I had visitors today from a company that I have been doing business with for years.  The purchasing agent for this company has been to our facility many times but his boss and a couple of other support staff, had never been to our company.  I got the opportunity to show them around and explain the various departments.  Essentially we are running 3 business in one..graphic design, printing and mailing.  Even though we had done business for years they were still surprised at all of the things that we do. 

Sometimes after we have been in business for a number of years that we get lulled into believing that most people know who we are and what we do.  Our business name is Burns Mailing & Printing but I don’t know how many times we have been doing a printing project and the customer ask, “you do mailing too”? The same with mailing, some are suprised that we do printing as well. We cannot afford to make that assumption.  Every sales person has had the experience of working with a customer and one day calls that customer’s company to find that the person they have been doing business with is no longer employed there and the new person has no idea who you are and what your company does.  Back to square one in building that relationship with another buyer.

How do I keep my business in front of the most people?  Direct mail of course.  Unlike television, radio and some social media, the recipient of a direct mail can lay the information aside and look at it later when they have time or in my case I may save it until I have a need and then I have a resource for the service or product that I anticipate buying. One of the things I love about advertising with direct mail is that it is measurable.  When I mail out a new post card and we have phone calls telling us they got our card, I know that my direct mail campaign is working.

On a personal note, my Grand Daughter (age 2 1/2) is going to be coming from Nashville today to visit with us for a few days.  Of course, we are always thrilled to see her.  We have been using Skype to keep in touch with her for a couple of weeks now and that is the next best thing to her actually being here. I love technology!

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According to a DMM Advisory from the USPS, dated October 15, 2009, they will not increase prices for market dominant products in calendar year 2010.  “Simply stated, there will not be a price increase for market dominant products including First-Class Mail, Standard Mail, periodicals, single-piece Parcel Post. There will be no exigent price increase for these products.”

According to the DMM Advisory, “this is the right decision at the right time for the right reason. Promoting the value of mail and encouraging its continued use is essential for jobs, the economy, and the future of both the Postal Service and the mailing industry.”

Increasing postal rates might have generated much needed revenue for the USPS but in the long term could drive additional mail out of the system.  This is good news for customers and for the mailing industry.  If you are wondering what will happen to other products not mentioned, “changes in pricing for our competitive products – Priority Mail, Express Mail, Parcel Select, and most international products – are under consideration.  We expect to announce a decision in November.”

“Mail is the most effective means of communication and advertising and we will continue to work together to increase the value of the mail. Mail is a smart investment for the future.”

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USPS®  Deliver® Magazine is allowing me to use this article by Elaine Appleton Grant

At a time when the corporate world seems increasingly obsessed with digital solutions, legendary direct marketer Ernan Roman has some compelling news for brands: Recipients actually want your traditional mail.

Roman says that prospects and customers have been so overwhelmed with e-mails in recent years that the deluge has turned off many of them.  It has also made them more receptive to mail.

“This started four years ago, and it has reached a crescendo over the last three years,” says Roman, a 35-year marketing veteran who heads Ernan Roman Direct Marketing in Douglas Manner, N.Y.

Of course, despite the good news that customers are asking for your mail, you still have to persuade them to open your envelope. To help you do this Deliver turned to Roman and fellow direct marketing legend Herschell Gordon Lewis, who started his career making gory films like “Blood Feast” and “2000 Maniacs” before turning to ad copy-writing.  Not surprisingly, both men know how to get attention.  Here are a few tips they have for those trying to capture mail recipients’ eye:

Understand What Mail is Good For.  Make sure recipients are expecting something they can use. Customers of Roman’s clients tend to prefer direct mail for important communications “that are relevant to the pre-existing relationship,” says Roman.  He adds that “the customer is going to get cranky if you start chopping down trees for a message that doesn’t have substantial value.”

Fulfill Personal Requests. Use preference information from opt-in campaigns to your advantage on the outside of the envelope. For instance, Roman’s company recently completed a campaign that encouraged viewers to name their favorite TV programs during the opt-in registration process.  Using the consumer-provided information, Roman segmented the company’s list and sent personalized promotions to the fans of various shows.

Keep the Envelope Clean. Generally, when sending high-level business information, keep your envelope simple –an address, a restrained logo and a personalized return address are all you need.  Don’t muck up the envelope with extra text, big logos or artwork.

Help Recipients Make Quick Decisions. If the product is relevant, but a commodity, says Roman, informational graphics and copy can help recipients prioritize the mailing’s importance: “We’re saving them time by letting them know about the product or offer on the outside of the envelope.”

Use The Right Words. Many overused words insult recipients’ intelligence. Lewis eschews the word “free” and “personal,” which at best, have little meaning – and at worst, incite consumers cynicism and even anger.

Avoid The “Bulk-Mail” Effect. Lewis recommends doing whatever you can to ensure that your envelope doesn’t look like one of millions, whether it’s an unconventional font or an eye-catching color. In this age of consumer-driven marketing, there’s no one size-fits all strategy that always will or won’t work.  You have to know your consumer well before you splash the envelope with promotional copy – or not.

Thanks to Deliver® Magazine a publication of the United States Postal Service for allowing the use of this article. Consumers don’t want to be duped or receive mail that insults their intelligence. If you care to check out the DMA’s ethical guidelines go to www. dmaresponsibility.org/guidelines/.

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This is an excerpt from USPS®  Deliver® Magazine who kindly gave me permission to use in this blog.

“It’s likely you’re trying to produce more with less budget these days.  So it’s tempting to think about cutting expenses by simply going with the lowest-cost print provider. But, in this competitive market, that could be a mistake.

Sure you might save a few bucks in print fees, but what you could lose is far more valuable.  Today’s printers do much more than simply put ink to paper.  They are marketing consultants who use their knowledge and experience in creating and mailing printed materials to help their clients get the most out of their campaigns.

Printers are on top of the latest mail printing trends and efficiencies, which uniquely qualifies them to point out costly mistakes.  They also can manage or influence many campaign elements outside the printing realm to help you reach optimum ROI.

Printers are also at the forefront of new technologies that let your direct mail pieces target customers like never before.  If you’re using variable data printing, for example, your printer can provide insights on which aspects of the piece should be personalized, as well as guidance on how to make your message relevant to your target.

They also sit on a gold mine of information about postal capabilities and service standards.  Printers understand mail piece design characteristics, preparation requirements and economics so well they can often help you cut prices simply by combining projects, whether it’s through co-mailing, co-palletization or merging your mail with other customers’ products.

Your production staff needs to communicate your project goals and time frame to your print company at the concept and design stage, as it may be able to bring added expertise to the table – literally.  Clifton, N.J., graphic communications company Sandy Alexander Inc. often invites its local USPS® representative to sit in on client meetings to help design the most compliant and cost-effecient mailers possible.

For maximum ROI, make sure your production folks choose printers that can achieve your strategic objectives by either improving the effectiveness of the mail piece or reducing the cost of creating and mailing it.  The good ones will know enough about our business and your business to ask the right questions and make sure you ultimately get what you’re paying for.”

Article by Tom Foti – Manager for Marketing Mail at the United States Postal Service®

I gave a presentation at the Association of Fundraising Professionals today at lunch.  This was one of the things that I encourage everyone to do is to sit down at the conception of the project with your print/mail company and plan the project to meet your objectives at the lowest possible cost.  At Burns Mailing & Printing, Inc. consulting is FREE to our customers.  We also offer FREE NCOAlink updates to our nonprofit customers who print and mail with Burns.

Yesterday I received a publication in the mail that did not have the addressing area at the top of the publication as specified in a directive that went into effect March 29, 2009.  The USPS will no longer accept mail that does not meet the new specifications. (I addressed this in an earlier blog) so the publication had XXX everything out and put it in the correct addressing area.  This made the publication look messy and the mailer of the publication look like they did not know their business.  Why go through all of that when you have a wealth of knowledge available with a good printer/mailer?

I would not expect too much help from the USPS® in regards to representative sitting down to discuss your project.  Unfortunately due to budget costs they are losing more and more of their knowledgeable staff.  At our local Post Office we are losing the only Mail Piece Design Analyst.  It seems there will only be one Mail Piece Design Analyst in the entire State of TN.  My advice is find a quality mailer/printer and let them work out the details for you.

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Large Format Four Color Printing - Great for newsletters and booklets!

Heidelberg Folder

Request an estimate at estimating@burnsmp.com

Mail being addressed with state of the art inkjet addressing equipment

Inkjet addressing, applying permits, post it notes, live stamps or messages on the mailing panel is possible with our Kirk Rudy System.  Tabbing is done  inline for quicker turn-around.

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A reminder that effective March 29, 2009 the new address placement standards for commercial flat-size mail goes into effect at the United States Post Office.  An example of flat-size mail is an 8.5×11 newsletter.  The new rule for this example would be that the addressing area for the newsletter would have to be in the top half of the page.  This also applies to periodicals, Standard Mail and Package Services flats mailed at automation, presorted, or carrier route prices.

For Standard Mail and Periodicals mailings that are not in compliance, the appropriate First-Class prices apply. Presorted Bound Printed Matter, Media Mail, or Library Mail flats with non compliant addresses are charged the non presorted flats prices within the same class of mail.

Designers, advertising agencies, non profits listen up. We are talking more money for postage folks and to save money all you have to do is put your addresses in the correct area.

If you want the the rules that the USPS publishes, see below.

The new ddress placement standards require the delivery address in the upper portion of all Periodicals, Standard Mail, Bound Printed Matter, Media Mail, and Library Mail flat-size pieces mailed at automation, pre­sorted, or carrier route prices. Mailers may place the address parallel or perpendicular to the top edge, but not upside down as read in relation to the top edge. The new standards define “upper portion” as the top half of the mailpiece. Mailers are encouraged to place the address as close to the top edge as possible, while maintaining a 1/8–inch clearance from every edge.

The following standards apply to enveloped, polywrapped, or card-style Periodicals, Standard Mail, Bound Printed Matter, Media Mail, and Library Mail flats mailed at pre­sorted, automation, or carrier route prices:

a.The “top” of the mailpiece is either of the shorter edges.

b.The entire delivery address must be within the top half of the mailpiece (see Exhibit 2.2), except under 2.2c or 2.2d. Optimal placement is at the top edge (while maintaining the 1/8-inch clearance requirement).

c. If a vertical address will not fit entirely within the top half, the address may cross the midpoint if it is placed within 1 inch of the top edge.

d. If the delivery address is placed on an insert poly­wrapped with the host piece:

1. The address must not appear on a component that rotates within the bag.

2. The address must remain visible throughout the addressed component’s range of motion.

3. The insert must be affixed to maintain the address entirely in the top half throughout processing and delivery or, if not affixed, the insert must maintain at least the beginning 0.5 inch of the address in the top half. The “beginning 0.5 inch” means the first half-inch of the recipient, delivery address, and city/state/ZIP Code lines, and not the end of each line.

Correct Placement of Addressing on Flats

If you are still not clear on the new rules, contact your local Mail Piece Design Analyst at the USPS bulk mail unit.

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Kate, Phyllis and Ken

Things are changing rapidly in our world, some good and some not so good.  One of the good things, in my opinion, is the availability of using the web to market business.  Our business is such that our customer does not have to be located in the city where our business is located.  In fact, we have several customers who are out of state, some as far away as Alaska.   Graphic files can be downloaded, along with data base files and we can print and mail for our customers in a timely and efficient manner.

I recently decided to add this blog to our website for the purpose of sharing information about mailing and printing and to let potential customers get to know us a little better.  I know the very basics of blogging,  but last night I went to Barnes and Noble and purchased Blogging for Dummies.   It almost overwhelmed me with what all I did not know.  I had to sit back for a moment and tell myself that I could not learn it all at once, but I could learn it with just one step at a time.  I have never let ignorance stop me from doing anything I really wanted to do.  It probably should have stopped me many times but they say, “fools rush in where angels dare to tread”. So bear with me on this blogging thing, I am only up to Chapter I.

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Being in the mailing/printing business I have a lot of interaction with nonprofit folks .  I have also been a member of the Smoky Mountain Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) in Knoxville, TN since 2000.  I am convinced that people who work at nonprofit organizations have a heart of gold.  They are educated, dedicated and obviously their motives are not for money.

Recently, I have been in their shoes trying to raise money for Lost Sheep Ministry, where I serve on the board.  Lost Sheep Ministry only has two paid employees and everything else is done with volunteers.  Usually a nonprofit has a development director to raise money but we cannot afford a development director, so yours truly is trying to head up additional fund-raising.  Maxine Raines, our founder, with the help of many volunteers has been raising money for 18 years by speaking passionately about the ministry and by applying for grants and the suppport of local churches. Being in AFP has been beneficial for me because I have learned a lot in the monthly meetings and from my friends in AFP.  However, I am learning just how hard fund-raising really is and I am convinced that running a mailing/printing company is much easier.  They have my utmost respect.  I know that newsletters, mailing appeals, website and donor database is essential but most importantly doing them right is a must.

The list is probably the most important thing.  Making sure that the list does not have bad addresses is now a requirement at the United States Postal Service.  I recommend cleaning up the list by NCOA link move update.  In fact ,we offer this service free to our nonprofit customers who are printing and mailing with us. The person who already has an association with the nonprofit is the very best person to target.  Someone who already knows about the organization and if you are lucky has a passion for what is being done in the organization.  The next is the letter or appeal.  Make it personal, the recipient expects the organization to know their name.  Telling that person what their donation is doing to make a difference in a life or in their community makes an impact.  The appeal does not have to be fancy, in fact, if it is too fancy the recipient may wonder why so much is being spent on design, printing etc. Usually two colors of ink for the printing works very well.  Coding the mail is one way of measuring the success of the appeal and is easily done by adding a code to the return donation slip or envelope.  Measuring the success of the mailing is essential and coding allows you to determine that success and also to do a test market of more than one appeal. I am going to continue to to learn from AFP and my fund-raising friends but I doubt if I would have gotten very far without being around them for a number of years and my association with AFP.

I loved nonprofit fundraisers before I tried being one but now I really love them for what they do for all of us.  Everyone else should too, the world is a better place because of them.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. Indeed – it’s the only thing that ever has.”  Margaret Mead

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