Dear Misguided Customer...

Dear Misguided Customer,

I know times are tough and resources are scarce. Yes, I realize that everyone is trying to come up with ideas to pinch pennies and save money.

But some ideas are just plain bad ideas.

Yes, I know that God helps those who help themselves. I’m sure the Bible and Ben Franklin would agree. Self-sufficiency is a good thing.

Yes, I know that for years your organization has used volunteers to fold, insert, seal and stamp your appeals and newsletters. So what if the news is stale by the time it gets to its destination? Your volunteers get a sense of connecting with your organization and doing something good for their community. Tradition is a good thing.

Up to a point.

Continuing to do something the “way we’ve always done it” those are your exact words!—without questioning if that way works any more isn’t just bad, it’s plain stupid.

Yes, I know you’re the newbie on staff. You don’t want to shake things up or jeopardize the job it took you 8 months to find. I got that. But blind adherence to “Tradition” is costing your organization cold, hard cash—money that could be put into services.

I bet your boss would love to simplify her life, get newsletters and appeals out faster…and save the cost of your salary in the bargain. The only thing standing in your way is “Tradition.” Show her what I’m going to show you, you will be her hero on the white horse. And that’s a lock-tight guarantee.

Hang on. Here we go…

I betcha that years ago, when a newsletter or appeal was ready to mail, someone—probably your predecessor—called for all hands on deck from the office staff. But that got old really old fast. Maybe the task built staff esprit de corps, but when assigned duties weren’t getting done, there was a lot of bad juju.

So your predecessor put out the plea for volunteers, and volunteers—God Bless ‘em—responded. For years that cadre of loyal ladies folded and stuffed, licked and sticked their way through countless thousands of envelopes.

It takes 3 weeks to get out each newsletter, but it costs your organization nothing. Right? Let’s think about it.

You have to feed the ladies milk and cookies, and you have to keep supervisory staff on hand “just in case.” But that is minimal. Right?

You have to keep recruiting volunteers, which is a constant hassle, but…

Then once a year you have to throw a big “Volunteer Appreciation Gala.” While that gala costs a lot of money, and takes a bunch of staff time to coordinate, it is the price you have to pay to compensate your volunteers.

Your organization is stuck in the past, my Friend, in “Old Think.”

Here are the facts:

1. It takes 3 weeks to assemble, address, wafer seal and mail 10,000 newsletters. The “news” in the newsletters is old by the time it hits the mail. In this day of instantaneous news, stale stuff is poison. That’s an obvious image problem for you. It makes you seem out of touch. Fuddy Duddy. No wonder new volunteers are scarce.

2. Because your appeals aren’t unique to each donor, the likelihood is that you are as asking donors who could give $100 to give $10—your “default” ask. This screams out for better data management and personalization. It’s costing your organization big moola.

If points 1 and 2 address squishy unquantifiables, here is what Blind Tradition is costing in cold, hard cash:

3. It takes a staffer 4 hours every night to supervise the volunteer crew. If that person makes $20 an hour, you’re spending $80 a night to get “Free” labor. $20,800 a year.

4. Volunteer victuals are another $20 per night. That’s $100 a week. $5200 a year.

5. What does the Volunteer Appreciation Gala and extra wear and tear on your facility cost? I can’t even hazard a guess.

Discounting the Gala, you're at $26,000 a year in expenses to compensate your “free” volunteer labor force. Not enough to convince you to rethink Old Think Tradition? Try this:

6. You’re paying 17.9 cents each in postage per newsletter. It’s better than paying First Class, but as a non-profit you should be paying about 13.2 cents! That means you’re paying an extra 4.7 cents per piece in postage because you lack the basic mailing technology that the USPS requires.

Every month your 10,000 newsletters are contributing $470 unnecessary postage to the USPS. That’s another $5640 a year.

See how you're paying your -- salary $ 31,640 -- a year in unnecessary costs? That’s a lot of money any day, but in this economy that’s an enormous waste.

Yes, waste. Stupid waste.

And it gets worse.

7. You know that many the addresses you’re mailing to are wrong and many of the people have moved. But you don’t know which are wrong, and you don’t know how to fix your list. So you keep mailing to them. Yet every one of these badly addressed pieces is costing you money: Money to print. Money to mail.

If you have money to burn—and I know you don’t—then keep on using your Old Think Traditional ways.

The solution is obvious: move your direct mail marketing into the 21st Century by working with a professional direct marketing firm.

Work with them to clean up your list. Correct bad addresses. Get rid of deadwood. Run your data against NCOA—National Change of Address software. Cost: $50-100 plus any data clean up effort.

Now turn your mailings over to that mailing professional. Your postage will plummet and you’ll be in the mail lickety split.

Cost: Roughly $500 to process your 10,000 newsletters.

Production time: 2 days

Bottom line: 2 days versus 3 weeks. Best yet, the postage you’ll save pays for the mailshop. Not bad, eh? But there’s more: because your mail will have barcodes, it will arrive faster and in better condition.

You’ll see some cost increases in your appeals, but the extra effort to personalize letters and responses will bring in far more money than the cost of the personalization.

Don't know where to turn? Call me. I'll give you recommendations.

Don’t believe me? One of our nonprofit clients brought in 35% more than they had ever raised before just by personalizing the letter and the ask. Another raised increased its average gift to almost $90 simply by upgrading ask amounts!

It isn’t magic. It’s marketing. It’s using modern mail technology to replace outmoded though well-meaning volunteers.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not anti-volunteer. In fact, I’m strongly pro-volunteer. I just believe in using volunteers in ways that make sense for both the volunteers and the organization and the community.

There are, after all, things that a machine just can’t do. Like being human: Manning hot lines…consoling crime victims…counseling rape victims…hugging and clothing the newly homeless…feeding the hungry…providing hope and stability for those who need it the most.

Tradition is good up to a point. And you reached that tipping point some time ago.

It’s time to put your uniquely wonderful volunteers to work doing the work they can best do: serving the community your non-profit was commissioned to serve.

Self-sufficiency is fine.

Being a hero is even better.

Marketing in Miserable Times

The economy is slow. That doesn’t mean your marketing should be!

I admit it. This article may appear to be a bit self-serving. But it is also intended to help you survive the interminable recession. After all, marketing is the first department cut in bad times, so you’re probably trying to survive with a skeleton crew.

If you’re like most of us, your first inclination is to tighten your belt. That’s what Kmart did during the 2001 recession. After two months of decreasing its marketing, Kmart saw sales drop 5%. Bottom line: Kmart lost more in sales than they saved in advertising costs.

Kmart’s blunder is borne out by studies dating back two generations to the Great Depression. A 1927 study shows that companies which invested their marketing dollars well in the depth of the Depression gained market share and kept the momentum going afterwards. Companies that cut back were cut out.

If data from 1927 sounds like ancient history and therefore not applicable to today’s world, consider a 1993 study published by Penton Media which said “businesses that maintain aggressive marketing programs during a recession outperform companies that rely more on cost cutting measures.”

OK, cutting costs is truly important. Duh! But cutting communications with your base is cutting your own throat. Smart companies continue the dialogue, even in hard times. They listen and they learn.

Communicate with your customers. Email,…direct mail…telephone…visit them in person. You pick the method. Mix ‘em and match ‘em. But keep the channels of communication open.

Look for ways to differentiate yourself from the other guys. Use ideas, formats and technologies that maybe your base or industry hasn’t seen before.

Sure, you say. It’s Big Talk, but we have no budget.

So you think you’re different from everybody else out there? A small budget is just a big opportunity to be more creative!

If you’ve got nothing to invest but sweat equity, here are several ideas that might just help.

#1. Offer your customers and prospects something that they need. Something truly useful. It can be a whitepaper on your own industry trends (if you’re academically ambitious), a coupon (great for retailers), or an email newsletter providing relevant tips (it works—after all, you’re reading one now!)

#2. Promote your special offering through an online channel like a blog, e-newsletter or twitter. Point to a unique URL and require people to leave a small amount of personal data (name/address/phone/email) to “qualify” to receive the free info. Be sure to capture that data to track responses and capture potential sales leads.

#3. A number of industry websites are offering free whitepaper distribution. Simply let your industry association or leading industry publications know that you have created such a document and let them promote it for you, too.

#4. Seek out free publicity. For instance, one of our clients was recently featured in the Washingtonian Magazine as one of the best non-profits in the area. The extra coverage gave them great visibility and the third party blessing lent enormous credibility. Boy, did we make good use of that in their year-end appeal!

#5. Ask the eloquent and informed on your staff to do speeches at trade association meetings, chamber of commerce events, and other similar public events.

#6. Market your in-house experts to the media who always need a current list of who-knows-what about obscure topics. These in-house experts can keep your company name in the public eye and lend credibility to your company as leading industry experts.

#7. Recycle. Go to your industry periodicals and offer to write articles for them on leading indicators, trends, legislation that is changing your industry, etc. If you’ve done #1 and #5 above, the information is at your fingertips. Reuse it to your own benefit.

#8. Recycle the recycling. Go to your customer’s industry periodicals and offer the same information. Be sure to re-package it to get rid of any inherent industry jargon that may have crept in when you wrote for your own peers.

If you’re lucky enough to have a bit of coin to spend on direct marketing, here are some ideas that cost, but can have big pay-offs, too! Use techniques and technologies that your customers and prospects haven’t seen before. It will make you stand out from the clutter.

#9. One of our clients launched a PURL (personalized URL) program to better communicate with its marketbase. The two-way communications channel is open 24/7 and is exceeding expectations so far.

#10. Another client is using VDP—Variable Data Printing—to market to his base. If you bought a blue Camry from this dealership in 2002, then your “Buy Back” postcard shows a blue 2002 Camry. The client is using variable graphics the way other people use variable data. Eye catching? Attention grabbing? You bet! The last postcard sold 47 cars in one weekend!

#11. Another client is using VDP to create customized brochures which he is using as a “leave behind” when he markets his services to prospects. Each brochure has the name of the buyer and his/her company prominently printed on it in color. He’d have to create a leave-behind piece anyway. For just a bit more money, he’s got a truly eye-popping document that says a lot about his firm and how innovative it is.
See where this is heading? Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees. Sometimes you just need to brainstorm with someone else.

There are a lot of no-cost and low-cost ideas that we can use to help you promote your company. Additionally, we’re bursting with ideas and energy to help you make your marketing the most innovative stuff around.

Call Ellen at Paul&Partners (703-996-0800) if you want someone to bounce ideas off. Or if you need an “out of the box” thinker to help you a bit.

Remember, when times are tough, the tough get going. Which side of the fence are YOU sitting on?

Paul & Partners Direct Marketing

43670 Trade Center Place,

Suite 150,

Dulles, VA 20166

Phone: 703.996.0800 Fax: 703.996.0888 1.866.365.2858

www.paulandpartners.net sales@paulandpartners

Dear upset client...

Dear Upset Client,

I've gotten your envelope with the returned mail pieces.

Yes, we did run NCOA (National Change of Address software) against your data before we mailed the job for you. You thought it was unnecessary, but we insisted. “It’s my list. I know them. Been mailing to them for years!” you said. But it really didn’t matter. New USPS regulations say we must run NCOA on any presorted classification of mail that includes a recipient’s name. That means First Class Presort, Standard or Non-Profit. That means you.

So we NCOA’d your data.

We corrected your bad addresses where possible. Your data was ugly, frankly, and we corrected what we could for you. You’re welcome.

Yes, we did update the recipient’s address where possible. You hadn’t cleaned your data since the flood—OK, since 1953, but that’s an eon in marketing. Even the best NCOA list only goes back 48 months. 1953 is two generations ago!

And yes, we did delete a lot of folks. Not surprisingly, a huge number of your folks are dead. Let’s see, if they started donating in 1953 at age 50, they’d be 106 today. 106-year olds just don’t donate the way they used to.

Yes, it was a surprise to us, too, that 25% of your list was deceased. Maybe that’s why they left no forwarding address. Maybe that’s why your response rates have been going down the drain of late. Maybe that’s why you’re paying more in postage and printing and production and seeing fewer dollars back each year. Go figure.

We didn’t—but could have—run your list against a list of people currently living at government expense in Leavenworth, Kansas. Knowing your database, we didn’t think that was necessary.

We differentiated for you between individual moves (ie divorces, going away to school, moving to a nursing home, etc) and family moves and did as you directed us to do on each one.

And yes, we eliminated the folks who had moved overseas, addresses with fatal flaws, and businesses that had closed.

We also did an internal dedupe, so that you would send only one letter to the Smith household. When we started with your data clean up, the Smiths were getting 5 letters. One to Bob and Mary Smith, one to Robert and Mary Smith, one to Robert Smith, one to Mary Smith and one to Bob Smith. Remember we told you that 40% of your list was duplicate addresses? That’s what we meant. The Smiths were getting five letters from you each time you mailed!

So we did all this clean up for you, and then we gave you your data back. Ignore what we sent you at your peril. We don’t want to go through all this with you next time. It would be like taking the same hill twice.

I’m truly sorry you are disappointed that your list went from 136,000 people to 28,000. I think you’d be glad. Instead of mailing 108,000 bad and iffy addresses, you’ll be mailing to 28,000 good ones. If those 28,000 people give like they have been giving, your response rate will skyrocket even as your costs plummet. Now that’s a win/win in my book. Sorry you don’t see it that way.

Now about those 86 bad addresses you sent me.

In 100% of the cases, the yellow stickie labels say "Unable to Forward." They do not say the address was bad--which substantiates the value of the NCOA. They say "Unable to Forward."

In this economy people are moving in the dead of night. They simply leave the key in the mailbox and drive away. It’s one way to temporarily avoid creditors. Dying is another. Both result in “Unable to Forward” stickies.

Currently, 40% of those who move do NOT send their new address info to the Post Office which means that that 40% will not be caught on an NCOA.

Please contact me in a month when your campaign is running at full tilt.

I bet those 86 records that are aggravating you today don’t look so bad then.

Thank you.


43670 Trade Center Place, Suite 150, Dulles, VA 20166
Phone: 703.996.0800 Fax: 703.996.0888 1.866.365.2858
http://www.paulandpartners.net/ sales@paulandpartners.net

Why is Postage such a Puzzle?

We’ve got a problem. You say you want to mail using Standard postage because it is the lowest rate. And you want to know what your postage will be.

A simple question, yes? Not hardly. Here is what I know that you probably don’t:

While it's true that Standard is usually (but not always!) the lowest postage rate, you need to know that there are 27 different basic rates for your mailing. And that’s if you’re a for-profit company!

If you're mailing non-profit, there are another 27 basic rates for the same piece.

If you’re mailing at carrier route prices (a subdivision of standard mail) you’ve got another 12 rate categories. So that’s a potential 39 rates for your one mailing. Was yours a simple question? No, indeed!

When you ask me what your postage will be, I’m weighing options. I know your postage could range from as little as .137 cents to as much as .343 cents each for for-profits and from .066 to .245 for non-profits.

But what do I tell you? You want a single, concise answer.

Even more confusing, I also know that on any given mailing, there can be up to 16 different postage rates, depending on the distribution of your mailing list. Some of the pieces will mail at this rate; some of the pieces will mail at that rate. It depends on your data.

But what do I tell you? You want a “bottom line” number. Skip the explanation.

Here’s more of what you don’t want to hear: Your postage depends on the distribution of your mailing list, as well as the size/weight/thickness of the mailing piece, how it is folded, how it is designed, where you are mailing to and where you are mailing from. There are rules about aspect ratio, flexibility, contrast and "graphic noise" that also affect your postage.

So you see, there is no simple, straightforward answer.

When you ask me to quote postage, I really can’t be specific. That’s why our quotes say ESTIMATED postage when they mention postage at all. Because it is truly that: our best guess estimate. Until we get your materials and your data in our hands to do the analysis the post office requires, we can’t be sure.

If you’re giving me the list you want to use, I am at an even greater disadvantage. You know your data; I don’t. Yet you are asking me to tell you what your postage will be.

All that information is running through my mind when you ask me what your postage will cost. And that’s just if you want to mail Standard or Non-Profit. Depending on your mailing, we may suggest that you mail First Class. It’s counterintuitive, but sometimes using First Class actually saves money!

It all depends.

With the USPS there really is no simple, straightforward answer. It takes a lot of questions—and just as many answers—to analyze your specific situation and develop a mailing strategy for you that will minimize your postage investment while still getting you the delivery date you need.

We may not be able to quote you a firm number for your spreadsheet, but we can help you negotiate the postal labyrinth to ensure you've got the best possible postage rates for your mailing.

Please let us know when we can help.

43670 Trade Center Place, Suite 150, Dulles, VA 20166

Phone: 703.996.0800 Fax: 703.996.0888

www.paulandpartners.net travis.boaz@paulandpartners

Stamp? Meter? Indicia? A Primer on Postage

Since we seem to have a theme going about envelopes and postage, here's what you need to know about affixing that postage on those envelopes.

There are 3 ways to affix postage. You've got to use one of them to get your piece in the mail. No exceptions. The USPS doesn't take IOU's.

Having said that, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Here's why:

Indicias--that little black box printed directly on an envelope in lieu of a stamp or meter--are hugely popular. They are also the cheapest form of affixing postage as they can be printed on the piece instead of being affixed in another pass later.

But they are not right for every application.

They scream mass mail if you're mailing a letter package. They are impersonal and don't make you feel warm and fuzzy about the person/organization that sent the mail to you.

If, however, you're mailing a postcard, newsletter or "self mailer" then an indicia is clearly the best way to go as affixing a stamp or meter makes you look chintzy and do-it-yourself penny ante. On these types of mailings an indicia makes your mailing look more professional.

All my comments after this point assume you're mailing a letter package, which have different "rules" than postcards, newsletters and self-mailers.

Meters--you know, that Pitney Bowes thingy that's been around for years. Meters are what you would use if you wanted your letter to look like it came from a business.

The USPS has just introduced new meter regulations that allow greater variety in the meter marks--you can even get customized meter marks, for a price.

On an envelope, metered mail gets opened faster than indicia'd mail. So if you were concerned about what postage technology you should use, this would be a consideration.

But wait! It gets even better.

Postage wisdom--and years of actual statistical data--say that Stamps outpull indicias and meters. By "outpull" we mean that tests have shown letters with stamps get opened before metered mail, and metered mail gets opened before indicias. (Remember, these rules do not apply to postcards, newsletters and self-mailers.)

Stamps come in two varieties. Lick 'em stick 'em and pressure sensitive.

Lick 'em and stick 'em stamps are activated by water. This is the technology that your father used to mail his electric bill each month. Newer technology is pressure sensitive or sticky back.

Every class of mail (First, First Class Presort, Standard, Non-Profit) has at least one stamp that is appropriate to that class. So yes, we can mail your job and have a "live" stamp on it.

At any given time, the USPS can have special stamps (think Fat Elvis or Love stamps) that are appropriate for First Class and one or two stamps appropriate for each presorted class.

We could go on an on about hand affixing stamps…using multiple stamps…overprinting stamps with mailer's cancellation marks and any number of other postal strategies that may help your mailing get noticed and opened.

If you want to know more, call us at 703-996-0800 and ask for Ellen.