To For Direct Mail. Inside you’ll learn the key mistakes to avoid when developing a direct mail campaign, the key element that can make or break your direct mail offering, plus you will be eligible to receive a special discount as a first-time customer! Get your free direct mail guide today!

Times are tough and have been for quite a while now and marketing funds seem to be the first to be allocated towards operating expenditures. Unfortunately, during these times marketing is one of the most important areas to consider.

A company must stay vigilant in its efforts to keep its name, reputation, products and or services visible and available to all potential customers, especially in times of an economic downturn. It is not only very important to regularly get your marketing information out to the public but track your responses as well. By tracking your successful marketing efforts you can build a database of previously interested clients that may utilize your products or services in the future. This is an invaluable tool for building a solid foundation of loyal, repeat customers that will help to secure your businesses economic future through hard times.

During hard times many potential customers will shop price over quality of service so it is very important to stay competitive in your pricing. A great way to achieve this without revamping your whole pricing structure is by incorporating discounts or coupons in your direct mail media. This will allow the budget minded shoppers to get the savings they need and a chance for you to receive and hopefully retain new business.

So, is one mailing going to get you the responses you are hoping for, in my opinion, no. Staying in the public’s eye, especially in hard economic times, takes aggressive action. Multiple, scheduled marketing media clearly informing everyone who you are, what you provide, where you are located, your experience/history, etc. along with enticing incentives by way of discounts and or coupons, will produce far greater exposure and greatly increase your chances of potential business.

Everyone wants the same things in business, quality products or services at a great price in a timely manner from a company that is experienced, friendly and cares about their goals. A properly constructed Direct Mail Campaign can help you relay your message to a targeted market and help ensure a solid foundation of steady customers.

Want to know how to create a winning direct mail campaign that won’t break your bank?

Click here to receive our consumer guide: 12 Ways To Avoid Paying More Than You Have To For Direct Mail. Inside you’ll learn the key mistakes to avoid when developing a direct mail campaign, the key element that can make or break your direct mail offering, plus you will be eligible to receive a special discount as a first-time customer! Get your free direct mail guide today!

In these troubled economic times many businesses are tightening their budgets wherever they can. Unfortunately, their marketing expenditures get thrown into the reductions just when they need them the most.

A company must stay vigilant in its efforts to keep its name, reputation, products and or services visible and available to all potential customers, especially in times of an economic downturn. It is not only very important to regularly get your marketing information out to the public but track your responses as well. By tracking your successful marketing efforts you can build a database of previously interested clients that may utilize your products or services in the future. This is an invaluable tool for building a solid foundation of loyal, repeat customers that will help to secure your businesses economic future through hard times.

During hard times many potential customers will shop price over quality of service so it is very important to stay competitive in your pricing. A great way to achieve this without revamping your whole pricing structure is by incorporating discounts or coupons in your direct mail media. This will allow the budget minded shoppers to get the savings they need and a chance for you to receive and hopefully retain new business.

So, should you send out a single mailing and hope for the best, in my opinion, no. Staying in the public’s eye, especially in hard economic times, takes aggressive action. Multiple, scheduled marketing media clearly informing everyone who you are, what you provide, where you are located, your experience/history, etc. along with enticing incentives by way of discounts and or coupons, will produce far greater exposure and greatly increase your chances of potential business.

Everyone wants the same things in business, quality products or services at a great price in a timely manner from a company that is experienced, friendly and cares about their goals. A properly constructed Direct Mail Campaign can help you relay your message to a targeted market and help ensure a solid foundation of steady customers.

Want to know how to create a winning direct mail campaign that won’t break your bank?

Click here to receive our consumer guide: 12 Ways To Avoid Paying More Than You Have To For Direct Mail. Inside you’ll learn the key mistakes to avoid when developing a direct mail campaign, the key element that can make or break your direct mail offering, plus you will be eligible to receive a special discount as a first-time customer! Get your free direct mail guide today!

If you are currently using or considering using direct mailers as part of your advertising plan, it is important that you use a direct mail house which is NCOA certified like we are at Personal Touch Mailing.

NCOA, National Change of Address, is a database which is maintained by the United States Postal Service.  The registry is then provided, for a fee, to direct mail houses which provide direct mailing services to businesses.

As an estimated forty million individuals, families, and businesses relocate each year, the tracking and updating of the database is a large, but necessary job. Direct mailers being sent to the wrong addresses result in wasted time and money.  A great deal of money is lost in paying increased postage costs when not using a NCOA certified direct mail house.

By using a NCOA certifiedMail house, you reduce this risk and ensure you are actually reaching your targeted customer base instead of wasting money on an undeliverable piece of mail.

We  have been an industry leader in direct mail advertising and direct mail fulfillment since 1992 and are NCOA certified. Personal Touch Mailing assists businesses of all sizes in building a complete, dynamic direct mail marketing campaign from start to finish. By utilizing our expert analysts to identify a target customer base and compile a mailing list for your business based on the intended recipient’s age, address, income, credit score, or even personal interests.

Direct mail campaigns are not only useful in attracting new business, but can also be essential in customer retention.  Direct mail pieces can be designed as a customer appreciation tool to recognize and thank loyal customers or to offer them an exclusive savings deal.  At P.T.M.S., Inc., being NCOA certified, we will help you track your previous customers and keep your customers’ addresses current on your mailing list.

Whether your project is a standard letter, postcard, booklet or a specialty designed mailer, we guarantee a fast production time, a high quality product, and  the industry’s lowest all-inclusive pricing.

No matter how well designed or colorful a mailer, it is only effective if it reaches the right audience. By using  a NCOA certified direct mail house you are guaranteed to achieve the desired results.

Want to know how to create a winning direct mail campaign that won’t break your bank?

Click here to receive our consumer guide: 12 Ways To Avoid Paying More Than You Have To For Direct Mail. Inside you’ll learn the key mistakes to avoid when developing a direct mail campaign, the key element that can make or break your direct mail offering, plus you will be eligible to receive a special discount as a first-time customer! Get your free direct mail guide today!

In direct mail marketing, there are three main leverage points to increase profits: improve the response rate, increase the sales price of the item, or decrease costs. While you can certainly take steps to tackle response rates and price testing may not be a bad idea, decreasing costs is perhaps the easiest to tackle. It offers an immediate impact on the marketing budget that even the grouchiest bean counters acknowledge. Here are three steps to saving money on your next direct mail campaign that you can do immediately.

1. Improve mailing list hygiene. Every returned piece of mail costs the company postage, printing and mail house fees. If you are using a house file, be sure that your mailing house or a list broker runs it against the NCOA list, or a list of people who have recently moved, so that you mail to their new address. If you are mailing to similar lists, such as two competing magazine subscriber files, merge and purge the lists against one another to avoid duplicate mailings. Be sure to ask your mailing list broker or processing service to have your list run against a file of recently deceased people so that you do not mail to people who absolutely cannot respond to your offer or anyone’s offer.

2. Check your creative against the U.S. Postal Service Domestic Mail Manual. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) frequently updates the domestic mail manual, the Bible for direct mailers. It’s a free book available online in PDF format that guides direct mailers in every aspect of preparing their mail for postal mailing. Check your creative envelopes, catalogs, self-mailers and postcards against their guidelines. Be sure that you pieces fall within the established guidelines and that your creative team designs them to maximize discounts.

3. Work with your printer and ask questions. If you use a particular paper stock because that’s what your company always uses, a change may be in order. Ask your printer if any comparable stocks are available on the floor. He may have remnants or open cases he can use of a similar paper that can decrease costs. Or perhaps he knows of another client that purchases the same paper, and you can purchase together at near-wholesale costs if you know the number of mailings you plan to do in one year. Great printing companies act like marketing partners, working with you on your campaigns to help you achieve your marketing goals.

Direct mail continues to be a viable channel for all businesses. Tune up your marketing programs and try these three simple steps today.

Want to know how to create a winning direct mail campaign that won’t break your bank?

Click here to receive our consumer guide: 12 Ways To Avoid Paying More Than You Have To For Direct Mail. Inside you’ll learn the key mistakes to avoid when developing a direct mail campaign, the key element that can make or break your direct mail offering, plus you will be eligible to receive a special discount as a first-time customer! Get your free direct mail guide today!

In these troubled economic times many businesses are tightening their budgets wherever they can. Unfortunately, their marketing expenditures can suffer in these financial cut-backs at a time where marketing is more important than ever.

A company must stay vigilant in its efforts to keep its name, reputation, products and or services visible and available to all potential customers, especially in times of an economic downturn. It is not only very important to regularly get your marketing information out to the public but track your responses as well. By tracking your successful marketing efforts and building a database from them, these interested clients may utilize your products or services in the future. This is an invaluable tool for building a solid foundation of loyal, repeat customers that will help to secure your businesses economic future through hard times.

During hard times many potential customers will shop price over quality of service so it is very important to stay competitive in your pricing. A great way to achieve this without revamping your whole pricing structure is by incorporating discounts or coupons in your direct mail media. The “offer” is more important now than ever! This will allow the budget minded shoppers to get the savings they need and a chance for you to receive and hopefully retain new business.

So, is sending out one mailing enough, in my opinion, no. Staying in the public’s eye, especially in hard economic times, takes aggressive action. Multiple, scheduled marketing media clearly informing everyone who you are, what you provide, where you are located, your experience/history, etc. along with enticing incentives by way of discounts and or coupons, will produce far greater exposure and greatly increase your chances of potential business.

Everyone wants the same things in business, quality products or services at a great price in a timely manner from a company that is experienced, friendly and cares about their goals. A properly constructed Bulk Mail Marketing Campaign can help you relay your message to a targeted market and help ensure a solid foundation of steady customers.

Want to know how to create a winning direct mail campaign that won’t break your bank?

Click here to receive our consumer guide: 12 Ways To Avoid Paying More Than You Have To For Direct Mail. Inside you’ll learn the key mistakes to avoid when developing a direct mail campaign, the key element that can make or break your direct mail offering, plus you will be eligible to receive a special discount as a first-time customer! Get your free direct mail guide today!

Printed postcards and flyers frequently come to us that do not meet the Post Office’s minimum thickness standards for mailing at the optimal postage rates.

Being one of the first things that is checked when materials arrive we promptly notify the customer of this issue and generally get the response that the printer told them the paper stock was within post office specifications. While this may be true as it applies to thickness specs the post office will accept and mail it may not fall within the “machinable” category which affords the customer far greater postal discounts.

Mail pieces that are below the minimum thickness standards for machinable mail not only creates higher costs in postage, they can also increase the labor costs. If the Mail House is able to modify the mail piece to conform to the rules there could be unfolding and refolding charges  such as turning a half fold mailer into a trifold to increase the thickness or inserting charges to insert a non-qualifying piece  into an envelope, again to increase the thickness. Both of these methods could greatly decrease the overall look and success of the marketing campaign.

In these hard economic times many people are looking to save money at every turn and as paper costs continue to increase, choosing a lower cost paper for your mailing media makes sense. As with a game of chess, making successful decisions only comes from one’s ability to look beyond the current step and choose the path that will meet all of your marketing goals. This is where an experienced Direct Mail Professional is the most helpful. By working closely with you from the beginning and watching your back throughout the project, your marketing campaign should meet or exceed your expectations.

Want to know how to create a winning direct mail campaign that won’t break your bank?

Click here to receive our consumer guide: 12 Ways To Avoid Paying More Than You Have To For Direct Mail. Inside you’ll learn the key mistakes to avoid when developing a direct mail campaign, the key element that can make or break your direct mail offering, plus you will be eligible to receive a special discount as a first-time customer! Get your free direct mail guide today!

When formulating a marketing strategy there are many options available. TV, Radio, Internet, Newspapers and Billboards are some of your available choices but are they as effective or as personal as Direct Mail?

While alternatives to Direct Mail might reach a larger audience and in some cases may be a bit easier on your budget, you may not be hitting your target market. Furthermore, what portions of your target market that are tuned in, flipping through or glancing at your marketing ads are really viewing your efforts at all? If you are like me you fast forward over commercials or get up to do other things while they are on. I frequently switch channels during ads on the radio and ignore annoying pop-ups on the internet (or block them all together). Blast faxes are an intrusion and waste of printer ink and paper, email marketing only adds to the daily frustration of spam cleanup and billboards, while they may take my eyes off the road for a second, usually are not remembered for lack of interest at the time or having a pen and paper handy. I’m not suggesting that these alternative methods are not a perfect compliment in some situations, I’m just saying that these methods usually use a “Blast to all & hope someone is paying attention” method.

Direct mail Advertising allows you to custom tailor a database to closely target your particular demographic. Your print design can be as “noticeable” as you wish to make it and can include ALL the info you wish prospective customers to know, unlike cramming as much as you can in a 30 second TV or radio commercial. When the recipient receives his or her mail from their postal box they are aware of what they are doing and why, and usually concentrating on the task at hand, taking a moment to get and review the mail. In most cases your targeted recipient WILL notice your marketing media since it is already in their hands as your design does what it can to “pull them in” and explore your message.

While Direct Mail advertising may not be the perfect solution for all business marketing I feel if does offer a more targeted, personal approach to a more captive audience.

Want to know how to create a winning direct mail campaign that won’t break your bank?

Click here to receive our consumer guide: 12 Ways To Avoid Paying More Than You Have To For Direct Mail. Inside you’ll learn the key mistakes to avoid when developing a direct mail campaign, the key element that can make or break your direct mail offering, plus you will be eligible to receive a special discount as a first-time customer! Get your free direct mail guide today!

It’s a good idea to get to know your Mailing Professional and the Mailing Facility they represent prior to embarking of your Marketing Campaign. Their level of experience coupled with the extent of the company’s machinery and software can go a long way to making your Direct Mail Campaign a success and keep it within budget.

Explore their mission statement and/or the reason the company was started. Ask how long have they been in business and do they have any references? These questions will help you understand the level of commitment your mailing representative and the company that he or she works for have.

Tour the facility. One of the best ways to know your prospective Mail Houses capabilities is to ask for a tour of their facility. Is the place clean and organized, especially the production room(s)? Do they have state of the art equipment? Do the employees seem friendly and content? If operations are under way while touring, does the scene look productive or are there piles of materials on the floor, a radio blasting, machine jams or seemingly disgruntled employees?

Especially in times of an economic downturn you will find many Mailing Operations that have been formed out of a last ditch effort to increase a company’s revenue by starting up a basic operation as an added “Money Maker” to their already suffering primary concern such as a Commercial Printer, Graphic Designer, Sign Company or a Pack & Ship company. Many of these are started with limited knowledge and the most basic of machinery. Even though the thought of a “One Stop Shop” may be appealing, it may not be the most effective way of approaching your Direct Mail goals.

Time tested knowledge and experience, state of the art equipment and software and a good relationship with the local Post Office can go a long way to help ensure a successful Direct Mail Campaign.

Want to know how to create a winning direct mail campaign that won’t break your bank?

Click here to receive our consumer guide: 12 Ways To Avoid Paying More Than You Have To For Direct Mail. Inside you’ll learn the key mistakes to avoid when developing a direct mail campaign, the key element that can make or break your direct mail offering, plus you will be eligible to receive a special discount as a first-time customer! Get your free direct mail guide today!